12 Los Angeles spots to enjoy jazz every week
Real life is more complicated. You could argue that the Lighthouse’s jazziest days were in the ’50s and ’60s, when performers included Miles Davis, Cal Tjader, Max Roach and Shelly Manne and the talent-filled filled house band was known as the Lighthouse All-Stars. Art Pepper, Ramsey Lewis, Mose Allison and the Modern Jazz Quartet recorded live albums here.
These days most of the jazz happens two days per week: Sunday (over brunch, all ages invited) and Monday (jam session, 21 and over). Live music on other nights is all over the map, including rock, reggae and salsa. But those who come for the jazz are not fooling around.
“This is not just a regular room. This is a serious place for this music,” guitarist Jacques Lesure told the crowd on the Monday I visited. “In 1949, they were in here, doing this … We’re creating in the moment and sharing. That’s what’s happening.”
Lesure, who is in “La La Land” and lectures at UCLA, has been leading the jam sessions for about three years. He shares billing with drummer Marvin “Smitty” Smith, who was part of the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” band for about 15 years and controls tempo with no fuss and absolute authority.
The Lighthouse is by far the beachiest bar on this list — just a few strides from the Hermosa Beach Pier — and unlike many places, it has a green room for musicians and a well-elevated stage. There’s no cover charge or minimum order on Monday nights (but of course you must order something).
Most Mondays, Lesure, Smith and the rest of the house band start by playing an hourlong set for a full bar of closely listening jazz people. Look again and you’ll see that some of those close listeners have brought instruments.
After the break, the band plays one more song, then Lesure opens the bandstand to musicians who have signed up to jam. With personnel steadily rotating and musicians often teaming up with strangers, I watched the players tackle standards like “Summertime,” “How High the Moon” and “Take the A Train.” (This A Train seemed to run a little slow, but it stayed on track.)
For anyone nervous about the future of jazz, the Lighthouse jam is bracing tonic. The players I saw ranged from their 20s to their 60s, a mix of white, Black, Asian American and more.
The room’s capacity is 178 (with room for 46 more on the patio), and the layout includes about 15 tables and 30 stools along the bar.
The club’s role in “La La Land,” Lesure told me, “gave the Lighthouse a greater global reach … And it’s given it a multi-generational reach too … I don’t know if there’s another place in L.A. that has this history.”
Lesure, a working musician for more than 40 years, wore red glasses and a red tracksuit. During the first set he perched on a stool at the lip of the stage, alternating between rhythm work and solos on his sunburst hollow-body guitar. Besides Smith at the drums, he was joined by pianist Adam Ledbetter, bassist Weldon Scott and trumpeter Chris Lowery.
Along the way, Lesure made sure to point down to the Champagne bucket at the front of the stage. “That bucket there, that’s the musicians’ 401(k) plan,” he said.
Despite the name, the Lighthouse is more bar than cafe. Unlike many other venues on this list, the Lighthouse’s evening shows are all age 21 and over. The short bar menu includes a $16 cheeseburger and $19 codfish tacos. And you can get a beer for $8.
