The 5th Annual Angel City Jazz Festival Returns to LA in October
Angel City Arts and the Jazz Bakery present the fifth annual Angel City Jazz Festival October 5 -14, with concerts at LACMA, REDCAT, the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, and UCLA’s Royce Hall in association with CAP UCLA. The theme for this year’s festival is “Artists & Legends,” a vehicle for forward-looking artists to pay tribute to the legendary mentors who played significant roles in their musical lives.
Artist and legend pairings include Thelonious Monk Competition-winning trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire with legendary saxophonist Archie Shepp, Grammy-nominated pianist Vijay Iyer, with his mentor saxophonist Steve Coleman, and guitarist Bill Frisell who pays tribute to the blues musicians of the Mississippi Delta in his score to the movie The Great Flood. Pianist Myra Melford shares the stage with her colleague and mentor pianist Marilyn Crispell, Mark Dresser’s quintet performs with former Ornette Coleman sideman Bobby Bradford, and guitarist Anthony Wilson and organist Larry Goldings perform with the legendary drummer Jim Keltner. Noted Armenian pianist Vardan Ovsepian and top young bassist Damian Erskine appear with Damian’s legendary uncle, drummer Peter Erskine. And in a perfect example of the artist and legend pairing, Angel City Arts renews its commitment to young talent by hosting the second annual Angel City Jazz Young Artist Competition, with the winner performing in concert with celebrated trombonist Phil Ranelin at the festival’s free opening concert at Los Angeles County Museum of Art as part of the Jazz at LACMA concert series.
While Los Angeles was a cradle to 1960s innovators such as Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy and Charles Lloyd, the city never consistently hosted a festival dedicated to post-traditional improvisation until innovator Rocco Somazzi founded the Angel City Jazz Festival in 2008. The festival has helped establish L.A. as a jazz destination through five years of concerts featuring artists such as Bennie Maupin, Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, Ravi Coltrane, Henry Grimes, and Nels Cline, as well as rising stars such as Tigran Hamasyan, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Kneebody, and Todd Sickafoose, among many others. This year’s partnership with legendary Jazz Bakery artistic director Ruth Price resonates perfectly with the festival’s Artists & Legends theme.
Angel City Arts joins hands with its partners, the Jazz Bakery, the Ford Amphitheatre, REDCAT, LACMA, and CAP UCLA, (formerly UCLA LIVE) to unite jazz’s exciting past and present. The 2012 Angel City Jazz Festival’s theme of Artists & Legends seeks to elevate the concepts of cooperation and respect through the legacy and continuity of America’s original art form.
For the complete schedule, go here.
