Cheap Summer Sounds

The weather is warm and the rain has stopped (at least for the time being). Now’s the time to enjoy some of L.A.’s many free summer concert offerings.

Tonight

“Summer Nights at MOCA” returns to the Museum of Contemporary Art tonight with the Art Davis Quartet, with pianist Cedar Walton and drummer Bill Higgins. These Thursday evening events feature free museum admission, wine and beer tastings, gallery tours and art talks through Sept. 24. Other performers this summer are the Buddy Collette Ensemble, the Susie Hansen Latin Jazz Band, Bobby Matos and His Afro-Cuban Ensemble, Sandra Bookerand Poncho Sanchez. 5-8 p.m. Sculpture Plaza, 250 S. Grand Ave. (213) 633-5334.

Friday Evening

Free jazz concerts are presented outside on the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s plaza every Friday evening from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Enjoy a glass of wine and a light supper while you listen to this week’s entertainment, saxophonist and flutist Roscoe Mitchell and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. The pair will improvise with two Wolfgangs: electronic musician and pianist Wolfgang Mitterer and percussionist Wolfgang Reisinger. This event is part of the Resistance Fluctuations experimental music festival, which continues through Sunday. The museum’s galleries and shops remain open until 9 p.m. Museum admission: $6 for adults, $4 for students and seniors with ID, $1 for children under 12, free to children 5 and under. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., (213) 857-6000.

Not in the museum mood? End the work week at Farmers Market instead. The Twilight Summer Music Festival showcases bands that are as eclectic as the market’s food offerings. The series begins with Limpopo, a Russian group that blends Russian folk music with American rock ‘n’ roll. 7 to 9 p.m. on the West Patio. Red & the Red Hots, Harmonica Fats and Bernie Pearl, the Wicked Tinkers and Louis Ortega and the Wild Jalapenos are also performing in this summer’s series. Through Sept. 4.

East Side Jazz at Farmers Market also begins Friday with jazz quartet Trespassers William performing from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on the East Patio. Jazz performances continue Fridays through June. Music and parking are free for both series. West 3rd at Fairfax. (213) 933-9211.

Saturday

The UCLA/Armand Hammer Museum’s ongoing “World of Music” series presents free performances in classical, world music and jazz Saturdays at 2 p.m. This week, the postmodern chamber ensemble Illustrious Theatre Orchestra will present “In the Street of the Great City,” a fast-paced program of chamber music, composition, orchestration and wind instrument performances from animated film and television scores.

Also at the Hammer, children will enjoy “My Hair Dryer Sings!” by the California E.A.R. Unit, an ensemble of musicians who demonstrate how blow dryers, plastic tubes, radios and duck calls combined with unusual playing techniques can produce music. 11 a.m. Both concerts in the Garden Gallery, 10899 Wilshire Blvd. (310) 443-7000.

Saturday Evening

Culver City’s Summer Sunset Music Festival offers free concerts Thursdays and Saturdays from 6 to 7 p.m. through Aug. 29. This Saturday, the We Tell Stories presents “Let Them Eat Books,” interactive tales by Aesop, Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain and others for ages 5 to 12. Ivy Substation Media Park, 9070 Venice Blvd. The Thursday night series begins with swing band Mora’s Modern Rhythmists (today) and continues with Janet Carroll, the West Coast Klezmer Orchestra and other bands in coming weeks. City Hall Courtyard, 9770 Culver Blvd. (310) 253-6640.

Sunday

Listen to cool music under the hot sun: The last event in the Playboy Jazz Festival’s free concert series includes Latin jazz percussionist Ray Barretto, jazz keyboardist Brian Culbertson and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington with vocalist Carmen Lundy. 2 p.m. Corsair Field, Santa Monica College, 1600 Pico Blvd. (310) 449-4070.