This August, the streets, parks, clubs and beaches of Los Angeles will come to life with a city-wide celebration of jazz in the inaugural L.A. Jazz Festival. Headlined by artists including John Legend and Janelle Monáe, the 17-day festival will illuminate the story of jazz, the genre’s pervasive influence and its connection to Southern California.
“L.A. has its own unique relationship and story with jazz from the early days of the founding of jazz in Congo Square, New Orleans,” festival founder Martin Ludlow said. Ludlow is a music promoter, labor activist and former L.A. City Council member who represented the 10th District from 2003-2005. In 2012, Ludlow created Bridge Street, an events production company focused on promoting social justice causes.
“Musicians traveled to L.A. along the Union Pacific rail line to come out to work in entertainment, work in Hollywood,” he said. “This was a time when Hollywood was really beginning to make a major shift with orchestras and big bands, and there’s all kinds of incredible film history around some of the legendary directors and big bands that were really changing the context of Hollywood. As Creole musicians came out for a better life to get away from Jim Crow racism and to try to earn a decent living for their family, they would work Hollywood by day and be able to begin playing in dinner and supper clubs that were really beginning to flourish along Central Avenue and throughout South L.A.”…