Angel City Jazz Fest Announces October Lineup

By DownBeat I Sep. 17, 2024

The Angel City Jazz Festival encourages metamorphosis of the genre. This year’s event will host 23 concerts.
(Photo: Courtesy Angel City Arts)

Now in its 17th year, the Angel City Jazz Festival will take place Oct. 11–27 at various Los Angeles venues including REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater), 2220 Arts & Archives, LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), The Barnsdall Gallery Theatre, Art Share L.A. and The World Stage. This year’s event will host 23 concerts featuring performances by the Otmaro Ruiz Quartet, Kris Davis Trio, Steve Lehman & Garden of Klōns, Elsa Nilsson, Sasha Berliner, Mauricio Morales, Jeff Denson & Romain Pilon Trio, Yafeu Tyhimba, Joy Guidry, Deron Johnson, Mark Dresser, Thollem McDonas, Patrick Shiroishi, Brandon Seabrook, Iseul Kim, Jenny Scheinman, The FES Orchestra, Zony Mash and Wayne Horvitz’s Electric Circus.

While some jazz festivals focus through a traditional lens, Angel City encourages and embraces metamorphosis of the genre. Although the city provided a foundation for historic innovators like Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy and Charles Lloyd, Los Angeles never consistently hosted a festival dedicated to post-traditional improvisation until artistic curator Rocco Somazzi founded the Angel City Jazz Festival in 2008.

“Angel City has gone to great lengths to establish Los Angeles as a jazz destination through 17 years of affordable and accessible live concerts throughout the city featuring artists such as Bill Frisell, Archie Shepp, Bennie Maupin, Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, Vijay Iyer, Ravi Coltrane, Nels Cline, Tigran Hamasyan, Rudresh Mahanthappa and many others,” Somazzi said.

The festival kicks off Friday, Oct. 11, at LACMA with a performance by Venezuelan pianist Otmaro Ruiz’s quartet performing a set of original compositions.

Opening weekend continues Saturday, Oct. 12, with pianist Kris Davis, who performs with her new trio. The program’s double bill also includes the world premiere of Steve Lehman’s Garden Of Klōns project featuring pianist Cory Smythe and drummer Jonathan Pinson.

The weekend concludes on Sunday, Oct. 13, featuring Swedish flutist Elsa Nilsson and vibraphonist Sasha Berliner. Nilsson will be performing Pulses, a spoken word/jazz piece inspired by an Maya Angelou poem.

The festival’s second leg opens Thursday, Oct. 17, with L.A.-based bassist Mauricio Morales. He’ll celebrate the release of his forthcoming album, Seven Days, featuring an all-star band that includes guitarist Horace Bray and pianist Luca Mendoza. Bay Area bassist Jeff Denson’s Trio featuring French guitarist Romain Pilon and drummer Clarence Penn will also appear.

On Friday, Oct. 18, bassist/composer Yafey Tyhimba will premier a new piece commissioned by the Los Angeles Jazz Society. An additional set from keyboardist Diego Gaeta will also take place.

On Saturday, Oct. 19, New York City-based bassoonist Joy Guidry performs material from her most recent album, AMEN. Miles Davis alumnus Deron Johnson opens the evening in celebration of Free To Dance, his new recording consisting of all original material.

Sunday, Oct. 20, concludes the second weekend of programming with a festival exclusive concert that features all solo performances. Artists set to appear include bassist Mark Dresser, pianist Thollem McDonas, saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi and guitarist Brandon Seabrook.

The concluding third week commences on Thursday, Oct. 24, featuring a double bill of two New York-based composers: Jenny Scheinman’s All Species Parade featuring guitarist Adam Ratner and bassist Tony Scherr, and Iseul Kim’s Liberosis, a jazz project inspired by her love of tango music.

On Friday, Oct. 25, the Belgium-based big band Flat Earth Society Orchestra celebrates its 25th anniversary with an exclusive Southern California performance. On Saturday, Oct. 26, various ensembles will engage in spontaneous musical creation during a special festival program titled Angel City Jazz Festival and Vernacular: New Music performed by a unique collective that includes of some Los Angeles’ finest local musicians.

The festival concludes on Sunday, Oct. 27, with an evening hosted by Seattle-based composer/pianist Wayne Horvitz performing in two different contexts. Zony Mash will open with a groove-based quartet featuring Horvitz on Hammond B-3, and the program concludes with Horvitz conducting a 15-piece band for his Electric Circus project.

For the full schedule, tickets and details, CLICK HERE. DB