Los Angeles is getting a jazz festival worthy of its musical legacy, and the inaugural Los Angeles Jazz Festival is not thinking small. The 17-day citywide event runs August 7 through 23, and the first wave of artists for its Jazz on the Beach closing weekend has just been announced, with John Legend and Janelle Monáe topping the bill at Dockweiler Beach on August 22 and 23. Tickets are on sale now via LAJazzFestival.com.
The rest of that closing weekend lineup reads like a masterclass in Black American music across its full breadth. Parliament Funkadelic featuring George Clinton, Raphael Saadiq, Charlie Wilson, Nubya Garcia, Big Freedia, Free Nationals & Friends, Joey Alexander, Pedrito Martinez, Alfredo Rodriguez, Poncho Sanchez, Justin-Lee Schultz, Original Koffee, and Ezara Collective all join the bill, alongside a special “Michelle Coltrane Celebrates the Coltrane Centennial” performance and an appearance by the L.A. Jazz Festival Foundation Youth Band. Additional performers will be announced in the coming weeks.
The festival opens August 7 with a free night at Leimert Park, featuring Lalah Hathaway and Chief Adjuah, with more names to come. From there, the event fans out across the entire city in a way few music festivals attempt. Twenty-five Jazz in the Park concerts will take place in urban parks across L.A. County. A Caribbean Street Carnival block party in Venice brings four stages and legends of New Orleans, Cuba, Afrobeats, and Latin jazz. A Jazz After Dark series activates late-night pop-ups in clubs and community venues across the city, including Ebony Beach Club and Ambassador Auditorium Pasadena.
The ambition behind the event extends well beyond the performances. The festival also includes Coastal Cultural Tours reflecting on the history of Coastal Racial Push-Out, a State of Jazz Conference, and an L.A. Jazz Youth Camp, free to attend, bringing over 2,000 young people from across L.A. County for workshops, masterclasses, and performances. Founder and CEO Martin Ludlow framed the vision directly: “From the Motherland and through the pain of oppression came the fierce improvisation, the very heartbeat, born in New Orleans that now shapes every musical genre across the globe.”
The goal is 250,000 attendees over 17 days, which would position the L.A. Jazz Festival as the third-largest jazz festival in the world and the largest Black-owned jazz festival ever created. StubHub is the official ticket marketplace and Airbnb is the inaugural title sponsor. Tickets for Jazz on the Beach, including cabana, VIP, general admission, and community options, are available now.