Jonathan Stout [photo credit; The LA Arboretum]
On Friday, August 7, the Jonathan Stout Trio headlines the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden’s Summer Nights concert series. The Arboretum sits in Arcadia, just east of Pasadena and across the street from Santa Anita Park. MonteCedro, the Altadena retirement community operated by the nonprofit Episcopal Communities & Services, presents the series.
Gates open at 5:00 p.m. for picnicking. Music runs from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., with the last entry at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free for Arboretum members, who do not need to reserve. The Arboretum recommends that non-members reserve online in advance, and a concert ticket includes garden admission.
The trio pairs clarinet, guitar and bass with vocals. The Arboretum says the set will draw on the sound of Benny Goodman and songs by Irving Berlin and Duke Ellington, mixing standards with lesser-known material from the 1930s and 1940s.
Stout leads several ensembles, among them the seven-piece Campus Five, featuring vocalist Hilary Alexander, and a 14-piece orchestra. His playing traces two guitar traditions that thinned out as the swing era closed: the acoustic chord-melody approach of Allan Reuss and the electric single-note approach of Charlie Christian. He also danced on the team that took first place at the 2002 National Jitterbug Championships, The Syncopated Times reported.
He has described that work as a rescue. In a 2024 interview with Jazz Guitar Today, Stout said he is trying to “burnish the legacies of people like Charlie Christian and Allan Reuss.”
The circle overlaps with Pasadena’s own swing scene. Alexander has worked as a DJ at LindyGroove, the weekly dance held Thursdays in the Grand Ballroom of the 1926 Pasadena Masonic Temple at 200 South Euclid Avenue, the band says. Stout’s groups have also played Jazz at the Paseo in Pasadena.
Summer Nights runs on select Fridays. The norteño duo Carlos y Charlos played July 31. June Clivas & The Ditty Boys, an americana and rockabilly band the Arboretum calls a San Gabriel Valley favorite, play August 21, and the reggae and calypso group Upstream closes the series September 11. Longo Toyota-Lexus/Penske Motor Group is the sustaining sponsor.
The Arboretum is at 301 North Baldwin Avenue in Arcadia, south of the 210 Freeway at the Baldwin Avenue exit. The membership office answers at (626) 821-3233. Parking is on site at the main entrance, with designated accessible spaces near the entry, and about 2.5 miles of paved pathways cross the grounds. Blankets and lawn chairs are recommended. Food trucks will be on site, picnics are welcome, and outside alcohol is not permitted.
The music was written for people on their feet. A lawn will do.
