Get ready for the 33rd Annual Long Beach Jazz Festival
Relaxing outdoors on a summer day or night with friends and loved ones, listening to the best live music Los Angeles has to offer, is the very experience the Long Beach Jazz Festival brings to fans every year. of music. This is the 33rd year of the festival and it happens from August 12 to 14. The celebrated event is Southern California’s only jazz festival held on a beautiful grassy knoll in a beautiful waterfront setting.
With an eclectic lineup ranging from jazz to classic R&B, the festival showcases the best artists of the year as well as luminaries who remain the standard-bearers of jazz. This year’s program is proof of that. It includes headliners; Robert Glasper with Terrace Martin, Ledisi, Avery*Sunshine, Justin-Lee Schultz, Average White Band, Gerald Albright, Jonathan Butler, BK Jackson, Sergio Mendez, Damion Escobar, Eric Darius and Kandace Springs.
The Al Williams Jazz Society is a group of accomplished jazz musicians: Principal Dr. George Shaw (trumpeter, composer) created the Jazz Studies program at Long Beach City College. Keyboardist Ron Kobayasi (pianist, composer) has performed and recorded with a variety of artists including Tom Scott, Mel Torme, Teddy Edwards and Peter White. Henry “The Skipper” Franklin (bassist) longtime friend and jazz great, has long been in demand for international tours. He can be heard on over 100 albums – and two dozen as a frontman. He was the bassist for Hugh Masekela’s platinum hit “Grazing in the Grass” and The Skipper has performed with Count Basie, Roy Ayers, Hampton Hawes, Al Jarreau and others. Doug Webb (saxophone, flute) in his career has played and/or recorded with jazz avant-gardes, Horace Silver, Freddie Hubbard, Quincy Jones, Stanley Clarke among many others. Anthony (Tony) Poingsett (percussion, congas) has performed a lot in Las Vegas. He also enjoyed performing on stage with Marvin Gaye and Ray Charles.
The Al Williams Jazz Society performed regularly at beloved jazz venues in SoCal, including The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach and Spaghettini Italian Grill and Jazz Club in Seal Beach.
As a very special treat, the Al Williams Jazz Society will present a tribute to ‘The Queen’, Barbara Morrison, who sadly the music world lost on March 16, 2022. Barbara was a dear friend to Al Williams and his band as well as the Long Beach Jazz Festival.
Williams said Random Length News that Barbara appeared regularly with the Al Williams Jazz Society at the Jazz Sunrise Service – actually at sunrise – in the town of Carson each year for the Easter holiday. Williams’ band continued their legacy last April at the Sunrise Service, which included one of the band’s regularly featured singers, Alexis Joy.
The Al Williams Jazz Society’s salute to Barbara will take place around 3 p.m. Sunday, featuring vocalist Hope Diamond, who will perform some of Barbara’s numbers. And in honor of her legacy, videos of some of Barbara’s iconic performances will be shown on the big screen at the festival.
The Al Williams Jazz Society will also present some tunes from So nowits latest release.
Described in its liner notes as a collection of songs both familiar and new, So now is masterfully presented by the Al Williams Jazz Society to illustrate both the timelessness and evolution of the experience we call jazz. Noteworthy tracks include the expansive and soothing Journey to the desert and for straight “heads”, dip into Blakey’s Delight. Society Al’s polished sheen hits you like a perfect cup of Joe – steaming and percolating – it inspires your body to rise and kick in to those cool beats.
Opening act for The Al Williams Jazz Society will be Munyungo Jackson, percussionist, composer, arranger, producer and four-time Grammy winner. His credits are extensive in both recording and performance and they all culminate in the music on his latest album. morning sun, which weaves rhythms from Africa, South America, the Caribbean, Cuba and America.
Another notable appearance on the Friday night lineup will be Grammy Award-winning Robert Glasper with Terrace Martin.
Glasper is a jazz pianist gifted with smooth, harmonically complex compositions that also incorporate subtle hip-hop influences. The musician is originally from Texas, where he attended the High School for the Performing Arts in Houston. Glasper continued his musical studies at New School University in Manhattan. The Robert Glasper Experiment have released their first standalone album, black radio, for Blue Note, which sought to blur the lines between jazz, hip-hop, R&B and rock & roll. It entered the jazz charts at number one and won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album.
A three-time Grammy-nominated artist/producer/multi-instrumentalist from the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles, Terrace Martin is recognized as one of the world’s finest jazz musicians. His notable output has included major collaborations with Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, Stevie Wonder, Snoop Dogg, Herbie Hancock and many other influential artists.
Health and Wellness Pavilion
The annual festival feature promises to bring audiences inspirational and expert wellness speakers and leaders, treatment centers, vendors and healthy food sampling stations to Marina Green Park.
Everyone who attends the festival will have the opportunity to walk away with tools for a healthier lifestyle. To help people feel energized, focused, relaxed and experience an overall sense of pleasure, areas of focus that will be promoted at this event include: healthcare providers, organic and healthy foods, and the way of life.
The event also includes VIP seating with the option to rent a cabana during your festival experience. As always, the Long Beach Jazz Festival will offer a great selection of food, art, textiles and more.
33rd Annual Long Beach Jazz Festival
Time: 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., August 12 to August 14
Cost: $85 and up
Details: www.showpass.com/o/rainbow-promotions
Venue: Rainbow Lagoon Park, 400 E. Shoreline Dr., Long Beach
