L.A. Jazz Festival, Which Was Supposed to Feature John Legend, Janelle Monáe and Hundreds More, Canceled at the Last Minute

The inaugural LA Jazz Fest, set for Aug. 7 to 23 and promising major events including a two-day concert at Dockweiler Beach with stars like John Legend, Janelle Monáe, Parliament/Funkadelic and Raphael Saadiq — was canceled Thursday at the very last minute, and commenters online are already comparing it to the famously doomed Fyre Festival.

Organizer Martin Ludlow, a former L.A. city council member (who later pleaded guilty in state and federal courts after being accused of using union workers and money for his campaign), had promoted the LA Jazz Fest as a major citywide event, including free jazz performances in parks across the region, late-night shows in local clubs and a “Caribbean Street Carnival” block party in Venice on Aug. 21.

The ambitious festival also promised a youth jazz camp and youth jazz intensive/master class, and seminars on the state of jazz in America. The LA Jazz Fest was supposed to kick off on Aug. 7 with an opening night event in Leimert Park Village with acts including Lalah Hathaway, Kenyon Dixon, Chief Adjuah and Pete Escovedo.

The main event, however, was supposed to be a “Jazz on the Beach” two-day event at Dockweiler Beach on Aug. 22 and 23. Other acts scheduled included Charlie Wilson, Ezra Collective, Free Nationals, Poncho Sanchez and Big Freedia. The event even boasted that it had organized parking at the Forum, with shuttles “along a closed-off route designed to skip the traffic entirely” to the concert.

Ludlow announced the event at a City Hall press conference in February, which was attended by Mayor Karen Bass. The LA Jazz Fest said it expected to attract 250,000 attendees and had been promoting the event up until just days ago.

By Friday, the LA Jazz Fest website had been scrubbed, with only a cryptic message that said, “August 22-23. Updated event info coming soon.” On the LA Jazz Festival‘s instagram page, comments had been removed from posts that still remained and touted a wide variety of events that now appear to not be happening.

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