{"id":37797,"date":"2026-08-11T03:19:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T22:19:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=37797"},"modified":"2026-08-11T03:19:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T22:19:27","slug":"l-a-jazz-festival-called-off-just-days-before-scheduled-kickoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=37797","title":{"rendered":"L.A. Jazz Festival called off just days before scheduled kickoff"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit_1500w\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260810-Los-Angeles-Jazz-Festival-aa-317-5ec552.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-972791\" class=\"body-graf\">The inaugural L.A. Jazz Festival \u2014 which promised music stars such as John Legend and Janelle Monae performing across the city \u2014 was abruptly called off last week, leaving scores of artists and vendors seemingly out of luck and unable to recover upfront costs they had to invest.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-2142a9\" class=\"body-graf\">The festival\u2019s website on Monday simply stated that \u201cupdated info coming soon,\u201d with no other details about the event that was going to start on Friday<strong> <\/strong>and run through Aug. 23.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-22f344\" class=\"body-graf\">Organizer Martin Ludlow, with Mayor Karen Bass at his side, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/music\/story\/2026-02-05\/la-has-new-jazz-mega-fest-from-former-city-councilman\" target=\"_blank\">announced in February<\/a> details and sites of the massive event.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-11e953\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cDue to significant, unanticipated last-minute public safety and municipal costs associated with the final permitting of the On The Beach Festival, we have reached the decision to unfortunately postpone this year\u2019s inaugural LA Jazz Festival,\u201d Ludlow said in a statement issued on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbclosangeles.com\/news\/local\/la-jazz-festival-canceled-postponed-2027\/3927143\/\" target=\"_blank\">Friday to City News Service<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-23ae55\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cAlthough this decision was an extremely difficult one to reach, our commitment to the audiences and artists participating in the festival is to have a first-class experience worthy of the great legacy of Jazz and our great city.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-e71ec9\" class=\"body-graf\">Representatives for Bass, who is facing a tough <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbclosangeles.com\/video\/news\/local\/big-win-for-nithya-raman-why-a-union-decides-to-back-raman-not-bass\/3925255\/\" target=\"_blank\">re-election bid in November,<\/a> and Ludlow could not be immediately reached for comment on Monday. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-42b749\" class=\"body-graf\">Before this jazz debacle, Ludlow was best known as a former L.A. city councilman who pleaded guilty in 2006 to federal charges for conspiring to embezzle union funds for campaign costs.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-8bf436\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cPeople are joking that this is the L.A. Fyre Festival,\u201d Southern California saxophonist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pmauriatmusic.com\/en\/artists\/leah-concialdi\/\" target=\"_blank\">Leah Concialdi<\/a>, 39, told NBC News on Monday, referencing the infamous<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/video\/why-fyre-fest-was-the-greatest-party-that-never-happened-1428553283702\" target=\"_blank\"> 2017 festival-turn-fiasco<\/a>. \u201cIt was an ambitious undertaking, but they should have started smaller and scaled up.\u201d <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-1ef25a\" class=\"body-graf\">The late cancellation left many artists and vendors on the hook for front-end expenses.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-6cd296\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cYeah, it\u2019s a very bizarre timeline,\u201d said Concialdi, who had been ready to debut her new group Sacred Noise Unknown at this now-cancelled festival.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-9e6376\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cI mean, we are lucky because we are based in Los Angeles locally, so you know there were no flights and hotel costs incurred. But you know we\u2019re still spending money on rehearsal spaces. We have a drummer who lives in the Bay Area who\u2019s made arrangements to come and perform and rehearse with the group.\u201d <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-9c1ab4\" class=\"body-graf\">Pianist and composer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/bokanidyer\" target=\"_blank\">Bokani Dyer <\/a>got word of the cancellation before boarding his scheduled Thursday flight from South Africa  to the Untied States \u2014 but he\u2019ll still be out $3,000 for a non-refundable ticket he had purchased for this event, his manager Sevi Spanoudi said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-0ecfb6\" class=\"body-graf\">The artist doesn\u2019t believe he\u2019ll be able to recover that lost money, said Spanoudi, adding that organizers had not paid her client a deposit, which is typical these performances.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-1ec1e4\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cNo deposit and no hope,\u201d Spanoudi said in a text message to NBC News. \u201cThere have made no attempts to answer emails and requests. It\u2019s a hit and run.\u201d <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-f82867\" class=\"body-graf\">Chicago-based saxophonist Isaiah Collier estimated he\u2019s out about $10,000 following the cancellation and now gig-less trip to Los Angeles. The musician said he felt sympathy for the food vendors at festival sites who are now stuck with perishable stock they won\u2019t be able to sell.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-5a0658\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cThis was an event that was supposed to be about community engagement and now we have community enragement,\u201d said Collier, 28. \u201cI mean I may have lost my money, but I could only imagine the work it took (for food vendors) to set up all that stuff and you\u2019re just outside waiting and all of a sudden you\u2019re told, \u2018Oh, by the way, this ain\u2019t happening.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-dc894e\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">Collier added: \u201cBasically we can call this the re-Fyre Festival, I guess.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The inaugural L.A. Jazz Festival \u2014 which promised music stars such as John Legend and Janelle Monae performing across the city \u2014 was abruptly called off last week, leaving scores of artists and vendors seemingly out of luck and unable to recover upfront costs they had to invest. The festival\u2019s website on Monday simply stated&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260810-Los-Angeles-Jazz-Festival-aa-317-5ec552.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}