LA Welcomes First Resident Jazz Orchestra in Nearly Two Decades

by Linda A. Rapka

Aiming to entertain and enrich the local community of Los Angeles as well as the global community through performance and education, the newly formed Pacific Jazz Orchestra is the ambitious innovation of Chris Walden, a seven-time GRAMMY-nominated arranger/conductor who serves as the orchestra’s artistic director and conductor.

“I’ve been arranging and conducting for recording artists and for TV and film for 30 years, but I’m now at a point in my career and my life where I wanted to fulfill my own musical vision,” Walden said. “Having worked a lot with symphony orchestras as well as with big bands, I wanted to create a hybrid ensemble that embodies both. And with this 40-piece ensemble we’re able to play jazz as well as symphonic material.”

Pacific Jazz Orchestra Artistic Director Chris Walden holds the freshly signed collective bargaining agreement between the orchestra and AFM Local 47.

Creating a new orchestra from the ground up is a labor of love that requires ingenuity, persistence, and an army of supporters. “In order to finance this orchestra I founded a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization since a project like this can’t survive on ticket sales alone,” Walden said. “But I see this orchestra as a community service as we try to bring orchestral jazz performances to various parts of Los Angeles and expose underrepresented youth to this truly unique American art form.”

Getting from initial talks to inking the collective bargaining agreement with AFM Local 47 was as seamless as it gets. “The progress was actually very easy,” he said. “I had a good idea of what I wanted in the agreement, and the Local 47 leadership was very helpful to get to an agreement quickly, within a matter of a week or so.”

Los Angeles has not had a resident jazz orchestra since 2006 when the Henry Mancini Institute, led by Patrick Williams, closed its doors after an acclaimed ten-year run.

The Pacific Jazz Orchestra plans to produce an annual concert season consisting of five projects, each with a different guest artist to be presented at five different venues throughout Los Angeles. “The program reaches beyond the boundaries of jazz as we feature music of all kinds of styles and origin,” Walden said. “In the not so distant future we’ll also host a summer music camp for young musicians in Los Angeles, and other places of the world where access to music education is missing.”

PJO presented an impressive pair of opening concerts on October 27-28 at the Wallis Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills. The performances featured Grammy award-winning artist Ledisi — who also serves on the PJO advisory board — and internationally acclaimed saxophonist Ben Wendel.

“To be conducting the PJO in this first opening concert was a really gratifying experience,” Walden said. “Most of the orchestra members are musicians that I’ve known for a long time and have worked with on all kinds of projects. But now having all my favorite players in one place is just magnificent.”

Herb Alpert, whose foundation serves as primary sponsor of the orchestra’s first season, said in a video message that the Pacific Jazz Orchestra “will continue in the tradition of orchestral jazz, but this is the important part: We will explore musical collaborations beyond jazz, which will appeal to a wider and more diverse audience. And this will undoubtedly entertain, inspire and enrich our great city of Los Angeles.”

The next concert takes place Saturday, December 23 from 8-10 p.m. at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. The holiday-themed concert features singer/actress Katharine McPhee (“Smash”, “Waitress”), Grammy-winning vocal group TAKE 6, and internationally renowned violinist Caroline Campbell. Tickets may be purchased here.

Future dates are expected to be announced including the Soraya in Northridge, the Irvine Barclay Theatre and the Theatre at Ace Hotel downtown. Walden says audiences can expect “a great musical experience that you won’t get anywhere else.”

For more information about PJO, including the concert calendar and how to donate, may be found at pacificjazz.org.