Bass legend Stanley Clarke on inaugural Santa Monica Intl Jazz Fest: 'It's the royal flush'

A new music festival comes to Santa Monica this weekend, curated by a living legend. The inaugural Santa Monica International Jazz Festival is the brainchild of master bassist Stanley Clarke, a five-time Grammy winner who has played on every festival stage from Montreux to Monterey. He said the idea to bring a jazz fest to Santa Monica came to him during a walk on the Third Street Promenade.

" I live very close to Santa Monica and I'm pretty much in Santa Monica all the time," Clarke said. "That whole area down there is really beautiful, and I thought, 'Man, what a perfect place for a jazz festival.' And it was really that simple. Just in my head. Bing."

The festival runs from May 1-9 and includes performances from headliners Kamasi Washington (who recently won a Grammy with Kendrick Lamar), Isaiah Collier and Lakecia Benjamin. Clarke will also be performing two sets during the festival. One will be a tribute to John Coltrane. The other will feature drummer Stewart Copeland from The Police. Clarke said over time, jazz has become a more undefined term to him.

"It's a lot of different things for me," Clarke said. "Where I'm at on the definition is that any music that has improvisation in it, where guys playing solos and are jamming, I can say that it has a jazz feel. So, the term jazz is more of a feel to me now than anything."

In a modern world of TikTok fads and music made by artificial intelligence, jazz may seem like it belongs to an older generation. But Clarke said he isn't worried about the genre's future.

"I actually think that jazz is definitely in the city of Los Angeles exploding," Clarke said. "We have my festival.  There's another festival called the L.A. Jazz Festival. There's the Blue Note that just opened up too.  So, there's a resurgence."

Clarke said education plays a key part in promoting jazz. Because of that, an afternoon slot on the festival will feature the Santa Monica High School jazz band.

"All these new groups and all these new young people that are just doing stuff," Clarke said. "I don't think it's so conscious where everyone's getting together and having a meeting going, 'Hey, we're gonna expand jazz.' I think it just human nature. Things just come together."

Clarke said the community will ultimately decide if this festival becomes a part of the fabric of Santa Monica.

" I think for a jazz festival, the main thing is it's not just music," Clarke said. "It's community, food, weather, scenery and we have all of it. It's the royal flush."

Performances on May 3 at Third Street Promenade are free to the public. Tickets for all other events are available at the festival's website.