In a neighborhood in South Carthay, just below Beverly Hills, a small gathering of Los Angeles plebeians mill around outside the Mint, a historic club celebrating its platinum 70th anniversary this year.
The crowd, illumined an appropriate shade of green ““ mint ““ has moved outside the humble venue with their drinks in hand for a breather and an interim smoke while the band takes a break ““ a caesura, in the musical lyricism of the night.
It’s a Monday, Groove Pocket night here at the Mint, a weekly dose of free jazz at this enduring club on Pico Boulevard.
Neuroscience researcher and UCLA alumnus James Macion, some five years ago, decided to bring a plenary jazz night to the Los Angeles area, with a young crowd, diversity and dancing ““ all at an affordable price. Macion, with the Groove Pocket night, effectively leaves behind the stuffy, more expensive jazz clubs for more artistic sovereignty.
Following a few stints at different clubs around the L.A. area, Macion crossed paths with local drummer Kevin Kanner, and the two started a collaboration, Kanner bringing in some much needed supplies.
“We needed a piano because, like most clubs, the Mint didn’t have one. The next week we had one, thanks to Kevin,” Macion said. “I really respected what he was doing. … He was so motivated, and still is.”
Their mutual respect is at the conception of the Groove Pocket, their Monday night residency at the Mint.
A recent Monday featured the standard four-piece house band, an elemental core of rhythm and lead, with a keyboard (Josh Nelson), bass (Hamilton Price), and tenor saxophone (Tom Catanzaro) playing alongside Kanner’s drums. Around 10 p.m., with a few claps and, oddly enough, a few whistles, the music began. Kanner introduced the music from behind his tiny bebop drum set.
“We don’t have a name for this one; we don’t know where it will go, but that’s jazz isn’t it?” Kanner said coyly.
The players in the band, consumed in a world far different from much of the music and performance of today, shut their eyes and just played. The improvisational aspect of the music, the lack of a known direction, and the end to the blur of notes and key changes and solos, are of another era. They’re from a madcap postwar time when the young would just get up and go to nowhere in particular, living life with a beat, wandering from one jazz bar to another, bebop pouring out into the streets.
But the Groove Pocket night at the Mint takes it even further, uniting the era of Jack Kerouac and James Dean with the modern and diverse Los Angeles of today. During the intermission, after jazz reminiscent of a midcentury Stan Getz, a DJ takes over ““ and Macion encourages the DJs to play the records they want, the “old funk and soul records you don’t hear at clubs anymore.”
When the records stop spinning and the crowd slowly migrates back into the swanky Mint, the house band invites other musicians on stage for improvisational jam sessions.
Noah Garabedian, a recent ethnomusicology graduate, and Max Kaplan, a fourth-year music student, show up at the Mint from time to time to put their name on the list of performers to take the stage and play with the house band. Kaplan finds playing in front of the “mixed crowd” at the Mint to be something special ““ something outre in a world full of tape recorders.
“You’ll see bohemians, jazzens, people into hip-hop, sometimes even older people. … Not only jazz people (go there),” Kaplan said.
Groove Pocket night features more than music. Macion aspires to embrace various types of art and artists, showcasing work ranging from films to live graphic shows. There’s something about live art that draws Macion in: the spontaneity of art happening, and being able to watch it happen, akin to the beat of a proto-culture some 50 years ago.
“I feel like it’s a public service,” Macion said. “I hope, after coming to one of our shows, (someone) will be inspired to create ““ play music, write, or paint.”
On Nov. 26, the Groove Pocket will celebrate its fifth anniversary of free jazz and art. Macion, although not making any promises, hints that there will be a feature of much of the artistic work showcased throughout the past five years. There’s also going to be what Macion calls a “moving gallery” ““ an enclosed long-bed truck turned into an art gallery ““ parked outside the Mint.
And after five years, Groove Pocket at the Mint remains what Macion wants it to be ““ a home for art, and the jam session a well for musical ideas. It is a communal space in Los Angeles where a younger crowd can appreciate jazz ““ even participate in it ““ and where a waning form of music can combine with the chronic thriving of a megalopolitan Los Angeles.