The inaugural LA Jazz Festival was scheduled to begin Friday night, but organizers canceled the opening night festivities, leaving uncertainty over the remainder of the event.
A publicist for the festival confirmed to City News Service on Thursday that the scheduled opening night event Friday in Leimert Park and the opening day program Saturday at Edward Vincent Jr. Park in Inglewood would no longer take place as scheduled. The publicist said additional information would be released when it becomes available.
The festival has advertised performances by John Legend, Janelle Monáe, Parliament Funkadelic featuring George Clinton, Charlie Wilson, Raphael Saadiq, Original Koffee, Terrace Martin, Poncho Sanchez, Joey Alexander, Big Freedia and other artists during the Dockweiler Beach weekend.
The cancellations came just before the festival was scheduled to begin, and they cast doubt on the status of the remaining events, including concerts in parks, club performances and a Caribbean street carnival.
Festival organizers announced an updated schedule July 31 that consolidated programming around the event’s marquee “Jazz on the Beach” concerts set for Aug. 22-23 at Dockweiler Beach. The revised schedule also called for a free Jazz in the Park concert Aug. 16 at Magic Johnson Park, a Jazz After Dark performance Aug. 20 at Harold & Belle’s restaurant in Jefferson Park, and a youth jazz camp.
Festival founder and CEO Martin Ludlow said in a July 31 announcement that organizers were consolidating several festival activities leading up to the Dockweiler Beach concerts.
“The energy and anticipation that has been building for this inaugural LA Jazz Festival has been beyond exciting,” Ludlow said when announcing the revised schedule. “With the goal of making every facet of the festival the ultimate fan experience, we are consolidating several of our activities leading up to our crown jewel event, the Jazz on the Beach concert weekend.”
Festival organizers have described the inaugural event as a landmark cultural celebration that they hoped would become one of the world’s largest international jazz festivals. The festival was promoted as a tourism and economic development initiative designed to celebrate jazz while supporting minority- and women-owned businesses.
The festival’s website, LAJazzFestival.com, contained no schedule Friday, displaying only the message, “August 22-23. Updated event info coming soon.”
Artists scheduled to perform at canceled events were notified earlier this week that portions of the festival had been postponed because of permitting and production challenges, according to media reports.
As of Friday, festival organizers had not announced whether the remaining events beyond the canceled opening programs would proceed as scheduled.