Schedule of Events:

Friday, October 13, 2023

6:00pm - Sam Rivers 100 – A celebration of the Musical Legacy of Sam Rivers

This concert is part of Jazz at LACMA, a long standing series celebrating LA’s finest musicians, happening every Friday from April to November and it is co-presented by The American Jazz Institute.

Sam Rivers was a legendary figure in the world of improvised music. His legacy continues to be a presence in the jazz community.

To celebrate what would have been Sam’s 100th birthday, composer and arranger Mark Masters has focused on the years that Sam was a Blue Note Records artist. For the first time, Sam’s small group compositions will be reimagined for thirteen musicians.

Mark Masters Ensemble

Billy Harper – tenor saxophone
Nicole McCabe – alto saxophone
Jerry Pinter – tenor/soprano saxophones
Tom Luer – baritone saxophone
Dan Fornero – trumpet
Les Lovitt – trumpet
Nathan Kay – trumpet
Les Benedict – trombone
Fred Simmons – trombone
Dave Woodley – trombone
Jeff Colella – piano
Chris Colangelo – bass
Kendall Kay – drums
Mark Masters – arranger

Location: Los Angeles County Museum Of Art (LACMA), 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036

Cost: Free, No Tickets Required

Saturday, October 14, 2023

8:00pm - Destiny Muhammad Trio with Special Guest Teodross Avery

The Destimy Muhammad Trio

Destiny Muhammad – harp
Leon Joyce Jr – drums
Chico Lopez – bass

Special Guests
Teodross Avery – sax

Location: The World Stage, 4321 Degnan Blvd, Los Angeles, CA

Cost: $20

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Sunday, October 15, 2023

8:00pm - Crump/Laubrock/Smythe + Jeong Lim Yang’s Zodiac Trio

First Set:
Jeong Lim Yang’s Zodiac Trio

Jeong Lim Yang – bass
TBD – drums
Santiago Leibson – piano

Second Set:
Crump/Laubrock/Smythe

Stephan Crump – bass
Ingrid Laubrock – sax
Cory Smythe – piano.

Location: 2220 Arts + Archives - 2220 Beverly Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90057

Cost: $20.00

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Monday, October 16, 2023

5:00 pm - Angel City Jazz + Vernacular: Intergenerational Improvisation Night

Angel City Jazz Festival teams up with the newly established Vernacular: New Music series to present an intergenerational improvisation mashup of more than 20 veteran and emerging musicians performing eight 30 minute sets as duos and trios.

Presented in association with the Vernacular New Music Series happening 1st and 3rd Mondays at the Oracle Tavern.

Vernacular: New Music series was born of a chance encounter at Oracle Tavern that resulted in me agreeing to book new music there on alternating Monday nights. Los Angeles is home to a community of exceptionally deep and diverse talent, and I thought immediately that the Oracle could be a comfortable place to host music created honestly in the moment, with no other stated purpose or agenda.

I’m extremely gratified that musicians and listeners agree and have built up the series well beyond our expectations since we began nearly a year ago.

This program represents – and is dedicated to – the exploratory and supportive spirit of the musicians and listeners of the Los Angeles improvised music community and its extensions worldwide.

Featuring:

Vinny Golia – woodwinds
Dylan Fujiioka – percussion
Steuart Liebig – bass
Nicole McCabe – woodwinds
Vicki Ray – keyboards
Miller Wrenn – bass
Kris Tiner – trumpet
Breana Gilcher – oboe
Brian Walsh – woodwinds
Ted Taforo – woodwinds
William Roper – tuba, etc.
Kozue Matsumoto – koto
Joe Berardi – percussion, etc
Devin Daniels – woodwinds
Motoko Honda – keyboards
Lauren E Baba – viola/violin
Dan Clucas – trumpet
Niloufar Shiri – kamancheh
Carey Fosse – guitar
Steph Richards – trumpet
Wayne Peet – keyboards

Location: Oracle Tavern, 1640 North Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Cost: $10.00 - $20.00 Door Donation

Saturday, October 21, 2023

8:00 pm - Root Progressions: Gloria Cheng, Linda May Han Oh and Jon Jang

This concert will feature the premiere of six solo piano compositions commissioned by Gloria Cheng to six acclaimed jazz composers: Linda May Han Oh, Jon Jang, Arturo O’Farril, Anthony Davis, James Newton and Gernot Wolfgang.

First set:
Gloria Cheng – solo piano
+
Jong Jang – piano
Hitomi Oba -sax

Second set:
Gloria Cheng – solo piano
+
Linda May Han Oh – bass
Fabian Almazan – piano

Location: Zipper Hall At The Colburn, 200 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Cost: $25.00

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Sunday, October 22, 2023

8:00pm - Todd Sickafoose’s Bear Proof + Kirk Knuffke Trio

First Set: Kirk Knuffke Trio

Kirk Knuffke – cornet
Santiago Leibson – piano
Michael Bisio – bass

Second Set: Todd Sickafoose Bear Proof

Todd Sickafoose – bass
Jenny Scheinman – violin
Adam Levy – guitar
Carmen Staaf – piano
Ben Goldberg – clarinet
Kirk Knuffke – cornet
Rob Reich – accordion
Allison Miller – drums

Location: The Moss Theatre, 3131 Olympic Blvd, Santa Monica, CA

Cost:  $25.00

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Wednesday, October 25, 2023

8:00 pm - Harriet Tubman + OCEANS AND Tim Berne, Aurora Nealand and Hank Roberts

First Set: OCEANS AND

Tim Berne – alto sax
Aurora Nealand – accordion, clarinet, voice
Hank Roberts – cello, voice

Second Set: Harriet Tubman

Melvin Gibbs – bass
Brandon Ross – guitar
J.T. Lewis – drums

For Ages 21 +

Location: Zebulon, 2478 Fletcher Drive, Los Angeles, California

Cost: $20.00

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Thursday, October 26, 2023

6:30 pm - Nicole Mitchell’s The Mandorla Letters Book Reading

The Mandorla Letters for the hopeful – 2022 – by Nicole Mitchell Gantt

Afrofuturist memoir on jazz, collaboration, and the search for collective well-being

Part memoir, part manifesto, part Black speculative novella, this book explores inequity, the musical legacies of jazz, creative music, and intercultural collaboration to guide readers toward an alternative society that disrupts binaries, hierarchies, and western ideas of progress. Paying homage to inspiring artists, it opens channels for artistic proliferation that are integral to the collective survival of our planet.

Free event presented in partnership with the Soundwaves New Music, the Santa Monica Public Library and Village Well Books & Coffee.

Author Nicole Mitchell will read excerpts from her new book ‘The Mandorla Letters’. The book will be available for purchase during this event.

Location: Santa Monica Public Library – MLK Jr Auditorium, 601 Santa Monica Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA

Cost: Free

Friday, October 27, 2023

8:00pm - Mat Maneri Quartet + Ennis Harris ‘Images & Silhouettes’

First Set: Ennis Harris’ Images & Silhouettes

World premiere of Images & Silhouettes, a new composition commissioned by the Los Angeles Jazz Society’s Jeff Clayton’s Memorial New Note Award.

Line-up TBA

Second Set: Mat Maneri Quartet

Mat Maneri – viola
Brandon Lopez – bass
Lucian Ban – piano
Randy Peterson – drums

Location: 2220 Arts + Archives, 2220 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA

Cost: $20.00

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Saturday, October 28, 2023

8:00 pm - Nicole Mitchell’s JBM: Images Beyond + Next Jazz Legacy Showcase

Next Jazz Legacy Showcase, co-presented with New Music USA:

Join us for performances by artists selected for the second cohort of Next Jazz Legacy – a new national apprenticeship program for women and non-binary improvisers in jazz for a more inclusive jazz future. Next Jazz Legacy is a partnership between New Music USA and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice with support from the Mellon Foundation and Joe & Nancy Walker.

Nicole Mitchell’s JBM: Images Beyond is a theatrical concert by award winning flutist/composer Nicole Mitchell that celebrates the unrevealed afro-surrealist folk art and poetry of her mother, Joan Beard Mitchell, in the 40th anniversary of her death. Joan Beard Mitchell was born and raised on Chicago’s southside; her works show an aesthetic connection to the experimentalism and afro-surrealist ideals within the Chicago Black Arts Movement. Her artistic development reached merit in Syracuse, New York and she continued to create in isolation after moving to Orange County, California, where she met her abrupt death in 1983.

In Images Beyond, JBM’s words are organized into a dramatic expression played by actor/vocalist Maia and interwoven with original music by Nicole Mitchell, in an environment that visually features JBM’s paintings, watercolors and graphic art.

First Set: Next Jazz Legacy Showcase

Anais Maviel – voice
Milena Casado – trumpet
Neta Raanan – saxophone
Anastassiya Petrova – Keys
Kalia Vandever – trombone
Keyanna Hutchinson – guitar
Anna Butters – bass
Ivanna Cuesta – drums

Second Set: Nicole Mitchell’s JBM: Images Beyond
Artwork and Poetry by Joan Beard Mitchell
Dramatic Performance by actor/vocalist Maia
Music composed by Nicole Mitchell

Nicole Mitchell – flute
Jeff Parker – guitar
Maggie Parkins – cello
Jeff Gauthier – violin
Anna Butters – bass
Rajna Swaminathan – percussion

Location: REDCAT at Disney Hall, 631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA

Cost:  $25.00

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Sunday, October 29, 2023

8:00 pm - TC3 with Hubert Laws + The Billy Mohler Quartet’s ULTRAVIOLET CD Release Party

First Set: Billy Mohler Quartet ‘s ULTRAVIOLET CD Release Party

Billy Mohler – bass
Mark Turner – tenor sax
Shane Endsley – trumpet
Jonathan Pinson – drums

Second Set: TC3 with Hubert Laws

Todd Cochran – piano
John Leftwich – bass
Lyndon Rochelle – drums
Special Guest:
Hubert Laws – flute

Pianist and composer Todd Cochran sees jazz as a profoundly communicative musical expression. Rooted in tradition, robustly universal, and inclusive, his art provides an attractive meeting ground where viewpoints freely interact. In performance, his acoustic trio, TC3, joined with a special guest appearance by NEA jazz master Hubert Laws, explores a nuanced, poetic musical language that engages an audience in an energizing creative dialogue about the crescendos of uncharted change in the world. Cochran’s music embraces the canon and is enlarged through the lens of contemporary culture, critical social concerns, and the need for new ideas in these times of overlapping anxieties.

Location: REDCAT at Disney Hall, 631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA

Cost:  $25.00

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Dates: October 13 - 29, 2023

Venues: Various Venues in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, CA

Click Here for more information.