Los Angeles is a jazz town -- no use ignoring that anymore.
Jazz musicians such as Ornette Coleman, Dexter Gordon and Charles Mingus used to leave Southern California so they could get heard. Now, top names such as Jeff Parker and Nicole Mitchell have come here so they could get heard.
On our stages this year, the local veteran cadre continued to make mighty contributions: Bennie Maupin, Alex Cline, James Newton, Phil Ranelin, Charles Lloyd, Bobby Bradford, Dwight Trible, Derf Reklaw, Nedra Wheeler, Maia, Roberto Miranda, Vinny Golia, The Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, Brad Dutz, Emily Hay, Jeff Parker, Nicole Mitchell, Azar Lawrence, G.E. Stinson, Steuart Liebig, Jeff Gauthier, Jeff Schwartz and many more.
Bringing new enrichment to the soil, under-50 artists such as Kamasi Washington, Joshua White, Gerald Clayton, Nick Mancini, Black Nile, Jamael Dean, Chris Williams, Carlos Niño and their many friends assured vigorous growth to come.
From outside L.A., we got testamentary infusions from Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, Sun Ra's Ark, Tim Berne, Abdullah Ibrahim, Avishai Cohen, Motoko Honda, Mike & Leni Stern and too many more to name.
The Blue Whale still offers the best in bubbling-up modernism. The World Stage still showcases the underexposed (and phenomenal) South L.A. jazz community. Every year, the Angel City Jazz Festival cranks out two weeks of edgy abstraction from here and everywhere. Catalina's still brings in a lot of renowned fusionists and singers. UCLA's jazz series and Disney Hall's jazz series still pick from the world's cream. You can still walk into the Baked Potato any night and catch mind-boggling fusion. Zebulon finds the outmost and cultiest artists. The jazz series at Mr. MusicHead Gallery has maintained high standards in booking local and touring masters. Sam First has established itself as an airport-area haven for supreme pianists and extraordinary journeymen. Jazz Bakery's series at the Moss Auditorium consistently scores points on the local, national and international progressive edge. SunSpace hosts the fascinating underbelly of highly skilled L.A. exploration. The Battery Bookstore takes in jamming adventurers from all over the place.
Of course I left out a lot, but you never know how rich you are until you visit the treasury, and a year is a short time. I'll keep counting.
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PHOTO OF JOSHUA WHITE BY FUZZY BORG.