Jul 11, 2026 · 35 min · 11 segments
Los Angeles has long been one of America's great jazz cities, yet its place in the music's history is often overshadowed by New Orleans, Chicago, Kansas City, and New York. In this episode of…
Martin LudlowGuestSteve BrowniganHostMartin Ludlow, thank you very much for joining me here on Strictly Jazz Sounds.
The LA Jazz Festival is certainly one of the most ambitious jazz festivals ever attempted in the United States.
I haven't really heard it phrased that way, and I don't know that term institution necessarily resonates with me, something about the institutionalization of people.
But I will tell you, there is a deliberate attempt to harnessed the power of over a century of incredible jazz history in Los Angeles and unleashed that artistic power on the world for good.
who are actually at Montreux Jazz Festival this weekend and said there is a buzz in Montreux about what's happening in LA.
When we saw our first ticket sold in Manchester, England, we celebrated and you just got to love getting a phone call from two key leaders in New Orleans who were saying, we're all coming.
You have people from around the world who are saying, I'm coming and this is very exciting.
The emphasis seems to be that it's on activating multiple communities across the city rather than creating a traditional destination festival.
This is about creating community And with that, how do you think that you're going to identify the success of this event?
I think the indicators for success, I think for us are pretty, pretty straightforward.
Number one, we wanted to ensure that artists were coming from around the world.
Right now we have over 160 artists on the show representing 23 nations and climbing.
Martin Ludlow, thank you very much for joining me here on Strictly Jazz Sounds.
The LA Jazz Festival is certainly one of the most ambitious jazz festivals ever attempted in the United States.
I haven't really heard it phrased that way, and I don't know that term institution necessarily resonates with me, something about the institutionalization of people.
But I will tell you, there is a deliberate attempt to harnessed the power of over a century of incredible jazz history in Los Angeles and unleashed that artistic power on the world for good.
who are actually at Montreux Jazz Festival this weekend and said there is a buzz in Montreux about what's happening in LA.
When we saw our first ticket sold in Manchester, England, we celebrated and you just got to love getting a phone call from two key leaders in New Orleans who were saying, we're all coming.
You have people from around the world who are saying, I'm coming and this is very exciting.
The emphasis seems to be that it's on activating multiple communities across the city rather than creating a traditional destination festival.
This is about creating community And with that, how do you think that you're going to identify the success of this event?
I think the indicators for success, I think for us are pretty, pretty straightforward.
Number one, we wanted to ensure that artists were coming from around the world.
Right now we have over 160 artists on the show representing 23 nations and climbing.
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