Sweet Jams

And there’s the complete opposite at the Sweet & Hot Music Festival this Friday through Monday, which is nostalgic, unpretentious, casual, and features some killer jams. On tap this year are Jack Sheldon, Ernie Andrews, trumpeter Warren Vache, Ernestine Anderson, Howard Alden, a rare appearance by John Altman (who absolutely cooks on the curved soprano!), Gil Bernal, Herb Jeffries, Dave Koonse, and a zillion others in a swirl of concerts and jam sessions big and small from noon each day till past midnite — all over at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel. It’s a helluva lot of fun. (No hipster cache required, either.) It’s also a blast seeing what jazz fans look like after they’ve retired and the kids are long gone — the hair gets long, the beards reappear, suits and cares tossed in the garbage.
Aug. 29-Sept. 1, 2008