Jazz on the Beach — LA Jazz Festival Finale at Dockweiler Beach

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The bonfire pits are still going when the first horn note dissolves into salt air, and forty thousand people forget about Monday at the same moment. That is the transaction. Not the ticket, not the lineup — the moment the beach becomes a concert hall and the Pacific becomes the back wall.

The lineup is less a poster than a genealogy: John Legend, Janelle Monáe, Raphael Saadiq, Charlie Wilson, Parliament Funkadelic with George Clinton, Ezra Collective, Big Freedia, Original Koffee, Free Nationals. Two days, multiple stages, closing out a citywide jazz festival that has been running all month. Regulars know to come early and stake ground near the south stage, where the sound carries better and you can pick out the Palos Verdes cliffs.

What you plan around is the sunset set — the light going amber, LAX traffic crossing overhead, a voice carrying out over the water. Parking fills by noon, so take the shuttle.

Bring whoever taught you the first song on that list.