After L.A. jazz festival collapses, musicians pack an underground 'Can't Cancel Jazz' pop-up

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Set us as preferred In a nondescript black building in downtown L.A.’s Arts District, rich sounds of sax and bass filled the air for hours.Inside, surrounded by the paintings and posters of iconic musicians, albums and films, dozens of people gathered for a night designed to prove a simple point: You can’t “cancel” jazz.On Thursday night, eight jazz artists and groups performed a pop-up show, including Okay Coleman!, the Don Brown Collective, Joy Guerilla, and Genghis Don, who also organized the event.

All of these artists had one thing in common: They were billed to perform on the now-canceled inaugural L.A.Jazz Festival.The planned 17-day event was supposed to kick off on Aug.

7 and feature dozens of performances spread throughout every City Council district.Organizers hoped the shows would draw 250,000 attendees and inaugurate the city as a home for jazz events on par with New Orleans and Montreal.

The festival was to include a final show headlined by Janelle Monáe, John Legend, Charlie Wilson, Parliament Funkadelic and Raphael Saadiq at Dockweiler State Beach.“When I got booked for it, I was really excited,” Genghis Don said.

“It was one of the bigger festivals I’ve done so far in my career.”Then, the festival was abruptly canceled due to “last-minute public safety and municipal costs.”But Don was determined for the show to go on.He partnered with Tída Norasingh of JIJI’s Jazz Club to host the “Can’t Cancel Jazz” pop-up show at Slow Jamz Gallery — a musical experience that was curated in less than 72 hours, according to Don.“It all came together thanks to so many people who were involved in this,” Don said.

“I really couldn’t have done any of this without them.” The crowd, which leaned younger in part because the event allowed attendees 18 and older, trickled in around 7...