Nine-day event across city venues will celebrate centennials of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, culminating with concert at Tongva Park.
Santa Monica will host its first international jazz festival this spring, a nine-day event scheduled for May 1–9, with performances planned at Tongva Park, BroadStage, the Third Street Promenade and other locations.
Four-time Grammy-winning bassist Stanley Clarke will serve as artistic director. Organizers said the festival will mark the 100th anniversaries of jazz legends Miles Davis and John Coltrane, as well as the centennial of Route 66, which terminates at the Santa Monica Pier.
The festival will culminate May 9 with “A Day in the Park,” a ticketed outdoor concert at Tongva Park featuring saxophonist Kamasi Washington as headliner. The lineup for that event also includes Clarke and Friends, the Miles Electric Band and electronic jazz-funk group KNOWER performing with a full band.
Organizers said the Tongva Park show will be the first full-scale concert event held at the city’s oceanfront park, located near the western end of Route 66 and within walking distance of the Santa Monica Pier.
Additional performances will take place throughout the week. On May 8, BroadStage will host a tribute to Coltrane featuring saxophonists Lakecia Benjamin and Isaiah Collier, along with the ensemble Tenor Madness.
A free, public event titled “Sunday on the Promenade” is scheduled for May 3 in the 1300 block of the Third Street Promenade between Arizona Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard. The lineup includes keyboardist Elijah Fox, vocalist Genevieve Artadi, guitarist Meg Duffy and Greg Uhlmann performing as Duffy x Uhlmann, bassist Billy Mohler, Instant Alter, and student musicians including the Samohi Jazz Combo.
The festival will open May 1 with a pre-festival concert by Hiromi and her project Sonicwonder at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. That event is ticketed separately from festival passes.
City officials and organizers said the festival is intended to blend internationally known performers with emerging artists and local students from Santa Monica College and Santa Monica High School.
