2022 line up

The Jazz Classics

ft. Patrice Rushen, Ernie Watts, Marvin “Smitty” Smith and Edwin Livingston

Patrice Rushen is an award-winning musician and composer who is also one of the most sought after artists in the music industry. She is a classically trained pianist who originally found success in the 70’s and 80’s with her signature fusion of jazz, pop and R&B. During this era, she composed and recorded the hit song, “Forget Me Nots,” which has been frequently covered and sampled by other artists. Rushen is also a four-time Grammy nominee who has composed scores for movies and television. She has been the first female musical director for many of the entertainment industry’s top award shows, which include the Grammy Awards, the Emmy Awards, the People’s Choice Awards, the NAACP Image Awards and HBO’s “Comic Relief V.”

Considered one of the world's top jazz pianists, she has performed with many artists. Among them are such esteemed names as Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Prince, Nancy Wilson, Ndugu Chancler, Carlos Santana, Freddie Hubbard and Lee Ritenour. She is a record producer and an award-winning composer of symphonic music, some of which was commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Rushen is the ”Ambassador For Artistry In Education” at Boston’s Berklee College of Music and is the Chair of the Popular Music Program at USC’s Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles.

Rushen also spends time working with the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, Nat’l Recording Arts and Sciences’ “Grammy In The Schools” program, the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, the Young Musicians Choral Orchestra and other organizations dedicated to establishing music education and mentorship programs for underprivileged youth.

Find out more at https://patricerushen.com/

Marvin "Smitty" Smith says "[I]t was a very natural inclination for me to play drums. At six months old, Smitty would climb up on the large lounge chair positioned directly in front of his father's drum set and watch him practice intensely. Whenever his father took a break, he would crawl over and press the foot pedals and attempt to emulate his dad. That experience, and banging on pots and pans, was the extent of his playing until he began formal training at the age of three.

Today, Smitty’s work has been described as a "comment on invention, firm and adventurous time and technical sufficiency." He has traveled extensively throughout the Orient, Europe, and the continental USA; and he has shared the stage with such greats as Sonny Rollins, Hank Jones, Frank Foster and Frank Wess, Art Farmer, Benny Golson, Slide Hampton, and Milt Jackson. He is a former member of the Ron Carter Quartet, The New York Jazz Quartet, and The Art Farmer/Benny Golson Jazztet.

Featured on more than 45 albums, additional performances and recordings augmented with Terence Blanchard and Donald Harrison, Ray Brown and Phineas Newborn, George Shearing, Bobby Watson, Hamiet Bluiett, Branford Marsalis, David Murray, Emily Remler, Peter Leicht, Kevin Eubanks, Donald Byrd, Monty Alexander, Diane Reeves, Michel Camilo, and Grover Washington Jr. Currently he's a member of Steve Coleman's Five Elements, and The Dave Holland Quartet. Smitty conducts seminars and clinics for students in jazz workshops, both in the United States and Europe; and is currently on staff of the jazz program at the Banff Centre of Fine Arts, Canada, and Drummers Collective, New York City.

Smitty has been Downbeat Critics' Poll winner for Talent Deserving Wider Recognition, 1985 through 1987, and 1989. Smitty performed on the Soundtrack of filmmaker Spike Lee's "School Daze", appeared in Sonny Rollins' music video "Saxophone Colossus", and was a member of Sting's "Nothing Like the Sun" South American tour, 1987.

Regarded as a well rounded musician with the ability to play all styles, he’s been described as the "John Coltrane” of the drums.

Find out more at https://www.instagram.com/marvinsmittysmith/?hl=en

Ernie Watts, the two-time Grammy-winner, first picked up a saxophone 57 years ago, at 13. He heard John Coltrane at 14, on the album ‘Kind of Blue,’ and says, “[I]t was as though someone put my hand into a light socket.” At 16, he was a featured soloist with the Delaware Symphony, but learning jazz by ear as a neighbor lent him jazz records. At Boston’s Berklee College of Music on a Downbeat Scholarship, he joined Buddy Rich’s Big Band when the lead alto quit. He was to be a “bright student fill-in” to get them to NYC, but instead toured the world with them for two years, and recorded two albums with the band. “I guess I got the job!” he laughs now.

In 1968, Watts moved to Los Angeles, where he knew many players from doing summer TV shows there with Rich’s band. He began working in the big bands of Gerald Wilson, Louie Bellson, and Oliver Nelson, doing a 3-month State Dept tour of West Africa with Nelson’s band in 1969. Soon Watts was guesting in and recording with Cannonball Adderley’s Quintet, and started to receive calls to work in the studios. He became “first call” for all the reed instruments, and did films, TV, and recordings with pop icons such as Marvin Gaye, Steely Dan, Carole King, Frank Zappa, all the Motown artists, and many others, plus had 20 years in Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show band, but still regularly played jazz in area clubs and led his own group. Charlie Haden, the iconic jazz bassist, heard Watts at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, and asked him to play. Watts joined him in Pat Metheny’s Special Quartet touring Asia, then as a charter member of Quartet West, Haden’s jazz quartet from the mid-1980’s till his death in 2014. Playing with Haden inspired Watts to move from production music in the studios to his central love, live jazz, on the road. By 1992, he had shifted his work entirely to jazz.

In 2004 Watts and his wife Patricia started Flying Dolphin Records, so Watts would have creative control of his music. “Wheel Of Time” (2016) is the label’s ninth release, recorded with his EU Quartet, which has been together for over 15 years. He dedicated the title tune, one of his four originals on this project, to his bandleader and friend for nearly 30 years, Haden. In 2014, Watts received the Frankfurt Music Prize in Germany, for excellence in performance, composition, and lifetime achievement in music. Of the 32 musicians honored before him, only 5 others are jazz players. In 2015, he was chosen as Guest of Honor at the Telluride Jazz Festival, playing on the Ernie Watts Stage with his own Quartet.

Recently, he has been featured in multi-genre bands that meld his jazz saxophone with various other traditions, such as his work with Dr. L. Subramaniam, the celebrated South Indian Classical violinist, and his traditional Indian group; Corky Siegel’s ChamberBlues, which has renowned Siegel on blues harmonica, a tabla player, a string quartet, and now the Watts horn, and with Marcus Schinkel in Germany, whose group fuses jazz with classical composers such as Beethoven.

Watts tours in Europe, Asia, and North America, especially with his own Quartets (and sometimes Quintets) with whom he plays his original music plus jazz classics, and teaches master classes at colleges and universities during his tours. One of the latest projects, in 2015, was the Sligo Jazz Project and Festival in Ireland, a week-long workshop with students with two festival concerts as well. He also performs with symphonies, most recently in 2016 in Long Beach California with an 84 piece orchestra, featuring a piece written for Watts, “Nightbird,” by film composer Michel Colombier, which was first played the night he met Charlie Haden.

Believing that music has the power to connect all people, Watts says,

“Music is God singing through us.”

Find out more at https://www.erniewatts.com/

Edwin Livingston, hailing from Dallas, Texas, was exposed to music early on. He has lived in Austin, TX & New Orleans, LA, and now resides in Los Angeles, CA. In his various travels he has played and recorded with many notable artists and greats.

He has performed and/or recorded with:

Elvin Jones, Ellis, Delfeayo, and Jason Marsalis, The Headhunters, Los Hombres Calientes (Grammy nominated Latin Jazz album), Bill Summers, Munyungo Jackson, Donald Harrison, Jr., Alvin Batiste, Ronnie Laws, Debra Laws, Lionel Loueke, D.J. Logic, David ”Fathead” Newman, John Beasley, The MONK'estra, Otmaro Ruiz, Mike Garson, Russell Ferrante, Sadao Watanabe, Justo Almario, Leni Stern, Kevin Toney of The Blackbyrds, Dave Weckl, Will Kennedy, Peter Erskine, Vince Wilburn, Jr., Jimmy Branly, Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, Tootie Heath, Dave Weckl, Joe LaBarbera, Hot Buttered Rhythm, Gecko Turner, Henry Butler, James Clay, Barbara Morrison, Queen Latifah, The Wichita symphony Orchestra, The Afro-American Chamber Music Society Orchestra, The Benjamin Wright Orchestra(Raphael Saadiq, Justin Timberlake, Will.I.Am, Brian McKnight, Mary J Blige, Aretha Franklin), Dave Slonaker Big Band(Grammy nominated large ensemble album) Vince Mendoza, Bob Mintzer(Grammy nominated large ensemble album) , Yellowjackets, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Jovanotti, Keiko Matsui, Melody Gardot, Seal, Natalie Cole, Ben Vereen, Sadao Watanabe, Frankie Valli and many others.

In addition to a full playing, touring, and recording career he is on the faculty at the USC Thornton School of Music, teaching bass & small ensembles in the jazz studies department. He is also part of the faculty of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts(LACHSA).

He holds a BM in performance from Wichita State University and an MFA in Perfomer/Composer from The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).

Edwin has appeared in several feature films, including Ray, Dreamgirls, Dolemite Is My Name, and Low Down, he has also performed on NBC LIVE Jesus Christ Superstar with John Legend, Sara Bareilles, & Brandon Victor Dixon. He's performed with Seal on The Late Late Show with James Corden, with Melody Gardot on Later...with Jools Holland, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Today Show, LIVE with Regis and Kelly and the A & E show Private Sessions with Queen Latifah.

He has two CD’s as a leader performing original music, The Edwin Livingston Group and Transitions.

Find out more at https://www.edwinlivingston.com/

Pete Escovedo & Family

Legendary Percussionist Pete Escovedo is an artist who broke down the barriers between Smooth Jazz, Salsa, Latin Jazz and contemporary music. His name has been synonymous in the music industry for more than 50 years. His new album “Rhythm Of The Night” is a wonderful latin jazz take on some of the top r&b songs from back in the day.

Peter Michael Escovedo III, Emmy winning Producer and Musical Director has earned recognition not only as a percussionist, but a producer, director, singer, songwriter, and television personality. He has contributed in countless world tours, recordings and television production. He's created, directed, and produced television shows, written music for film, theme songs for television, composed, arranged, and produced music for various artists.

Juan has toured, performed, and recorded with many artists, including Prince, Tony Toni Tone, Patti LaBelle, En Vogue, El DeBarge, Raphael Saadiq, and sister Sheila E., just to name a few. Juan has also just released his first solo cd entitled “The J” which features El DeBarge, Sheila E, and Peter Michael Escovedo.

https://peteescovedo.com/escovedo-family

John Beasley’s MONK’estra

Nine-time GRAMMY® nominee, and award winner John Beasley brings his smashing 16-piece big band called MONK’estra to Leimert Park Jazz Festival this year. Beasley has taken the music of MONK’estra to over 50 stages around the world so far. The feel and sound of MONK’estra captures the spirit of Thelonious Monk’s singular style with its off-beat melodies, humor, strange beauty and unbounded swing in fresh arrangements flavored with hints of New Orleans, hip-hop, Afro-Cuban, contemporary and atmospheric rhythms and colors. The International Review of Music described it as “Some of the most mesmerizing big band music of recent memory.”

John Beasley reimagines Monk’s compositions with an eye to the future that pays loving tribute to the master’s music while infusing it with contemporary harmonies, unstoppable grooves, and a contagious sense of fun.

Beasley is a versatile pianist, composer and arranger who began his career in his 20s backing jazz icons Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard. Since then, Beasley has performed with a wide range of artists, including Dianne Reeves, Ivan Lins, John Patitucci, Chaka Khan, Christian McBride, Carly Simon, to name a few. He was music director for international tours with Steely Dan, AR Rahman and Queen Latifah and currently a co-MD for Chucho Valdes La Creation tour.

In 2011, John Beasley was appointed Music Director for the Herbie Hancock Jazz Institute (formerly the Monk Institute) which presents International Jazz Day’s annual global gala concerts. Beasley has directed the concerts in Paris (2x), Istanbul, Osaka, St Petersberg, Havana, Washington, DC, New Orleans, New York and Los Angeles. The 2016 Jazz at the White House hosted by President Obama earned Beasley an Emmy nomination for Best Musical Direction.

Find out more at https://johnbeasleymusic.com/monkestra-2/

MUNYUNGO JACKSON’S JUNGLE JAZZ QUARTET

Seasoned percussionist, Munyungo Jackson, possesses an ever-increasing collection of instruments with which to execute his craft. In his over 55 years of playing, he has performed with greats such as Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, Sting, Herbie Hancock, Dianne Reeves, Karen Briggs, Kenny Loggins, the Zawinal Syndicate, George Howard, Ronnie Laws, The Temptations, Four Tops, The Supremes, and dozens of others, including numerous ethnic music and dance troupes. Munyungo was born in Los Angeles, California and is the nephew of the legendary singer, Capitol Records artist, Nellie Lutcher. Munyungo has performed on three Grammy Award-winning albums. In addition to his concerts, tours and recording work, Munyungo is one of the co-producers of the Watts Towers Day Of The Drum Festival and the Watts Towers Jazz Festival. Munyungo recently worked on the Smooth Jazz Cruise with Marcus Miller, Boney James, Jonathan Butler, Candy Dolfer, David Sandorn and many others.

Find out more at: https://munyungo.com/

Kamau Daaood and A Band of Griots

Kamau Daaood

Poet Kamau Daaood is the author of The Language of Saxophones: Selected Poems of Kamau Daaood, City Lights Publishers, 2005.and Notes D’un Griot De Los Angeles a bi-lingual translation, 2012, Le Castor Astral publisher 2012, during his Artist-in-Residency at the University of Bordeaux in Bordeaux, France. He is a native of Los Angeles where he co-founded with drummer Billy Higgins, The World Stage Performance Gallery: A non-profit arts institution. His early development began as a young member of the Watts Writers Workshop and the Pan African People’s Arkestra, under the direction of pianist Horace Tapscott in the late 60’s.

Kamau recorded the critically acclaimed CD Leimert Park, M.A.M.A. Records, 1997. He has been the subject and featured poet in several documentaries, including Life is a Saxophone produced by S. Pearl Sharp, 1984; Leimert Park: The Story of a Village in South Central L.A. by Jeannette Lindsay, 2005; and the PBS documentary Race is the Place, Paradigm Productions, 2005. Most recently, he appeared in And When I Die I Won”t Stay Dead, a film about Bob Kaufman by Filmmaker Billy Woodbury, 2016.

Kamau is the recipient of numerous honors, awards and fellowships, and has spent fifty years performing, recording, curating, teaching and producing, nationally and internationally. In 2018, Kamau received a fully supported writing residency in Bordeaux France for two months through the French Cultural Agency, ECLA to work on his memoir.

A Band of Griots

Teodross Avery

While growing up in Oakland and Vacaville, California, Teodross Avery’s parents exposed him to a wide range of music including traditional Eastern and Western African music, Soul, Rock, and Jazz. Jolted by the sound of John Coltrane’s ‘Giant Steps,’ Teodross switched to the saxophone at thirteen. At 17, Teodross eventually won a full music scholarship to attend the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston.

In 1994, while at Berklee College of Music, Teodross launched his first album In Other Words on GRP/Impulse records. During this time, he performed and/or recorded with many Master Jazz musicians including the Cedar Walton Sextet (featuring Art Farmer on trumpet), Hank Jones, Ben Riley, Harold Mabern, Cyrus Chestnut, Lewis Nash, Donald Harrison, Bobby Watson, The Roy Hargrove Big Band and (3X) Grammy Award winner, Dee Dee Bridgewater. Teodross has played and/or recorded with Contemporary artists such as Amy Winehouse, Lauryn Hill, Leela James, Matchbox Twenty, Train, Mos Def, and The Roots.

Teodross’ last two CDs feature the music of two of his biggest influences in Jazz. After The Rain: A Night For Coltrane explores the music of John Coltrane. His most recent cd is Harlem Stories: The Music Of Thelonious Monk. Teodross is the head of Jazz & Contemporary music at California State University Dominguez Hills in Los Angeles, California.

Mark de Clive-Lowe

Japanese-New Zealander composer, pianist, remixer and electronic music producer, Mark de Clive-Lowe is an internationally established artist with over 20 years' experience spanning multiple genres and continents. LA-based since 2008, Mark has released almost twenty solo albums and hundreds of collaborations on stage and in the studio with musicians, artists and DJs including Harvey Mason, Dwight Trible, Jody Watley, DJ Spinna, Sheila E, Kamasi Washington and Pino Palladino. His remix productions include Shirley Horn, Hiatus Kaiyote and the Blue Note Records catalog. Recent works have seen Mark take deep-dives into his Japanese roots, interpreting ancestry through the lens of jazz and electronica, and pioneering projects in the web3 music space. Mark is a recipient of the 2021 U.S.-Japan Creative Artists Fellowship and an active curator and educator.

"Way before jazz hybridity became a worldwide phenomenon, de Clive-Lowe was busy designing its blueprint.” – Jazziz

Dexter Story

Los Angeles-based Dexter Story is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and ethnomusicologist whose research focuses on post-colonial music production, electric lyre innovations, intersectional musicality in the Horn of Africa region, and also the globalization of 1960s and 1970s soul jazz music there and beyond. His dissertation focus currently investigates Eritrea’s little known popular music called guayla (gwai-lah) as a site for nationhood, protest, and breakthrough musical practice and technologies in the region. Story has two albums of fusion northeast African music on the Soundway Recordings label and a new duet album with Carlos Niño entitled “Feel Recordings Volume 1” on World Galaxy Records.

Trevor Ware

Trevor Ware is a multiple Grammy nominee with origins in Leimert Park. With The World Stage as his musical home, Ware has developed into one of the most supportive bassists in jazz. He is the bassist for the Legendary Count Basie Orchestra as well as jazz/pop vocalist Crystal Lewis. Ware has appeared on just under 100 recordings and maintains an active recording schedule. He shares his gifts as Professor of Jazz & Commercial Bass at California State University, Dominguez Hills.

The Leimert Park experience

Bios coming soon.

Fernando Pullum Community Arts Center Youth Jazz Band

The Fernando Community Arts Center teaches the performing arts in an after-school program that empowers the youth of South Los Angeles, ages 5-20, to understand their true value, impact their community as positive role models, and inspire them to expand their dreams of who they can become. We serve all students with a desire to learn and grow. Our program is offered free of charge. Instruction is provided for theater, dance, piano, guitar, wind instruments, drums, choir, tap, step, songwriting, and music production.

With 20 teachers, 110 classes per week and 850 students we have a busy program. Each school year we stage two big musicals and produce many other student performances for family, friends, and the community. In the summer we provide six weeks of all-day classes and field trips to places such as the Grammy Museum and the L.A. Dodgers.

Our advanced students play in our 20-person Jazz Band which performs in over 50 gigs per year. Past performances have included American Music Awards with Ciara, the HBO show “Insecure”, Ringo Starr’s Peace & Love birthday celebration, and the Billboard Music Awards on NBC TV.

During last school year our choir recorded with John Legend on a new song that was promoted nationally at Christmas time and the Jazz Band recorded with Aloe Blacc. And our performing arts program appeared on three TV features produced by KCBS Los Angeles.

Over the years, Fernando’s students have performed for many dignitaries, including President Ford and Prince Charles. The students have performed with Jackson Browne, Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Lionel Hampton, Wynton Marsalis, Al Jarreau, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and many other incredible musicians. They have opened the Playboy Jazz Festival four times and traveled to Cuba, Brazil, Spain, and New York. Six of his former students have won Grammys.

Lula Washington Dance Theater

Youth Dance Ensemble

Founded in 1979 in inner city Los Angeles by Lula and Erwin Washington, Lula Washington Dance Theater (LWDT) is a vibrant troupe known for powerful, high-energy performances, unique choreography, and works that are rooted in African American culture and history. Besides pursuing artistic excellence, LWDT is dedicated to promoting a love and practice of dance within South Los Angeles, where LWDT operates its own dance school and studio serving 100 young inner-city dancers.

Photo coming soon.

S.H.I.N.E. Mawusi Women's African Drum Circle

S.H.I.N.E. Mawusi Women's African Drum Circle is a group of women from Southern California led by Rene Fisher-Mims who formed the group to spread the knowledge of West African drum culture combined with healing, empowerment and inspiration. S.H.I.N.E. aspires to pass on the wisdom to those interested in West African culture. S.H.I.N.E. = Sisters Healing, Inspiring, Nurturing, and Empowering.

Emcee: LEROY DOWNS

LeRoy Downs has been an icon in the jazz industry for the past twenty years. The Los Angeles jazz radio program & festival host, journalist, television producer, and curator of the Just Jazz concert series has continued to contribute to the art form. Currently, he hosts a weekly Sunday night radio show called, “Just Jazz” on 89.9 FM KCRW.com.

The love of the music continued on another platform with the creation the Just Jazz App which features jazz radio archives, jazz television shows interviews, articles and other multi-media projects that have been created throughout the years.

LeRoy is an in-demand festival host who has graced the stages at many jazz festivals and performances including the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Central Avenue Jazz Festival, the Angel City Jazz Festival, The Playboy Jazz Cruise, The Jazz Cruise, Winter Jazz Fest in New York, the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz performances, and YES, the Leimert Park Jazz Festival.

There are some great plans, partnerships and collaborations for future endeavors, and LeRoy Downs will certainly be there continuing to carry the torch, push the music forward, and create new platforms of prominence for jazz music!