Location
Los Angeles, 616 N Western Avenue, Los Angeles, 90004, CA
September 19—October 24, 2026
Adjacent to Roy DeCarava: the sound i saw, curated by Ebony L. Haynes and on view at David Zwirner Los Angeles, SIDE B: the sounds is a listening room inspired by the artist’s work.
For those who can’t make it in person—and simply for your enjoyment—the playlist below has been compiled as a dedication to the artists and musicians that made up the busy and beautiful life of Roy DeCarava depicted in the sound i saw. Containing some of the most iconic tracks by many greats, like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Billie Holiday, the playlist offers both a soundtrack and an archive of the meditative and immersive world of the exhibition.
In addition, there is live programming in the space through October 24; the following calendar of events will be updated on a regular basis.
Wednesday, September 23
Focus: A celebration of John Coltrane at 100, featuring select LPs from Coltrane's discography, including recordings with various artists who were his friends, family, and collaborators.
Friday, September 25
Screening: Conversations with Roy DeCarava (1984), 12PM, 2PM, and 4PM
Wednesday, September 30
Focus: A celebration of Miles Davis at 100, featuring select albums from Davis’s extensive discography, as well as those of his close friends and collaborators.
Thursday, October 1
Screening: Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (2019), 3:30–5:30PM
Wednesday, October 7
Focus: A celebration of Billie Holiday, featuring select albums from Holiday’s extensive discography, as well as those of her close friends and collaborators.
Saturday, October 10
Performance: Michael Donte of Black House Radio, 1:30–5:30PM
Presented in collaboration with Kiko Kostadinov
Michael Donte presents an afternoon of live house music, paying homage to the legacy of Black sound and the spaces and communities that have historically fostered it. Donte is the founder of Black House Radio, a vehicle for Black DJs celebrating the past, present, and future of house music.
Wednesday, October 14
Focus: A celebration of Ella Fitzgerald, featuring select albums from Fitzgerald’s extensive discography, as well as those of her close friends and collaborators.
Wednesday, October 21
Focus: A celebration of Duke Ellington, featuring select albums from Ellington’s extensive discography, as well as those of his close friends and collaborators.
Thursday, October 22
Screening: Conversations with Roy DeCarava (1984), 12PM, 2PM, and 4PM
Friday, October 23
Reading: Harmony Holiday, 4:30–5:30PM
Saturday, October 24
Performance: Live Jazz presented with Sam First, 3–5PM
To celebrate the closing of Roy DeCarava: the sound i saw and SIDE B: the sounds, join us for a special live performance co-presented with Sam First, a nonprofit, world-class jazz club dedicated to supporting and expanding jazz as a musical form and tradition in Los Angeles, with special thanks to Yamaha Pianos. Guitarist Anthony Wilson and pianist Billy Childs will perform an intimate duo set spanning a wide repertoire. One of LA’s most celebrated guitarists, Wilson is known for his genre-crossing body of work and collaborations with artists including Diana Krall, Charles Lloyd, and Paul McCartney. Childs is a six-time GRAMMY Award–winning pianist and composer, a Doris Duke Artist, and a Guggenheim Fellow.
To attend, please RSVP here.
An exhibition of photographs by Roy DeCarava (1919–2009) at the gallery’s 606 N Western Avenue location in Los Angeles, the sound i saw is DeCarava’s unwavering exploration of the relationship between the visual and the aural created between the late 1940s and the 1960s. First assembled as a handmade artist’s book, it was later condensed and exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1983. This body of work juxtaposes images of everyday life in New York City—elegiac street corners, deliverymen working, children playing, riders waiting for the train—with images of jazz musicians, glimpsed both mid-set and off-stage in moments of repose. Taken together, DeCarava’s tonally rich silver gelatin photographs redirect the viewer’s attention to the sounds of life, offering—as he noted—“images for the head and for the heart.”
