Director Selects: Watch the recap of The Soraya's 2024 Jazz at Naz Festival

This week’s Director Selects is a special one, pulled from hundreds of hours of concert footage from The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts annual jazz festival, Jazz at Naz third edition, seven concerts over two weeks, many of which were sold out.

In an instant you will see why the festival is quickly becoming the most important winter jazz festival on the West Coast. Reverberating throughout the theater was music that was “danceable” — infectious beats and grooves. The 2024 festival was also an exploration of many of the regions of musical influence in the Americas, as well as the power of intergenerational interplay. Thousands of people across seven performances can attest to the serious music-making and good fun that was had both on stage and in the audience.

For those who watched from home, you saw that the live stream continues to evolve as The Soraya builds its capacity to capture and produce a top-notch broadcast, including artist interviews and close-up views of the action. If you missed the live stream, the video above provides a taste and hopefully inspires you to join us next year (the 2025 Festival will be announced soon). Host Reggie Quinerly and I summarize the festival accompanied by excerpts from most of the concerts.

Gratefully,