The Santa Monica College Music Department wraps up the 2025 Fall Friday Night Jazz Series with the Peter Erskine Quartet, featuring living legends Peter Erskine on drums, Bob Mintzer on sax, Alan Pasqua on piano, and Darek Oles on bass performing on Friday, Nov. 21, at 6:30 p.m. in the Music Hall at the SMC Performing Arts Center, 1310 11th Street, Santa Monica.
This concert is followed at 8 p.m. by the SMC Vocal Jazz Fall Concert, featuring two ensembles — Seaside Swing and Golden Hour — in the Eli & Edythe Broad Stage at the SMC Performing Arts Center.
Admission to the Fall Jazz Series concert is free with any student ID. General admission tickets are $10 plus a modest service charge. Advance tickets may be purchased at smc.edu/tickets. Tickets may also be purchased starting one hour before the performance start time at The Broad Stage Box Office at the SMC Performing Arts Center. Free parking is available on premises. Seating is strictly on a first-arrival basis.
Drummer Erskine, twice the recipient of a Grammy Award, can be heard on more than 700 albums, of which at least 50 have been released under his own name or as co-leader. He has played with Stan Kenton's orchestra and Maynard Ferguson's big bands, led his own big band, and was, with Jaco Pastorius, in the rhythm section of the jazz fusion ensemble Weather Report. Erskine has also worked with such musical luminaries as Joni Mitchell, Diana Krall and Jan Garbarek.
Saxophonist Mintzer holds the endowed Buzz McCoy Chair of Jazz Studies at the University of Southern California. He played with the Grammy-winning Yellowjackets for more than two decades, leads his own Grammy-winning big band, and has recorded more than 30 albums.
Pianist Pasqua, former chair of the Jazz Program at the USC Thornton School of Music and founding member of hard rock band Giant, has played and recorded with such jazz greats as Dave Holland, Joe Henderson and Stanley Clarke.
Bassist Oles teaches at the California Institute of the Arts and is a member of the USC jazz faculty. He is often sought for recording sessions, and has worked with such musicians as Brad Mehldau, Billy Higgins, Pat Metheny and Alice Coltrane.
All performances subject to change or cancellation without notice.
Edited by SMDP Staff