Music: The Jazz Bakery

After a weekend of seeing Shortbus two more times, I thought it was about time for a change so Monday night, I went in search of jazz.

I checked out the Jazz Bakery in Culver City; LA’s only non-profit jazz venue going 7 nights a week featuring local and touring artists from all over the world. I had seen it quite a few times on Goldstar Events for half price tickets so I wanted to give it a try. I love good jazz, especially live, but I haven’t gotten out much and checked out the LA scene.

From LA Weekly:

The Jazz Bakery is “the most prestigious jazz space in Los Angeles: a serious, no-frills, seven-nights-a-week nonprofit listening room of international renown, where everybody who’s anybody has played; where iconic musicians turn up as regularly in the audience as on the bandstand; where just ascending the stage is a sure sign that you’ve made it into the music’s highest ranks.” (from Brandt Reiter, LA Weekly)

I arrived around 8:30PM because I had come directly from work even though my ticket wasn’t until the 9:30 show. I parked right outside and walked in to a dark quiet store front. It didn’t look like a jazz club, and I quickly found out that it really wasn’t quite the club atmosphere I was expecting either. People triple my age were walking around and did I ever feel old. But nevertheless I walked in and saw there was a set going on inside with a small number in the crowd. Thinking they wouldn’t care if I just sat in on the rest of the set, I asked, and they said I couldn’t come in until the 9:30 show. okay… So I left and grabbed dinner.

I came back at 9:30 to a crowd of sorts in the lobby where they had a small bar with a few things to eat along with a nice selection of coffees, teas, wine and beer. After getting a glass of wine and my ticket, most of the people in the lobby started back inside the theater space. I soon realized this was the band. There were a equal number left of us that didn’t go back behind the band stand; 16.

The Bill Watrous Big Band was swinging. It was a very casual atmosphere despite hardly anyone being there. There we all were, 16 in the band, 16 in the audience, waiting for the band to get themselves organized enough to start playing the first tune.

The theater is decently sized with about 100 plastic garden chairs as seats. Artwork adorns the walls of the jazz greats.

The crowd was mainly made up of older people, a young 20 something with his grandmother, the alone office lady tapping her foot and bobbing her head, the crazy old guy in the front row who kept on yelling, “yah!”. One thing has to be said about a Monday night 9:30 crowd in downtown Culver City is that they are really here to hear the music. You had passion in the band as well as a listening passion in the audience.

The band was very good. This is for sure the space for the best jazz musicians LA has to offer to come together and just have fun. They were having fun. Despite this being their second set of the night and I’m sure after most of them had been working all day, they still had the energy to sit and play some great pieces. Even with their band leader being hospitalized, they still managed to come together after getting some music from his house and organizing it on the fly.

The bass and piano players were exquisite and the rest of the band was just as grand. They were all pros with not a amateur sound in the bunch. Tone was good, pitch was right on, and the solos were well improvised. They played well together.

From Goldstar Events:

One of the finest bop-oriented trombonists of the past 30 years, Bill Watrous has had a low profile since moving to Los Angeles in the 1980s despite remaining quite active. Possessor of a beautiful tone and remarkable technique, Watrous has been constantly overlooked in jazz popularity polls of the past two decades. His father was a trombonist and introduced Bill to music. He played in traditional jazz bands as a teenager and studied with Herbie Nichols while in the military.

Watrous made his debut with Billy Butterfield, and was one of the trombonists in Kai Winding’s groups during 1962-1967. He was a busy New York-based studio musician during the 1960s, working and recording with Quincy Jones, Maynard Ferguson, Johnny Richards, and Woody Herman; playing in the television band for Merv Griffin’s show (1965-1968); and working on the staff of CBS (1967-1969).

After playing with the jazz-rock group Ten Wheel Drive in 1971, Watrous led his own big band (the Manhattan Wildlife Refuge) during 1973-1977, recording two superb albums for Columbia. After moving to Los Angeles in the late ’70s, Watrous continued working in the studios, appearing at jazz parties, playing in local clubs, and leading an occasional big band. He has recorded as a leader for Columbia, Famous Door, Soundwings, GNP Crescendo, and with his late-’90s big band for Double-Time.

This isn’t so much a venue for a night out on the town with jazz. But if you’re in the mood for some good music straight up, this is the place. It’s very casual, laid back and you don’t have to deal with typical LA’s parking problems and prices.

Grab your tickets on Goldstar events way ahead of time for the best prices. Their shows are kind of expensive for where they are I think, but if you go early, you sometimes can get two shows for the price of one. The set I went to was only a little less than a hour long which included about 5 songs. But if you get tickets on Goldstar, yes they are half price, but you only get one show.

You think they would offer better specials considering how slow it was. I think the management is a bit uptight. The bands though I think are awesome.

Check them out:

The Jazz Bakery
3233 Helms Ave.
Culver City, CA 90034

Get tickets for the Jazz Bakery on Goldstar Events.

If you’re not a member of Goldstar, Click Here to sign up for free.

There are a few more jazz clubs I’ve been wanting to try out which I want to try in the next few weeks.

Some other music that is going on in LA this week:

Ben Jelen
Saturday, October 13th @ The Hotel Cafe, 1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood $10

And Sunday, The Section Quartet: OK Computer, at Spaceland (1717 Silver Lake Blvd, 323.661.4380). More event info HERE.

The Section Quartet
“The Section Quartet was formed on the principles of rock & roll: musicians challenging the establishment by knocking down the walls dividing two genres of music. With their kinetic arrangements, eclectic repertoire, and bold performance style, the worlds of classical and rock collide with spectacular results.” – Bio

~J