Aug 15,2026
15 Years of Ethio Cali + DJ Nu-Mark — Grand Performances LA
Fifteen years ago a group of musicians in this city stopped choosing between Ethiopia and California and decided both could live inside the same song at the same time. Nobody asked them to. It worked anyway.
What comes out is Addis brass arrangements colliding with West Coast funk — pentatonic scales out of the Horn of Africa meeting the loose, unhurried groove of the town that invented G-funk. The anniversary show brings Nu-Mark of Jurassic 5 and guests, and it will move between genres the way this city moves between neighborhoods: without asking permission and without stopping to explain itself.
Grand Performances has been putting on free outdoor concerts at California Plaza since the eighties. No tickets. No barrier. No VIP section. You bring a blanket, you find a patch of plaza, and for a few hours you belong to something the city built for itself.
Bring somebody who says they do not like jazz. The downtown night air will handle the rest.
Fifteen years ago a group of musicians in this city stopped choosing between Ethiopia and California and decided both could live inside the same song at the same time. Nobody asked them to. It worked anyway.
What comes out is Addis brass arrangements colliding with West Coast funk — pentatonic scales out of the Horn of Africa meeting the loose, unhurried groove of the town that invented G-funk. The anniversary show brings Nu-Mark of Jurassic 5 and guests, and it will move between genres the way this city moves between neighborhoods: without asking permission and without stopping to explain itself.
Grand Performances has been putting on free outdoor concerts at California Plaza since the eighties. No tickets. No barrier. No VIP section. You bring a blanket, you find a patch of plaza, and for a few hours you belong to something the city built for itself.
Bring somebody who says they do not like jazz. The downtown night air will handle the rest.
What comes out is Addis brass arrangements colliding with West Coast funk — pentatonic scales out of the Horn of Africa meeting the loose, unhurried groove of the town that invented G-funk. The anniversary show brings Nu-Mark of Jurassic 5 and guests, and it will move between genres the way this city moves between neighborhoods: without asking permission and without stopping to explain itself.
Grand Performances has been putting on free outdoor concerts at California Plaza since the eighties. No tickets. No barrier. No VIP section. You bring a blanket, you find a patch of plaza, and for a few hours you belong to something the city built for itself.
Bring somebody who says they do not like jazz. The downtown night air will handle the rest.
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15 Years of Ethio Cali + DJ Nu-Mark — Grand Performances LA
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Fifteen years ago a group of musicians in this city stopped choosing between Ethiopia and California and decided both could live inside the same song at the same time. Nobody asked them to. It worked anyway.
What comes out is Addis brass arrangements colliding with West Coast funk — pentatonic scales out of the Horn of Africa meeting the loose, unhurried groove of the town that invented G-funk. The anniversary show brings Nu-Mark of Jurassic 5 and guests, and it will move between genres the way this city moves between neighborhoods: without asking permission and without stopping to explain itself.
Grand Performances has been putting on free outdoor concerts at California Plaza since the eighties. No tickets. No barrier. No VIP section. You bring a blanket, you find a patch of plaza, and for a few hours you belong to something the city built for itself.
Bring somebody who says they do not like jazz. The downtown night air will handle the rest.
What comes out is Addis brass arrangements colliding with West Coast funk — pentatonic scales out of the Horn of Africa meeting the loose, unhurried groove of the town that invented G-funk. The anniversary show brings Nu-Mark of Jurassic 5 and guests, and it will move between genres the way this city moves between neighborhoods: without asking permission and without stopping to explain itself.
Grand Performances has been putting on free outdoor concerts at California Plaza since the eighties. No tickets. No barrier. No VIP section. You bring a blanket, you find a patch of plaza, and for a few hours you belong to something the city built for itself.
Bring somebody who says they do not like jazz. The downtown night air will handle the rest.
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