October 5th was the night to celebrate an outstanding evening of jazz at CSUN’s Plaza del Sol! Our evening was hosted by the unparalleled Alonzo Bodden who thanked the CSUN Jazz Tentet for opening our show and then entertained the crowd throughout the Concert. The Jazz Society’s 2024 Lifetime Achievement Honoree Marcus Miller and his band received a standing ovation – he is an uncomparable performer and truly deserved the accolades! Jazz Vocalist Veronica Swift continues to expand her musical genres and had the audience on their feet as she and her band took the stage. We truly thank Stanley Clarke and John Clayton for joining us and making those presentations – and thank our honorees for giving our audience such terrific performances.
The 2024 Flip & Shelly Manne Memorial New Talent recipient – pianist Taylor Lee – received critical acclaim! For the first time we honored THREE outstanding educators all from Agoura High School – Chad Bloom, Robert Hackett and John Mosely. It was also our distinct pleasure to present the Jazz Advocacy Award to LA City Council President Paul Krekorian for his longstanding support of the LA Jazz Society and our programs. Thanks to Joe LaBarbera, Rita Zwern, Ira Nepus, Julie Berghofer and Jordan Klein for paying tribute to these outstanding individuals. Special appreciation to Keeland Bowers for joining us to accept the Jazz Composer/Arranger Award on behalf of Kris Bowers who was unable to join us due to a family emergency.
The annual Tribute is our main Jazz Society annual fundraiser to support our operations and jazz education programs which benefit thousands of young people in LAUSD schools each year. Your support during the year, and at our tribute, allows us to continue these acclaimed programs.
Again, we thank you for your support in our mission – all for the love of jazz!
