It’s a record: La Jolla Music Society’s ongoing 55th annual performing arts season features more jazz concerts than the celebrated classical-music organization has ever presented before.
The lineup between now and June features such greats as keyboardist Herbie Hancock and saxophonists Charles McPherson and Branford Marsalis. It also includes such rising artists as pianist Dayramir González, saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin and vibraphonist Joel Ross.
The 19 upcoming concerts over the next five months are more than double the number of jazz concerts the society presented in its 2022-23 season. It is nearly quadruple the number of jazz concerts scheduled for its COVID-shortened 2019-20 season — the first at its state-of-the-art, $82 million Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center in downtown La Jolla.
The 42,000-square-foot center houses the 500-seat Baker-Baum Concert Hall and The JAI, an intimate, cabaret-style room with a 140 capacity.
The Baker-Baum has hosted such top attractions as Wynton Marsalis and the Maria Schneider Orchestra, while Alfredo Rodriguez and Matthew Whitaker are among the young acts who played at The Jai. Young singing sensation Samara Joy, who won two 2023 Grammy Awards, became the first jazz artist to perform at both of the center’s venues in a single day.
“All our programs have seen growth, but jazz probably more — because of our increased use of The JAI, where jazz works really well,” said Todd Schultz, the society’s CEO.
“I watch what other people are doing and how we hold up compared to other arts organizations. And there are so many articles about how arts organizations are struggling in the wake of the pandemic. I’m extremely grateful we have expanded our programming and are seeing really good attendance at The JAI. Jazz is certainly part of the long game for this organization.”
Expanding live jazz options
Perhaps not coincidentally, the number of area live jazz options appears to be growing.
This month will see the opening of LouLou’s Jungle Room at the Lafayette Hotel. It will feature jazz and dinner service Thursdays through Saturdays, with monthly performances by top trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos. He heads the Young Lions Jazz Conservatory at Liberty Station and is now in his ninth year as the jazz curator for the San Diego Symphony, whose jazz programming has grown during Castellanos’ tenure.
The intimate Jazz Lounge, which singer Leonard Patton has operated since 2022 in Rolando, offers full dinners at all its concerts. The JAI, whose capacity is nearly three times that of the Jazz Lounge, serves drinks and lighter food items.
“I know we’re not the only cabaret-type venue in town, but it feels like a new growth opportunity for us,” Schultz said.
“It feels like our audience keeps building in these post-quarantine years and we want to evolve in a thoughtful and strategic way. My role is to provide the resources and space, but not to select the artists.”
Leah Rosenthal, the society’s artistic director since April 2020, books all the concerts at both of the center’s venues, including classical, jazz, dance, world music and lectures. She also works closely with SummerFest music director Inon Barnatan on the society’s annual July and August chamber music marathon.
“We absolutely have a record number of jazz and world music artists this season,” said Rosenthal, who started at the society in 2008 and became its director of programming in 2016.
“As we’ve increased and broadened our programming, it was natural to expand our jazz and world music presentations,” she continued. “Thankfully, there is the demand from our (returning) audience members and opportunities to welcome new ones.”
Three January debuts at The JAI
The JAI will host three jazz artists this month. Each will perform two concerts a night. Each is making their debut at the venue.
The first is pianist Sean Mason and his quartet next Sunday. They’ll be followed Jan. 19 by Swiss-born singer Tatiana Eva-Marie and The Avalon Jazz Band. The month wraps up Jan. 28 with saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin. Then comes a Feb. 10 Blue Note Records 85th Anniversary Tour concert stop at the Baker-Baum Concert Hall, followed by a pair of Feb. 23 JAI shows by trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and his trio.
“Our 2023/2024 season has 75 concerts in different genres,” Rosenthal noted. “Before our arts center opened in 2019, we were doing 25 concerts a season. Having this building with two venues has really given us the opportunity to expand from our core classical-music programming.”
Rosenthal spoke enthusiastically about the society’s new jazz components in 2024, a year that will see the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center celebrate its fifth anniversary this fall.
April features the debut of a mini-piano festival. It is centered around a Balboa Theater concert by keyboard legend Herbie Hancock, who has performed several times at the same venue as part of the society’s previous seasons.
Hancock’s April 18 Balboa concert will be followed by two concerts at The JAI the next night by Cuban keyboard phenom Dayramir González and his band, Habana enTRANCé. Japanese pianist and composer Hiromi will perform in the Baker-Baum April 20 with her fusion-jazz band Sonicwonder. She’ll be in the same venue the next day for a concert with a string quartet.
“We’ll also have a panel discussion with the artists and some ancillary activities as part of the piano festival, including master classes and inviting high school jazz ensembles to perform,” Rosenthal said.
Also new this season, international saxophone star Charles McPherson — a longtime area resident — is curating two concerts in The JAI in May and June. He’ll perform there with two groups of handpicked musicians, including keyboardist John Beasley and trumpeter Terell Stafford.
“I plan in the future to invite other incredible San Diego jazz musicians to have a curatorial voice in The JAI,” Rosenthal said.
Jazz options abound
The concerts Rosenthal has booked significantly boost the already plentiful amount of options for jazz fans here.
On Jan. 19, the latest iteration of the Cab Calloway Orchestra, led by his grandson, performs at California Center for the Arts, Escondido, followed on Feb. 10 at the same venue by New Orleans’ Dirty Dozen Brass Band. On Feb. 6, Delfeayo Marsalis and The Uptown Jazz Orchestra perform at UC San Diego’s Price Center East Ballroom as part of the university’s historically jazz-friendly ArtPower season.
Between this past Saturday and Feb. 24, Bay Park’s Dizzy’s — now in its 24th year — will present at least six jazz concerts. These include an encore performance by French gypsy-jazz guitarist Stéphane Wrembel and his band.
Less than a mile away, Tio Leo’s continues its weekly Sunday jazz series, which is curated by acclaimed flutist Holly Hofmann and has featured such nationally prominent artists as drummer Jeff Hamilton and guitarist Bruce Forman. On Jan. 14, Tio Leo’s will present Danish jazz vocal star Sinne Eeg and leading San Diego guitarist Peter Sprague. He has performed at the Baker-Baum Concert Hall — as has Hofmann — both with the Camarada ensemble.
“I think it’s good for everybody there are so many jazz concerts in San Diego,” said author and critic Howard Mandel, the Chicago-based president of the Jazz Journalists Association.
“Performing arts centers have the budgets to book bigger artists and the potential to draw a much larger audience than jazz clubs and smaller venues can afford.”
The confluence of jazz activity here has drawn the attention of other music-industry veterans, including Denver-based Don Lucoff. His company, DL Media, marked its 35th anniversary in 2023 as one of the nation’s leading jazz marketing and P.R. companies. From 2012 to 2020, he was executive artistic director of the Portland Jazz Festival.
“What has transpired with La Jolla Music Society is atypical, based on the fact San Diego is not a robust touring jazz market like San Francisco, Seattle or Portland,” said Lucoff, an SDSU alum and former DJ here at radio station KSDS-FM Jazz 88.
“It’s also atypical, in that most performing arts centers in an atypically routed jazz market would not book beyond a small season subscription of jazz concerts, which are typically four shows between September and May,” Lucoff noted.
“That’s the model for top-tiered multidisciplinary performing arts centers that book classical and World Music, dance, author talks and so on. So, it’s unusual to have so much jazz, which is a great way to bring in new audiences.”
But geography adds another intriguing, and perhaps challenging, twist here.
The JAI and the Baker-Baum Concert Hall are just a few blocks from La Jolla’s 125-year-old Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, whose four-part 2024 winter season opens with a Jan. 21 concert by noted bassist Linda May Han Oh and her quintet.
The series in the 150-seat Joan & Irwin Jacobs Music Room was launched in 1989 by Daniel Atkinson, the Athenaeum’s jazz programming coordinator. The Ath, as some longtime attendees call it, has presented scores of jazz legends and rising stars over the decades, including trumpeter Akinmusire, who plays Feb. 23 at The JAI.
On Feb. 8, piano master Brad Mehldau performs a sold-out concert as part of the 34th year of the Athenaeum Jazz at Scripps Research Institute series. That series has presented such luminaries as Chick Corea, Carla Bley and Charles Lloyd.
On Feb. 21, Israeli jazz guitarist Gilad Hekselman will make his San Diego debut at the Ath. That’s the same night saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin makes her debut at the JAI.
‘Spotlight on the art form’
Are so many concerts possibly too much of a good thing for San Diego jazz fans, who can’t be in two places at once? Or for those who may not have the time or means to attend more than one or two concerts a month?
“I believe the more jazz there is — and the more attention it gets — means we all get audiences, because it puts a spotlight on the art form,” said Schultz, the society’s CEO.
Lucoff agreed, but with a caveat.
“There are only so many dollars even hardcore jazz fans will spend on tickets,” he noted. “So, it’s crucial performing arts centers, jazz clubs, independent presenters and radio stations are communicating and sharing information. That benefits all of them and the audience. You build alliances so that no one is working at cross purposes, especially with an art form like jazz.”
Atkinson, the executive director of the Western Jazz Presenters Network, believes a better rapport between the Athenaeum and La Jolla Music Society would help both avoid presenting concerts on the same night. He said there has been no response from the society to his efforts to coordinate scheduling with them.
“It is unfortunate we no longer have the line of communication that was the norm (up until 2015),” Atkinson noted.
“Having been committed to jazz for the past 35 years at the Athenaeum, I have seen a lot of venues and series come and go — places like Elario’s, Anthology and Holly Hofmann’s excellent series at both the San Diego Museum of Art and the North Park Theater. The market for jazz being what it is, sometimes a rising tide has served to swamp the scene rather than elevate it.”
In response, Rosenthal said: “It’s a shame Dan feels that way. I’m very conscious of what other jazz presenters are doing, and the work Dan does at the Athenaeum is incredible. I would love to reinstate our lines of communication, which will benefit all of us.”
La Jolla Music Society 2024 jazz concerts
When: Jan. 14 through June 9
Where: The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave., La Jolla. Events are in The Baker-Baum Concert Hall or the adjacent JAI, unless otherwise noted.
Phone: (858) 459-3728
Box office: 7600 Fay Avenue, La Jolla (open weekdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and two hours prior to each evening performance)
Online: theconrad.org
Jan. 14: Sean Mason Quartet, $65-$83; 5 and 7:30 p.m., The JAI
Jan. 19: Tatiana Eva-Marie & The Avalon Jazz Band, $55-$70; 6 and 8:30 p.m., The JAI
Jan. 28: Lakecia Benjamin & Phoenix, $65-$80; 5 and 7:30 p.m., The JAI
Feb. 10: Blue Note Records 85th Anniversary Tour, featuring Immanuel Wilkins, Gerald Clayton, Joel Ross and Kendrick Scott, $43-$80; 7:30 p.m., Baker-Baum Concert Hall
Feb. 23: Ambrose Akinmusire Trio, $65-$80; 6 and 8:30 p.m. The JAI
March 14: Branford Marsalis Quartet, $45-$90; 7:30 p.m., Baker-Baum Concert Hall
April 18: Herbie Hancock, $55-$150; 7:30 p.m., Balboa Theatre
April 19: Dayramir González & Habana enTRANCé, $68-$83; 6 and 8:30 p.m., The JAI
April 20: Hiromi’s Sonicwonder, $43-$80; 7:30 p.m., Baker-Baum Concert Hall
April 21: Hiromi & PUBLIQuartet, $40-$75; 3 p.m, Baker-Baum Concert Hall
May 18: Charles McPherson & Friends, featuring John Beasley and The Next Generation, $55-$80; 6 & 8:30 p.m., The JAI
June 9: The Charles McPherson Quintet, featuring Terell Stafford and Lewis Nash, $65-$80; 5 & 7:30 p.m., The JAI