THE WORLD STAGE IS VITAL TO THE LOS ANGELES MUSIC SCENE

A Jazz organization provides a creative outlet for community engagement.

The World Stage Art, Education & Performance Gallery

Aug. 10, 2026

Some historians say the greatest invention of all time is the wheel.

Baby Boomers, on the other hand, contend it’s TV, while a good number of Gen Z’ers claim it’s ChatGPT. I could go on and on. But I won’t, otherwise we’d be here a while…

The gist is that it depends entirely on who you’re talking to.

Amateur performers, for instance, say that the Open Mic is the next best thing since sliced bread. Or whatever the term is these days. To be specific, singing at the Vocal Jam Session at the World Stage in Leimert Park is the ultimate sublime experience. Shout out to Leimert Park!

But why the World Stage Open Mic?

Well, it must first be said that open mics are the epitome of egalitarian. Regardless of experience level, open mics bring together people of all backgrounds, ages, and abilities. And because there is little in the way of expectations, folks feel free to try things out that they otherwise would not, gaining valuable input and experience in the process.

The Los Angeles music scene, with its plethora of neon-lit clubs and bohemian cafes, houses a good number of open mics. These small-scale gatherings unite earnest amateurs (and sometimes professionals on the down low) keen on sharing their work and struttin’ their stuff. Individuals can then discuss their performances in a supportive yet constructive manner, all within a chill atmosphere. For these reasons, open mics are public spaces uniquely devoted to developing talent, and the really good ones feature brilliant high-caliber musicians in their backup bands. Which brings me to the second reason the WS Open Mic is such a treasure.

Since its founding in 1989, the World Stage Art, Education & Performance Gallery has focused on promoting Jazz and other creative arts in the Los Angeles African-American community. Late Jazz drummer Billy Higgins and poet Kamou Daáood established the space to preserve Black music, literature and oral traditions, to a local audience (although performers outside of California and even the states have been known to pay a visit or two).

WS programs include regular workshops, jam sessions, poetry readings, ticketed concerts, and vibrant festivals featuring a variety of respected artists. The organization also connects youngsters with experienced mentors in the African-American tradition, aiming to foster positive identity through a culture-first lens. And because of its nonprofit status, no one is turned away for lack of money, although donations are always welcome.

A group of Jazz enthusiasts with longstanding experience at the WS were interviewed. Each has been involved with the institution in one facet or another, as executive director, board member, house band musician(s), and open mic participant. As each recounts his personal music trajectory, common threads gradually emerge. For example, every interviewee mentioned Nat King Cole, while most brought up Motown. A good number spoke about the pervasive trend of the digitalization and commercialization of music, and a few indicated that the church was prominent in their upbringing.

Native Angeleno Anthony Berry-Smith is a WS board member, as well as a multi-talented performer in the SoCal creative arts arena. When asked how he first found the WS, the passionate vocalist says a close friend took him to a poetry workshop. Thereafter, Berry-Smith began attending various WS events and eventually found himself helping with the drum workshops, hosting and technically curating them. After realizing that Berry-Smith had become an ever-present and indispensable asset to their organization, the WS asked him to join their board. Incidentally, Berry-Smith also runs a weekly online open mic that supplies attendees with an accompanying keyboardist (a rarity for online open mics).

When asked to discuss his musical roots, the affable Berry-Smith, a graduate of CalState LA, recalls his parents buying a piano when he was young. He also recounts with amusement his early childhood aspiration of joining the Jackson 5, marrying baby sister Janet and thereby becoming a member of the group. Later on, Berry-Smith became aware of singers, Nat King Cole and Nancy Wilson, both of whom he continues to admire today. Perhaps that’s why the largely self-taught musician has placed an electronic keyboard next to his computer at his home workspace. During our interview, for instance, Berry-Smith played a song he’d been inspired to learn as of late: Barbra Streisand’s Evergreen. As we wound down our conversation, Berry-Smith expressed excitement at attending an upcoming concert celebrating the 100th birthday of the iconic Miles Davis.

Professional musician Hiro Morozumi has been the piano accompanist for the WS instrumental and vocal jam sessions for a number of years. He first encountered the spot back in 2014, accompanied by a friend he originally met while studying music in Dallas. Morozumi and his friend explored the WS at a time when the late Billy McCoy was coordinating workshops and rehearsals for the WS Big Band. Before he knew it, Morozumi started participating in the instrumental jam sessions himself. Recognizing his stellar keyboard skills, the WS eventually invited Morozumi to join its house band.

Speaking on what role music played during his upbringing, Morozumi indicates that he started studying piano very young, as his mother was a piano teacher and singer. He remembers there was always music in the house. In later years, Morozumi recalls listening to quite a bit of Nat King Cole and later Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, and Herbie Hancock. When asked to speak about Jazz, Morozumi says the biggest defining factor is “Improvisation”, and when posed with the question, “What makes a good open mic accompanist?” he responds pensively, “Sensitivity to the singer.”

The soft-spoken Morozumi professes, “Music is all around us”, although what he considers music may differ from what other musicians consider music. He explains that it has become increasingly commercial, in a sense, a “consumable good”, partly owing to listeners’ limited attention spans these days. Morozumi, who also plays guitar and independently records music for a chain of stores in Japan, credits the WS for being a positive force within the community. He indicates that the space provides an uplifting and healing, almost therapeutic, energy to all, not only with music but also with meaningful social interactions.

Drummer Jerrell Ballard is a member of the WS house band, playing in its instrumental and vocal jam sessions (and also facilitating the latter). Ballard was first introduced to the WS in 1992 by his two brothers, who were drummers themselves. He soon began participating in the workshops and jam sessions run by Billy Higgins and Rose Gales.

With regards to his early musical influences, Ballard fondly reminisces that at age six, he was listening to music on a transistor radio; that was when R&B and Doo Wop groups were wildly popular. Ballard, whose parents were originally from Alabama, grew up exposed to a fair amount of gospel music. While still in elementary school, he learned to play drums under the tutelage of his older brother, who procured a three-piece drum set from their neighborhood youth performing arts theatre. Around that time, Ballard discovered Jazz, and before long, he began copying drum licks from his idol, Elvin Jones. Ballard also cites John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Art Blakely as significant figures in his musical education.

At nine years old, Ballard started playing and touring in a gospel band who performed as an extended family unit under the guidance of a strict father (picture Joe Jackson minus the belt). The leader, who was also the group’s singer, believed that music should only be played to serve the Lord. In fact, Ballard remembers a succession of record executives visiting the group’s house in hopes of turning the young performers into another Jackson 5. The execs were always sent away, however, as the father did not want his kids to play secular music. Notwithstanding, back in those days, the Ballard house served as a creative hub where all the neighborhood bands gathered to practice. By fifteen, Ballard himself had started his own band and played his very first studio gig.

Commenting on what makes a good open mic drummer, Ballard says, “It’s someone who provides a nice foundation for the song, who embellishes it yet never overpowers it, making the singer sound good.” When asked why so many Jazz trios consist of drums, bass, and piano, as in the WS vocal jam session, he replies matter-of-factly, “The drums give you the beats, the bass anchors with the bottom notes, and the piano gives you the chords.” Ballard adds that Jazz can’t really be played wrong due to its improvisational nature. He contends that every time a tune is played, it could and even should turn out differently. He also maintains that everyone from an audience member to a seasoned musician like himself can learn new things at jam sessions, i.e., discovering important Jazz standards that are not necessarily played on the radio.

For Ballard, the WS represents a place where African-American heritage is kept alive and shared with its youth, from generation to generation. Although he is somewhat unimpressed with the current trend of AI in music production, he notes that there are still some formidable Jazz artists recording and playing live today. Among the ones appealing to Ballard’s well-trained ear are Azar Lawrence, Bobby West, and Fuasi. As the interview was wrapping up, Ballard was asked what he listens to in the car these days; he replied without hesitation, 88.1 KJazz, on which, coincidentally, he’s heard his own drum work from past studio gigs.

Aspiring singer Jason Truong has been commuting from Orange County to attend the WS open mic for over a decade. Truong, who briefly studied music at UCLA, says his earliest childhood memories consist of a Madonna CD, 102.7 KIIS FM, and Vietnamese pop ballads his parents enjoyed. He was first introduced to the WS by the late legendary vocalist Barbara Morrison, whose Performing Arts Center was just a few doors down from the WS. At that time, Truong found Barbara’s vocal workshops invaluable to his musical growth and was curious to check out the WS. Coincidentally (or maybe not), he had also heard about the WS through one of his college music instructors.

The dedicated Truong aspires to one day sing a select group of Motown songs that feature challenging high notes, although he is already vocally manipulating tunes by adjusting notes and also by scatting. When asked about his thought process for choosing open mic songs, Troung says that he is heavily inspired by the emotions a song conveys, explaining, “I could be impressed with a singer’s technical skills, but not necessarily moved by them.” Truong has participated in other open mics around town, including ones that combined both musicians and singers. In those cases, he comments that both groups of performers’ interests were not always aligned. Previously, for example, the WS instrumental and vocal jams were one and the same, but in order to give all parties sufficient stage time, two separate sessions were eventually formed. Truong states that the WS open mic is an event with a fun and relaxing vibe-one that enables all singers to feel confident in honing their craft.

As he discusses the current direction of music, Truong echoes others’ sentiments in that music has become increasingly commodified, especially with the proliferation of AI. However, he points to a few contemporary R&B and Jazz artists he enjoys listening to, like Brandon Williams, Alex Isley (daughter of Ernie Isley), and H.E.R.

Dwight Trible has been the World Stage’s Executive Director for fifteen years, although he has been involved with the organization since day one. The Cincinnati-born vocalist, who felt a predestined spiritual connection to Los Angeles, moved here in the late 1980s and met WS co-founder Kamou Daáood at the Watts Towers. Soon after, Trible was invited to check out the new spot Daáood and Billy Higgins had just founded in Leimert Park. Trible remembers that since there was no social media back then, Daáood repeatedly phoned everyone he knew to come out and support his new undertaking. Trible also recalls it was so early in the venue’s formation that the front of the building was still without lighting.

Growing up, Trible’s musical tastes were influenced by his big family. As a young child, he viewed his mother as the best singer in the world as she crooned out Doris Day and Patsy Cline songs. What’s more, one of his brothers played the saxophone, while another practiced guitar in the room they shared (Trible frequently fell asleep to late night guitar practicing). All the while, sounds of Jazz greats, Kenny Burrell, Wes Montgomery, Miles Davis, and Nat King Cole, were playing on the record player in the boys’ room. Trible mentions as a side note that Jazz was somewhat progressive for young people at the time since most of his peers gravitated towards gospel, blues, and R&B. Not to say that Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye weren’t popular in the Trible home, or that gospel wasn’t influential, as all the kids attended Bethlehem Temple Church.

Addressing the goals of the WS, Trible states that preserving African-American music by passing it on to its youth is key. He also maintains that despite the organization’s Black roots, people of all races are embraced at the WS, even performers with tastes distinct from Jazz, like heavy metal. And Trible notes that the WS stays relevant, in part, by recognizing an artist’s innovative talent and nurturing it.

When asked to explain the organization’s longevity (nearly forty years), Trible states the simple reason: the WS puts God first. And although the space is not run by cutthroat businessmen and has faced rising costs and gentrification through the years (and don’t even mention COVID), the universe seems to conspire to the WS’s success, because it has maintained a pure and honest spirit.

As a final thought on the significance of the WS, Trible reminds all of us that the African-American influence on American music, and by default on world music, is and always has been, immeasurable.