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Jazz At LACMA: 30 Years Of Friday Night Jazz

By Chuck Koton
February 14, 2023
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For more than thirty years, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has been presenting a free, swinging jazz concert every Friday evening. During that time so many jazz clubs in the Los Angeles area have come and gone: the Vine Street Bar and Grill, Charlie O's, Spazio's and Cafe Metropol, among others, have all shut their doors. In 2009, landlord greed forced the Jazz Bakery out of their long-time home and, more recently, Covid killed Joon Lee's Blue Whale in LA's Little Tokyo. However, while the vicissitudes of modern life have caused so many jazz venues to shutter, the Friday night, free jazz series at LACMA has endured to provide opportunities for a multitude of LA based musicians to perform and jazz lovers to gather and share this great music.

For more than 17 years,

Mitch Glickman

composer / conductor

" data-original-title="" title="">Mitch Glickman has been the musical director at LACMA, and he has presented the very best musicians in Southern California to the program's loyal audience. According to Glickman, the mission of LACMA Jazz has been that: "music is the vehicle, community is the goal." And Glickman has brought many great musicians to the stage that faces Chris Burden's by now iconic "Urban Lights" installation and Wilshire Boulevard. World renowned artists like

Wayne Shorter

saxophone
1933 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Wayne Shorter and

Quincy Jones

arranger
1933 - 2024

" data-original-title="" title="">Quincy Jones, guitarist

Kenny Burrell

guitar, electric
b.1931

" data-original-title="" title="">Kenny Burrell, sax masters

Azar Lawrence

saxophone
b.1952

" data-original-title="" title="">Azar Lawrence and

Kamasi Washington

saxophone
b.1981

" data-original-title="" title="">Kamasi Washington, cornetist

Bobby Bradford

trumpet
b.1934

" data-original-title="" title="">Bobby Bradford, keyboardist

Les McCann

piano
1935 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Les McCann, bassist

Henry Franklin

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Henry Franklin, and so many more have performed there at LACMA))) Over the years, the enthusiastic crowds that gather every Friday between April and November are incontrovertible proof that LACMA's mission has been a unqualified success. View Slideshow

Curtis Taylor @LACMA

Dancers @LACMA

Theo Saunders & Teodross Avery @lacma

Yayo Morales @LACMA

Vinny Golia & Tina Raymond @LACMA

Munyungo Jackson @LACMA

Dwight Trible & John Beasley @LACMA

Dale Fielder's Sax @LACMA

3 Generations @LACMA

Dancer @LACMA

Henry "theSkipper" Franklin @LACMA

Henry Franklin & TheoSaunders @LACMA

Mahesh Balasooriya @LACMA

Jeff Littleton @LACMA

Phil Ranelin @LACMA

Miles Mosely @LACMA

Tony Austin @LACMA

Rocco Somazzi & LeRoy Downs @LACMA

Ralph Moore & Brian Swartz @LACMA

Azar Lawrence & Dale Williams @lacma

Les McCann @LACMA

Michael Session & Steven Smith @LACMA

Chuck Manning @LACMA

Teodross Avery @LACMA

Marvin "Smitty" Smith @LACMA

Eric Reed @LACMA

Bobby Bradford @LACMA

Alphonse Mouzon @LACMA

Alphonse Mouzon & Nolan Shaheed @LACMA

William Roper @LACMA

Vinny Golia & Bobby Bradford @LACMA

Azar Lawrence & Henry Franklin @LACMA

Kenny Burrell & Gerald Wilson @LACMA

Mitch Glickman & Bobby Bradford @LACMA

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