Aja Monet —12/18/25
Artist: Aja Monet
Venue: Lodge Room (L.A.).
Date: Dec. 18, 2025
Minaret Records closed its third annual Winter Jazz Festival with a sold-out night of poetry and soul. Lodge Room transformed for the occasion, rows of seats filling the room where bodies usually stand and dance. Night two traded night one's party energy for something quieter, deeper.
Grammy-nominated LA soul visionary Georgia Anne Muldrow opened solo, working her laptop and Traktor with a voice that shook the room. Daughter of jazz guitarist Ronald Muldrow and singer Rickie Byars, Muldrow has built a two-decade career as one of LA's most daring artists. Mos Def once compared her to Roberta Flack, Nina Simone, and Ella Fitzgerald. Her gratitude filled the space between songs, warm and contagious. Standing ovation.
Detroit Princess (Camille Langston) held it down on the ones and twos between sets.
Grammy-nominated poet Aja Monet headlined with a four-piece: Brian Hargrove moving between Nord and Fender Rhodes, Ben Williams on upright bass, and Kweku Sumbry on drums. Monet stood with stacks of notebooks, flipping between poems, some brand new. For her closing piece, she asked the audience to choose between two poems. One was more upbeat, about solidarity between Africa and Palestine. The crowd erupted before she could name the second option. Monet gave prompts to her musicians. To Hargrove: "Play the sound of the first time a baby enters the world." To Kweku: "Play the sound of an angry auntie, upset with her hand on her hip." Then: "Play the sound of an African train heading to the Middle East." The band followed, improvising from her words.
Monet had been sick all week, battling flu, cup of tea at her side for her throat. You wouldn't have known. Her voice carried, her presence steady. Standing ovation. Minaret's Winter Jazz Festival ended the way it began: completely packed, completely alive.
