Doors closing, doors opening.
Highland Park's ETA, a consistent home for adventurous improvisers, closed a year ago. And the York in Eagle Rock, which hosted trumpeter Julien Knowles and a jam session every Wednesday for most of 2024, pulls down its shutters January 5. But the High Low bar in Atwater Village launched a great Monday series a few months back. Before long we can expect the return of the invaluable Blue Whale, which Joon has moved from Little Tokyo to Frogtown. And New York's Blue Note franchise is slated to open a Hollywood jazz club on Sunset Boulevard curated by Robert Glasper in March -- but opening dates are always iffy. The talent is here and ready to perform. Experience shows the audience is here if the word gets out. Call it jazz or call it yo mama's azz; L.A. remains a world-class spot for it. Tell us about new spots so we can list 'em!
The loss of Will Salmon -- musician, dramaturge, actor and co-curator of the landmark avant Sunday Evening Music series -- was a big blow. But at least we got to see Salmon in one of his last performances, and his passing inspired co-curator Alex Cline to organize events with the Free Cloud Collective featuring brother Nels Cline, and a mass tribute, both driven by the healing thunder of his drums.
The 2024 Angel City Jazz Festival, though lacking any huge names, was a huge success once again. The complex accessibility of pianist Kris Davis' trio especially sticks in our mind, as does the ambitious orchestral boil of young bassist Yafeu Tyhimba's ensemble; we were sorry to miss the jamming electricity of Wayne Horvitz's Zony Mash in their much-anticipated return.
Charles Lloyd's virtuoso quartet played the Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival, and the majority of the audience apparently did not know who this legendary windman was. Slotted halfway through a long bill, the 86-year-old Lloyd blew with joy, depth and subtlety, eventually turning attendees' attention away from the flying beach balls. For those looking at your phones: You missed history.
We got to experience Christopher Garcia's drums and percussion three times this year in person: with bassist Michael Manring's trio, in a Dia de los Muertos performance, and in a Virgén de Guadalupe pageant. All three were in churches -- which have turned into sanctuaries for a lot of music in the wake of post-pandemic club closings. The large, reverberative spaces serve to amplify the powerful thud of Garcia's low-frequency drums, and to carry the shrill penetration of his indigenous Mesoamerican clay pipes. And the storytelling quality of his compositions refers back to moods that might have been felt 500 years ago by peoples whose cultures were driven underground but still persist.
On the metal side of Aztec blood, it's been bubbling under for quite a while in Southern California. Maquahuitl (an Aztec battle ax) mix black metal with heavy corridos. Mictlantecuhtli blast furious death assaults they call "Aztec warrior metal" and wear corpsepaint. Zombie Eating Horse assert their aboriginality through the distinctiveness of their beats. All must acknowledge some debt to veteran Latino evil deathsters Sadistic Intent ("The ancient dead, now to rise/Abyssic hate in their eyes"), who exhumed themselves again recently.
We got vital new music from Ozzy and Manson. What year is this?
Resurgence: The soulful jam trio Maetar came back with a strong new album and live performances after a long hiatus due to trumpeter Itai Disraeli's brain surgery. Amazing.
A star is reborn: Singer Natasha Owens predicted the coming of the beast, with no reference to Iron Maiden.
Playing & slaying everywhere: keyboardist Joshua White, trumpeter Daniel Rosenboom, alto saxist Nicole McCabe, alto saxist Devin Daniels, pianist Jamael Dean, trumpeter Julien Knowles, drummer Tina Raymond, drummer Andrew Wang, bassist Billy Mohler, trombonist Jon Hatamiya, Black Nile, Katalyst, don't get me started. Oh yeah, and Vinny Golia keeps putting out enough music for 10 people.
Inspiring out-of-town visit: young tenor-sax howler Zoh Amba.
Was 2024 a bad year? Not for music. Something to build on, for sure.
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PHOTO BY FUZZY BORG.