Jazz in the Gardens highlights: Ladies still love LL Cool J

theGRIO REPORT - After a star studded first day at Jazz In The Gardens, where Jamie Foxx, Trey Songz, Kelly Rowland wowed a packed crowd, day two of the weekend festival had a lot to live up to...

Kyle Harvey

Mar 17, 2014

After a star-studded first day at Jazz in the Gardens, where Jamie Foxx, Trey Songz and Kelly Rowland wowed a packed crowd, day two of the weekend festival had a lot to live up to.

Fortunately, it did.

Compared to day one, day two was reserved for the legends.

Comedian D.L. Hughley once again kept the audience energized as the Miami sun shone on the Sun Reliant stadium.

Jazz vocalist Rachelle Ferrell, wowed the crowd with her six octave range voice that’s led some to compare her to Minnie Ripperton.

It didn’t take Philly jazz icon Stanley Clarke long to have the crowd rocking to his electric guitar.

The man behind the critically acclaimed soundtracks to Boyz N The Hood and What’s Love Got Do With It dazzled the crowd with familiar hits from his 40-plus-year career.

Being that JITG is in the South where soul music reigns supreme, it was only fitting that Carolina crooner Anthony Hamilton grace the stage.

The Charlotte native went through his familiar slow burners including “Charlene,” “Comin’ from Where I’m From” and “Nobody Else.”

The king and queen of Miami, Dwyane Wade and his fiancée, Gabrielle Union, addressed the crowd to introduce a living legend in the flesh.

LL Cool J might be best known now for his lead role on NCIS: Los Angeles and hosting the Grammys, but he’s still LL Cool J, the man Russell Simmons signed as his first solo act to Def Jam roughly 30 years ago.

He reminded the JITG crowd why the ladies still love Cool James.

Performing “Around The Way Girl,” “Doin’ It,” and of course “I Need Love,” LL also made sure the men were involved by busting out his battle track “4,3,2,1.”

After LL left the stage, the headliner Frankie Beverly & MAZE, brought the house down.

Well into his 60s, Beverly’s voice remains a force. The 20,000-plus attendees collectively two-stepped to’ ‘Before I Let You Go.’ The timeless cut has inspired Electric Slide lines for decades and tonight was no different.

Overall, it was another unforgettable Jazz In The Gardens.

Check out our slideshow from the amazing show and let us know what you think in the comments below.

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