This past weekend we checked out the opening of the Thelonious Monk exhibit at the William Grant Still ArtsCenter. The show contains a comprehensive collection of album jackets and original paintings and artwork in tribute to Monk. Also, a collection of books, magazines and photographs are on display, mostly shared by curator Alden Kimbrough. In the back amphitheater, the Marcus L. Miller trio played some great jazz and poet Kamau Daood delivered a fresh out the oven poem!
Unfortunately, in the week following this opening event, the William Grant Still ArtsCenter, which is a facility of the city of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, was given notice it would be closing! This show was supposed to run until June 26th but now the last days to see it will be this upcoming weekend – March 19th and 20th. Please check it out if you are in LA and bid a somber farewell to a beautiful community arts center being taken away due to city budget cuts. 
No details really are available yet but we hope the building at the very least keeps the Noni Olabisi mural “Troubled Island” depicting Haiti’s 1791 victory over the French army led by Emperor Jean Jacques Dessalines. The center is named after Dr. William Grant Still (1895-1978) – “The Dean of Afro-American and American composers. He used music as a means to achieve inter-racial understanding.”
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