{"id":1781,"date":"2017-03-21T16:00:37","date_gmt":"2017-03-21T20:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jazzinthegardens.com\/?p=1781"},"modified":"2017-03-21T16:00:37","modified_gmt":"2017-03-21T20:00:37","slug":"jill-scott-common-and-more-ignite-stage-at-jazz-in-the-gardens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/2017\/jill-scott-common-and-more-ignite-stage-at-jazz-in-the-gardens\/","title":{"rendered":"Jill Scott, Common and more ignite stage at Jazz in the Gardens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jill Scott, LL Cool J, Andra Day, Common and more hit the main stage at Hard Rock Stadium<\/em><\/h4>\n

From the moment you enter the Jazz in the Gardens gates at Hard Rock Stadium in the final days of the winter season, clear blue skies, a cool breeze, and the energy of excited festivalgoers ready to enjoy a day filled with good food and live performances greet you under the familiar warmth of the Miami sun. Rickey Smiley<\/a> of the \u201cRickey Smiley Morning Show\u201d tag teams with Hot 105 DJ Big Man Kelly in keeping the crowd upbeat and building excitement for each act coming to the stage.<\/p>\n

On day one, Jazz in the Gardens stays true to the name and feel of the budding festival with performances by Herbie Hancock, Betty Wright, Robin Thicke and Jill Scott. Day two is packed with a diverse lineup of hip-hop and soul artists, including The Roots, Andra Day<\/a>, Common and LL Cool J.<\/p>\n

Each day of the two-day music festival, Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert highlights hometown heroes with a presentation of a key to the city in recognition of outstanding achievement in their fields. On Saturday, music legend and Miami native Betty Wright accepted her key for over 50 years of continuous stellar contributions to the music industry. On Sunday, two of the youngest actors from the Oscar award-winning and Miami-based film Moonlight,<\/em> Alex Hibbert and Jaden Piner each received their own key to the city for their performances in the highly acclaimed movie.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey should be congratulating Miami,\u201d says Hibbert when asked about the recognition after leaving the main stage. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for Miami, I would not be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The young actor\u2019s statement seems to ignite the celebration of the city that followed on the main stage as Common celebrated Florida and Miami as a place that feels like another home for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m grateful to come to Florida cuz I went to school down at Florida A&M,\u201d Common exclaims as he begins his set. \u201cI met a lot of people from Florida and I love y\u2019all and I get to see my family when I come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Appropriately curated for a jazz festival audience, Common\u2019s performance was fused with live instrumentalists and a background vocalist, who croonseds by Mary J. Blige and Erykah Badu, respectively. Continuing the romantic vibes of his set, Common searched the crowd for a lady fan to join him onstage and quickly sets his eyes on a beautiful brown-skinned woman sporting a T-shirt that appropriately read \u201cThe Single Diva.\u201d As she joined him onstage, Common and the crowd learn that her name is Rachel and coincidentally she also attended Florida A&M. Common seats her on a chair positioned at a table that\u2019s topped with two glasses and a bottle of wine before proceeding to pour up glassfuls for the both of them to enjoy as he serenades her with \u201cRed Wine\u201d from his 2016 studio album Black America Again<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Following Common\u2019s performance, DJ Big Man Kelly builds excitement with an old-school hip-hop mix that sets the tone for LL Cool J to hit the stage as the final performer of the festival weekend.<\/p>\n

LL Cool J dug into the crates to perform some of his favorite songs from his earlier albums while mixing in a few pop favorites including \u201cHeadsprung\u201d and \u201cLuv U Better.\u201d Midway into his set, LL Cool J also welcomed Sybrina Fulton to the stage, the mother of slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, and made\u00a0an appeal for the crowd to support the release of her new memoir,\u00a0Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin<\/em>. Before continuing on with his performance, LL Cool J brought out surprise guest Fat Joe, who performed his comeback hit \u201cAll the Way Up\u201d sans Remy Ma. Charged with flame-throwers, fog blasts and confetti cannons, LL Cool J brought his set to a head with a high-energy performance of his hip-hop classic \u201cRock The Bells\u201d as the final act of the 2017 Jazz in the Gardens Music Fest. \u2013ray love jr.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SOURCE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jill Scott, LL Cool J, Andra Day, Common and more hit the main stage at Hard Rock Stadium From the moment you enter the Jazz in the Gardens gates at Hard Rock Stadium in the final days of the winter season, clear blue skies, a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}