By Tristin Taylor
Staff Writer

For all you music lovers with a particular taste for jazz and internationally-infused music, a major new jazz festival comes to campus Saturday.

The Mervyn M. Dymally Institute, in tandem with  Rainbow Promotions, is hosting the inaugural 2019 International Jazz and Arts Festival, an all-day event at Dignity Health Sports Park.

Coordinated by Dymally Executive Director Anthony Samad, the festival will be hosted by actor, comedian and radio host D.L. Hughley. It will also include performances from notable jazz musicians and ensembles including: Kem, Maxi Priest, Gerald Albright, Moonchild, Nestor Torres and Lira.

“We are very pleased to have comedian/social commentator DL Hughley hosting our main stage,” Samad said in an article on CSUDH Campus News Center.  “It should be a hilarious and thought provoking experience.”

While the festival will include jazz artists, it is also an homage of sorts to the man whose name is part of the festival: Mervyn M. Dymally. A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Dymally earned his bachelor’s in 1954 from what is known today as California State University, Los Angeles. He taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District for any years, before running for elected office.

In 1962, according to the institute’s website, he was elected to the California Assembly; in 1967, he became the first African American elected to the California State Senate. In 1975, he made history again, becoming the first African American to serve as California’s Lieutenant Governor.

But he wasn’t yet done blazing a trail: In 1981, he became the first naturalized African-Caribbean elected to the U.S. Congress, serving 12 years in the House of Representatives.

After a 10-year break from elected office, Dymally returned to the California Assembly, serving from 2003-2008. That is when he introduced a proposal for a “black think tank” originally called the California African American Political & Economic Institute. It was signed into legislation in August, 2003, and the institute’s home would soon be California State University, Dominguez Hills.

In 2013, the institute added the name of its benefactor to its title.

“It is our goal to embrace internationalism as a learning tool, as Congressman Mervyn Dymally was an internationalist in thought and in his approach to public policy and higher education,” Samad told the campus news center.

Along with the range of global music performed on two stages,  other forms of art will be featured, including poetry, paintings and other visual art, and there will be an art auction along with books and and festival merchandise on sale.

The Dymally Institute Jazz Festival will be Saturday, April 27 from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Ticket prices are $55 to $90. VIP tickets, which include dinner and wine, are $225. Individuals can purchase tickets by visiting www.axs.com/events/371311/dymally-international-jazz-arts-festival-kem-tickets.