MetalJazz

Select chronological listings.
***Make plans now for Angel City Jazz Festival, Oct. 13-29. Full listings chronologically below; get tickets and info here.***
* The World Stage in Leimert Park has Friday 8pm PT (and sometimes other days) in-person presentations with occasional simultaneous live streams of righteous jazz; keep up with the schedule here. Fri. Sept. 22: about the most exciting pianist around, Joshua White, leads a unit. Fri. Sept. 29: saxist Logan Richardson. Sat. Sept. 30: Nonsemble. Mon. Oct. 2: Herbie Hancock Institute Ensemble. Fri. Oct. 6: bassist Henry Franklin Birthday Concert. Fri. Oct. 13: guitarist Michael Gregory Jackson. Sat. Oct. 14: Destiny Mohammad/Teodross Avery (Angel City Jazz Fest). Fri. Oct. 20: flamenco singer-guitarist Christo Sorto. Fri. Oct. 27: World Stage Big Band. Donations encouraged here.
* ETA, a bar in Highland Park, brings top local (etc.) jazz. Check in anytime here, as it often books on short notice. Fri. Sept. 22: the keyboard-bass-drums trio of Paul Cornish, Logan Kane & Max Jaffe. Sat. Sept. 23: Bassist Billy Mohler celebrates the release of his new "Ultraviolet" with the truly distinctive saxist Chris Speed (who's on the album) and trumpeter Julien Knowles and drummer Jonathan Pinson (who aren't on it but coulda been); title track sounds fantastic. Mon. Sept. 24: super sax-bass-drums trio featuring Bill McHenry, Eric Revis & Tina Raymond.
* Fri. Sept. 22: A singer and a pianist of considerable reputation and skill combine talents at UCLA's Royce Hall: Dee Dee Bridgewater & Bill Charlap. Tickets here.
* LACMA on Wilshire Boulevard's Miracle Mile offers FREE outdoor jazz concerts every Friday at 6pm in months when weather is mostly favorable. Fri. Sept. 22: robust tenorman Ernie Watts. Fri. Oct. 13: Celebrating Sam Rivers with Billy Harper, Nicole McCabe et al. (Angel City Fest). Full calendar here.
* Sat. Sept. 23: The Central Avenue Jazz Festival on Central Avenue between MLK Blvd and Vernon returns for the first time since Covid, free and headlined by Hubert & Eloise Laws (3:30pm) and Billy Childs Quartet (4pm). Website here.
* 2220 Arts + Archives (Beverly Blvd. near Alvarado) hosts a variety of cultural presentations including jazz & electronic. Sat. Sept. 23: Trip out with Nate Mercereau-Josh Johnson-Carlos Niño Trio with Will Logan. Thurs. Sept. 28: Percussionist Andrea Centazzo's West Coast Art Ensemble features the most expert of veteran abstractionists. Sat. Sept. 30: exotic reeds from The Vex Collection, Eyvind Kang & Jessica Kenney. Sun. Oct. 15: Jeong Lim Yang's Zodiac Trio, Ingrid Laubrock (Angel City Fest). Fri. Oct. 27: Mat Maneri (Angel City Fest). Listings here.
* The Orpheum downtown rocks and jazzes at times. Sun. Sept. 24: energetic modern jazz from Snarky Puppy. Tickets here.
* The Mint (Pico & Crescent Heights) has mostly Sunday jazz shows anchored by pianist Sam Hirsh Trio. Check listings here.
* Highland Park's Lodge Room occasionally books jazz, metal, heft and influential obscurities. Mon. Sept. 25: smart & tight jazz with David Binney, Louis Cole, Pera Krstajic. Sat. Sept. 30: The Avengers. Full schedule here.
* The LAX-area bar Sam First offers 7:30pm and 9pm jazz shows, in person and sometimes STREAMING. Tues. Sept. 26: Ace drummer leads an enviable ensemble unit, Dan Schnelle Trio with Daniel Rotem & Joshua White. (Most other Tuesdays are jams, usually hosted by world-class pianist Gerald Clayton.) Wed. Sept. 27: bent & brilliant alto saxist Steve Lehman Quartet. Thurs. Sept. 28: one of the best drummers with one of the best tenormen, Anthony Fung with Mark Turner. Sat. Sept. 30: Anthony Wilson. Tues.-Sat. Oct. 17-28: Piano Fest featuring Vardan Ovsepian, Otmaro Ruiz, Milen Kirov, Cathlene Pineda, John Beasley, Adam Hersh, Josh Nelson, Kris Davis, Larry Goldings. Fri. Nov. 1: keyboardist Rachel Eckroth (St. Vincent, Rufus Wainwright) leads you down strange paths. Look here for full schedule and options.
* The Greek Theater in Griffith Park has outdoor music. Wed. Sept. 27: Jethro Tull. Full lineup here.
* The Baked Potato in Universal City presents fusion (etc.) concerts at 8 & 10pm nightly. Wed. Sept. 27: today's bop from Danny Janklow & Elevation Band. Fri. & Sat. Sept. 29 & 30: Michael Landau. Sun. Nov. 1: Hazy Jane. Full schedule here.
* The Whisky on Sunset Strip books metal etc. Thurs. Sept. 28: '90s hard glam from Gene Loves Jezebel. Fri. Oct. 13: 45 Grave. Calendar here.
* JustJazzTV is a great resource for live jazz.
* Downtown's Belasco Theater stages some rock & metal shows. Fri. Sept 29: Wolfmother. Wed. Oct. 4: Cradle of Filth, DevilDriver. Sat. Oct. 21: Ne Obliviscaris. Mon. & Tues. Dec. 4 & 5: Skinny Puppy. Mon. Dec. 18: Cattle Decapitation. Calendar & tix here.
* The Jazz Bakery has resumed sponsoring live shows; view its calendar here. Sun. Oct. 1: Sergio Mielniczenko's Brazilian Hour comes to life with live musicians at Santa Monica's Moss Theater. Sat. Oct. 7: John Beasley's Monk'estra at downtown's Zipper Hall.
* Vibrato, a luxurious restaurant high up in Bel Air, books mostly mainstream jazz. Tues. Oct. 3: Le Coq Records artist Andy James, a traditionalist New York singer with a flamenco-dancing background, fronts her ace ensemble featuring pianist Jon Cowherd, saxist John Ellis, drummer Clarence Penn, bassist James Genus and percussionist Alex Acuña. Full schedule here.
* Atwater's adventurous avant/modern/world club Zebulon offers surprises from the present and past. Wed. Oct. 4: Wolf Eyes with Anthony Braxton. Wed. Oct. 25: Oceans And (Tim Berne), Harriet Tubman (Angel City Fest). Sat. Nov. 4: MSSV (Mike Baggetta, Stephen Hodges & Mike Watt). Full calendar here.
* Catalina's Jazz Club in Hollywood hosts mostly mainstream jazz and singers, but there are exceptions. Thurs.-Sun. Oct. 5-8: Marcus Miller. Sat.-Sun. Oct. 20-21: Pete Escovedo. Full calendar here.
* The Wiltern (Wilton & Western) occasionally harbors metal. Fri. Oct. 6: The Darkness. Wed. Oct. 18: Max & Iggor Cavalera, Exhumed. Wed. Nov. 1: Static-X, Sevendust. Full calendar here.
* Fri.-Sun. Oct. 6-8: PowerTrip presents GNR, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Judas Priest, Metallica, Tool and lots more out in Indio (Ozzy bowed out). Sell an oligarch's yacht and buy tickets here.
* The new-music and avant-jazz series Soundwaves presents regular Saturday 3:30pm concerts at Santa Monica Public Library, 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica 90401; FREE. Sat. Oct. 7: Anna Homler, exotic vocals augmented with found objects, plus Jorge Martin (electronics) and Jeff Schwartz (bass). Sat. Nov. 4: Michael Jon Fink (cool-jazz guitarist-composer) with Brian Walsh (clarinet) and Derek Stein (cello). Sat. Dec. 2: clarinetist Ben Goldberg with bassist Todd Sickafoose and drummer Scott Amendola. Sat. Dec. 9: Berlin-based oboist Cathy Milliken with bassist Jeff Schwartz and clarinetist Daniel Rothman. Many of these names will be familiar to longtime observers of the California avant and beyond.
* 1720 (east of downtown, south of the 10 freeway) books metal etc. Sun. Oct. 8: Attila. Tues. Oct. 10: Paleface Swiss. Full calendar here.
* Inglewood's midsize YouTube Theater brings variety programming. Wed. Oct. 11: Dethklok, Babymetal. Calendar here.
* The Canyon in Agoura Hills books its share of metal, fusion and original good stuff. Fri. Oct. 13: femme ax ripper Orianthi. Calendar here.


Oct. 13-29: Look out, it's Angel City Jazz Fest, stocked with an exciting mix of forward-looking artists at venues throughout the city. Details here.
Fri. Oct. 13: Celebrating Sam Rivers with Billy Harper, Nicole McCabe et al. at LACMA.
Sat. Oct. 14: Destiny Mohammad/Teodross Avery at the World Stage.
Sun. Oct. 15: Jeong Yim Lang, Crump-Laubrock-Smythe at 2220.
Mon. Oct. 16: Vernacular Intergenerational Improvisation Night featuring Vinny Golia, Motoko Honda, Nicole McCabe et al. at ArtShare L.A.
Sat. Oct. 21: Gloria Cheng at Zipper Hall.
Sun. Oct. 22: Todd Sickafoose, Kirk Knuffke at Moss Theater.
Wed. Oct. 25: Oceans And (Tim Berne), Harriet Tubman (Brandon Ross) at Zebulon.
Thurs. Oct. 26: Nicole Mitchell reads at Santa Monica Public Library.
Fri. Oct. 27: Mat Maneri, Ennis Harris at 2220.
Sat. Oct. 28: Nicole Mitchell, Next Jazz Legacy at REDCAT.
Sun. Oct. 29: Todd Cochran/Hubert Laws, Billy Mohler at REDCAT.


* Sat. Oct. 14: Bill Frisell & Ambrose Akinmusire play the Ace Hotel downtown; tickets here.
* Piano Spheres always has topflight outward programming from the classically trained world at the Thayer or Zipper halls downtown. Sat. Oct. 21: Gloria Cheng (Angel City Fest). Calendar here.
* REDCAT (beneath downtown's Disney Hall) presents some experimental music and jazz. Sat. Oct. 28: Nicole Mitchell, Next Jazz Legacy (Angel City Fest). Sun. Oct. 29: Todd Cochran/Hubert Laws, Billy Mohler (Angel City Fest). Calendar here.
* The Regent downtown books some heavy music. Wed. Nov. 1: Tesseract. Full lineup here.
* The Hollywood Bowl has some jazz etc. Fri. Nov. 3: Kiss 'em goodbye. Details here.
* Sat. Nov. 4, 4pm, free: The Getty Center in the Sepulveda Pass celebrates the launch of "The Digital Florentine Codex," documenting the early years of the Aztec incursion by the Spanish, with a concert featuring original music by Lu Coy and by Christopher Garcia's Xochi Cuicatl. Tickets here.
* Open Gate Theater has moved its long-running and invaluable avant concert series from the Eagle Rock Cultural Center mostly to the Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church, 301 N. Orange Grove Ave., Pasadena. Sun. Nov. 5: extended piano from Michael Goodheart, plus windman Vinny Golia, trombonist Michael Dessen and drummer Garth Powell. Keep up with events here.
* Downtown's Disney Hall presents some jazz and events of note beyond classical. Wed. Nov. 8: Brad Mehldau Trio. Tickets here.
* Thurs. Nov. 16: "Bowl for Ronnie" lines up rock celebs such as Geezer Butler, Dave Grohl and Tom Morello to benefit the Dio Cancer Fund. Sign in here for the event, 6:30-11pm at Pinz in Studio City.
* Azz-Is Jazz Festival in Venice, featuring Mark De Clive-Lowe, Billy Mohler, Randal Fisher and more, is supposed to happen sometime in November. Check in here.
* The Kia Forum in Inglewood revs some metal. Thurs. Dec. 7: Aerosmith fly the coop on their "final" tour. Listings here.
* Keep up with L.A. Jazz Society events, including its Young Musician Showcases, here.
* Santa Monica's Jacaranda music series presents a great selection of forward-looking modern classical and world music. Inquire regularly here.
* The Jazz Salon presents top singers on Thursdays and sometimes Sundays at downtown's Los Angeles Athletic Club. Check in here.
* The essential Vernacular New-Music Series at Oracle Tavern has been suspended for now due to the closure of the venue. Read a post about the change here. The Vernacular slot in October's Angel City Jazz Festival has been moved to downtown's ArtShare L.A.
* El Rey Theater on Wilshire Boulevard's Miracle Mile books yer occasional metal show. Calendar here.
* The Mayan downtown has jazz and rock sometimes. Calendar here.
* The Saban Theater in Beverly Hills occasionally melts faces or brings in an outside master. Calendar here.
* The Fonda Theater in Hollywood has occasional metal & world. Calendar here.
* Downtown's Peacock Theater (formerly Microsoft Theater) occasionally books heavy music. Lineup here.