The i am project, was created as a non-profit organization to bolster artistic creativity in jazz, elevate awareness, fashion experiential learning opportunities and preserve genius. Our vision is to present young, emerging and established jazz musicians in alternative spaces, thus engaging and enriching our communities across demographic identities. Our collaboration with art galleries, community centers and other partnerswill illuminate the global conversation of human similarities amongst artistic and creative like-minded patrons. 
California Jazz Foundation Gala
A Night Worth Regretting
By Carl Anthony
There are evenings that exist at the perfect intersection of culture, community, and generosity, where the music is transcendent, the cause is worthy, and the room itself seems to hum with significance. Last Saturday was one of those evenings. The California Jazz Foundation’s 20th Anniversary Gala, Give the Band a Hand, unfolded at the Omni Los Angeles Hotel, and if you weren’t there, you missed something genuinely special.
It began before dinner even started. Lining the second-floor lobby, a gallery of photographs by renowned jazzographer Bob Barry stopped guests in their tracks with intimate portraits of jazz legends, the kind of images that make you feel history in the room. Cocktails flowed, hors d’oeuvres made the rounds, and strangers became friends over silent auction bids on rare and new items. The energy was warm, electric, and celebratory.
Then the ballroom doors opened. Nearly 250 guests settled into 25 tables as the program unfolded with the precision of a well-rehearsed set. KCRW’s LeRoy Downs, a master of the craft, commanded the room with charm and ease, the ideal host for an evening of this magnitude. The Just Jazz Student Collective played through dinner with a sophistication that would have surprised anyone who didn’t already know: the next generation of L.A. jazz is in extraordinary hands.
But the evening’s emotional core came in the awards and tribute sets, curated by the peerless music director Clayton Cameron. The first was a revelation: a deep dive into the life of John Dolphin, the visionary who turned Central Avenue into a music destination a full decade before Motown did the same for Detroit. Actor and vocalist Stu James brought Dolphin’s story to vivid life, followed by vocalist Darynn Dean, a talent you’ll be reading about for years to come, who paid tribute to Billie Holiday, a Dolphin’s of Hollywood regular, with arrangements so assured, so fully inhabited, that the ballroom went genuinely quiet. Her sextet, featuring saxophonists Nicole McCabe and Ricky Woodard, pianist Paul Cornish, bassist Trevor Ware and Myles Martin on drums, was the kind of performance that lodges in your memory and refuses to leave.
The evening’s Nica Award was accepted on behalf of the ailing Dave Grusin by the renowned bassist Marcus Miller, who didn’t just accept an award and sit down, he related a few of his memories of the man, then sat in with the band. And then saxophonist Tom Scott, joined by Ernie Watts, the luminous Regina Carter on violin, guitarist Grant Geissman, Edwin Livingston on bass, the incomparable Clayton Cameron on drums and Patrice Rushen at the piano, played through a selection of Grusin’s work as Scott regaled us with stories and tidbits of information that reminded everyone in that room exactly why his music matters.
When the Foundation’s president, Edythe Bronston, showed the 20th Anniversary montage, about the 700 L.A. musicians that have been helped, from rent assistance to healthcare to groceries and gas money, there was a visible shift in the room. Auctioneer Kris Kloss facilitated a bidding war on two live auction items that the crowd vigorously took part in with laughter and applause, and paddles flew up for the Fund In Need so fast that it took two volunteers to track every donation.
As guests streamed out, picking up their auction wins and exchanging promises to see each other soon, the verdict was unanimous: What a night. Next year, don’t miss it twice. And wherever you hear music, give the band a hand!
Carl Anthony is a jazz writer, educator and curator and the executive producer of the “Jazzin’ the Grove” festival in Florida. For more information visit www.notoriousjazz.com .
“The John Dolphin Tribute band featured (l-r) Paul Cornish, piano; Darynn Dean, vocals; Trevor Ware, bass; Nicole McCabe, alto sax; Rickey Woodard, tenor sax and Myles Martin, drums.” (Photo: Bob Barry/Jazzography)
“The Dave Grusin Tribute band featured (l-r) Patrice Rushen, piano; Grant Geissman, guitar; Edwin Livingston, bass; Ernie Watts, tenor sax; Tom Scott, alto sax; Clayton Cameron, drums and Tom Scott, tenor sax.” (Photo: Bob Barry/Jazzography)
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