Tickets and details here.
Fri. Oct. 18: Diego Gaeta Septet, Yafeu Tyhimba Octet at the World Stage.
Diego Gaeta plays keyboards and composes, but mainly he sets a mood with a riff, a progression, a color scheme, and gets things going. His chemistry has proved valuable with Carlos Niño, Andre 3000 and fellow A.C. Fest artist Joy Guidry, and here he leads a septet drawn from his rich native L.A. pool including Ark drummer Mekala Session, soulful alto man Devin Daniels and singer Jimetta Rose to perform music from his most recent release.
Upright bassist Yafeu Tyhimba is the recipient of the 2024 L.A. Jazz Society New Note Award, and will premiere his commissioned piece "Dystopia." Judging from what we can find online, he leans toward a trippy, electronified vibe, and you should definitely arrive in time to catch his opening set.
Sat. Oct. 19: Joy Guidry's Amen, Deron Johnson's Free To Dance at 2220 Arts & Archives.
This year's "Amen" by Houston bassoonist Joy Guidry taps the Southern church, the blues and an electronic sound field to cut loose a socially conscious flood that carries a deep undertow. Here she'll be accompanied by the synths and violin of Scott Li and the rolling drums of Mekala Session.
After surfacing in 1991 on Miles Davis' underrated "Doo-Bop," keyboardist Deron Johnson continued to be in demand with Miles, Stanley Clarke, Leni Stern and a lot more. His current "Free to Dance" was put together spontaneously in the studio for maximum floation, so it's likely he'll take a similar approach with drummer Max Jaffe (who's going for extreme electronic cut-ups on his new recording), plus bassist (and Aimee Mann producer) Paul Bryan, and eclectic trumpeter Stewart Cole.
Sun. Oct. 20: Mark Dresser; Thollem McDonas; Patrick Shiroishi; Brandon Seabrook at ArtShare L.A.
Two sets of solo improvisations from some of the best.
First set: Mark Dresser is a standup bassist who can conjure more tones, tobaggan runs and rhythmic backflips from his instrument than anyone else, completely fascinating in solo mode. And Thollem McDonas is a keyboardist who chops up time like a Mongolian chef, more percussionist than melodist (his latest release is a duo with Nels Cline).
Second set: Saxist Patrick Shiroishi has worked his lip to the tooth on the L.A. avant scene for the past decade, whether solo or in ensembles of any size, acoustic or electric, with an openness to theater, film, alternate environments . . . the guy just has a curious mind, and chops that can adapt from forest quiet to furious energy. And Brooklynite Brandon Seabrook plays technically proficient guitar and banjo with a nervy, percussive modern edge on his many recordings.
Thurs. Oct. 24: Iseul Kim's Liberosis, Jenny Scheinman's All Species Parade at 2220 Arts & Archives.
Korean pianist Iseul Kim has moved around a lot, and her compositions do the same -- you hear a classical foundation applied to many different influences, compressed and decoded so that they don't often stay distinct for long. Such restlessness is finely attuned to the modern sensibility, and Kim is only beginning to realize her potential. Her love of strings will be served well by Sirius Quartet violinist Fung Chern Hwei and local cello marvel Artyom Manukyan, as well as Herbie Hancock Institute bassist Emiliano Lasansky, and she's scored one of the most dynamic drummers on the L.A. scene, Anthony Fung.
The distinctively grainy, fragile tone of Jenny Scheinman's violin is unforgettable. Applying it to recordings by everyone from Lou Reed to the ROVA Saxophone Quartet, as well as her own Tzadik and Cryptogramophone releases, she brings a rare feeling of joyful abandon, as on her current "All Species Parade," which features the likes of Bill Frisell and Julian Lage. Tonight her rollicking band includes Carmen Staaf (piano), Adam Ratner (guitar), Tony Scherr (bass) and Mark Ferber (drums).