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The Angel City Jazz Festival, LA's Only Alternative, Non-Commercial Jazz Festival, has announced its 2009 artist lineup for concerts taking place Labor Day weekend, September 6-7, at the intimate and affordable John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood, CA.

Headlining this year's festival will be veteran woodwind player/composer Bennie Maupin and Dolphyana, with an all-star band performing West Coast premiers of newly discovered compositions by the great Eric Dolphy. Also headlining will be world renowned trumpeter Dave Douglas and Brass Ecstasy, a recently formed band with the unique instrumentation of trumpet, french horn, trombone, tuba, and drums. Other artists appearing at the festival are Grammy award-winning pianist Billy Childs' Jazz-Chamber Ensemble; the Nels Cline Singers with Jeff Parker of Tortoise; the Larry Goldings Organ Trio with Peter Bernstein on guitar and Bill Stewart on drums; the Satoko Fujii Four with Natsuki Tamura on trumpet and Mark Dresser on bass; Seattle based pianist Wayne Horvitz's Gravitas Quartet; pianist Motoko Honda & Butoh master Oguri; Jesse Sharps' The Gathering featuring vocalist Dwight Trible; and many others.

Tickets and information about the festival are available at www.Angelcityjazz.com.

The Angel City Jazz Festival is a two-day outdoor event featuring innovative and original jazz musicians from the west coast and around the world. The 2009 festival presents established jazz artists as well as lesser known emerging talent, with a focus on west coast creative jazz. The Angel City Jazz Festival was founded in 2007 by jazz promoter Rocco Somazzi, and the first event was held at Barnsdall Art Park in Hollywood. Co-Producing the festival this year is Los Angeles based Cryptogramophone Records.

Says Somazzi, "We're honored to be presenting great artists like Dave Douglas, Bennie Maupin, Billy Childs, and Nels Cline in the beautiful and historic Ford Amphitheatre. Bringing creative jazz back to the Ford is a great thing for Los Angeles and a big step up for the Angel City Jazz Festival."

Nestled in the Hollywood Hills, the 1200-seat John Anson Ford Amphitheatre is one of the oldest performing arts venues in Los Angeles, with a rich history of West Coast jazz. The open-air theater sits atop a 45-acre park-like setting in the beautiful Hollywood Hills, and is a great venue for family entertainment, and picnicking under the stars. The Ford Theatre was originally known as the Pilgrimage Theater, and in the 1960s and 70s the "Jazz at the Pilgrimage" series was a destination for many west coast "cool" jazz artists like Art Pepper, Mundell Lowe, Chico Hamilton, Harold Land, Oscar Brashear, Buddy Collette, Barney Kessel, Shelly Manne, and Don Ellis. The Angel City Jazz Festival resurrects this historic venue as a nexus for creative jazz.

For tickets, visit www.fordtheatres.org or call the Ford Box Office at 323.461.3673.