Los Angeles Jazz Hero
It is no exaggeration to say that LeRoy Downs and Frederick Smith, Jr., are responsible for restoring Los Angeles’ status as a world capital of jazz. As L.A. has hemorrhaged jazz venues over the past few years, this dynamic duo brought cutting edge programming to radio, television, the internet, festivals and alternative performance spaces under the rubric Just Jazz.
Every Wednesday night, the hippest of the hip flock to Mr. Musichead Gallery to see Downs present “Just Jazz” concerts by extraordinary artists – including Jason Moran, Nduduzo Makhathini, Nicole Mitchell, Kamasi Washington, Shana Tucker, Dwight Tribble, Claudia Acuna, and poets Kamau Daaood and Aja Monet, to name just a few. Behind-the-scenes Frederick Smith, Jr., a 40-year veteran at CBS Television and Emmy-award winning videographer, films selected performances and LeRoy’s incisive interviews with the artists for “Just Jazz TV”—an outgrowth of All Music Television, which he founded in 2014.
LeRoy is naturally known as “the jazz cat” after two decades as a radio host, first with station KKJZ (88.1 FM) and currently with KCRW (89.9 FM), a curator and concert producer, journalist and an immensely popular festival host. He regularly emcees the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Central Avenue Jazz Festival and the Angel City Jazz Festival, and has hosted events beyond his home state of California for the Playboy Jazz Cruise, WinterJazz Fest in New York, and what was formerly called the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. His smooth voice, suave demeanor, encyclopedic knowledge, and infectious love of the music and the musicians have made LeRoy Downs a jazz icon.
The two men began collaborating around 2015, combining performance and in-depth interviews in dynamic programs with notable episodes including “Hangin’ with the Jazz Cat,” “Musicians Talk Race in America,” and“Miles in May.” Meanwhile, as rising property values forced many L.A.’s jazz clubs to shut down, and commercial labels determined jazz to be a financial liability, Downs and Smith realized programming alone could not support the music. Thus “Just Jazz” was born—not simply as a concert series but as a holistic vision that includes a foundation, a magazine, a virtual café, and a record label.
Similar to that of World Stage, L.A.’s legendary performance space located in the historically Black community of Leimert, Down’s concept embraces all expressions of music, irrespective of commercial viability. Experimental music and hip hop, rock, and global fusion are equally valued as “straight ahead” jazz. As Downs put it, “My vision and goal is to bring an eclectic sonic experience of jazz to my listeners. A blend of music, style, culture, love and a voice for the unsung.”
When he describes the music as “a voice for the unsung,” he means it. Between August and October of 2020, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, Downs, Smith, and Dwight Tribble – vocalist and curator of the World Stage, and a 2022 JJA Jazz Hero – organized “Jazz Musicians Unite Against Racism,” three live-streamed benefit concerts to draw attention to the ongoing struggle for racial justice.
Jazz Heroes LeRoy Downs and Fred Smith remind us that “Just Jazz” carries a dual meaning, denoting music that demands and practices justice, and acknowledging that music alone is not enough. In other words, they have created, curated and nurtured a space that is always more than “Just Jazz.”
By Robin D. G. Kelley
