All day: Photography

Long before letterbox and John Ford put the American West on the wide screen, the Wild West was captured by photographers who turned to panorama to document the always changing landscape. “The Great Wide Open: Panoramic Photographs and Western Spaces,” opening today at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, focuses on these panoramic photographs of the trans-Mississippi West from the 1850s to the present through about 60 images by early photographers such as Carleton E. Watkins and William H. Jackson and contemporary photographers Catherine Opie and Skeet McAuley.

* “The Great Wide Open: Panoramic Photographs of the American West,” Boone Gallery, the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. Ends Sept. 9. Tuesday-Sunday, 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Adults, $8.50; seniors, $8; students 12-18, $6; children under 12 free. (626) 405-2100.

8 pm: Pop Music

Billy Joe Shaver’s history is potholed with such events as the loss of two fingers in a sawmill accident, the deaths of his wife and his mother to cancer in 1999 and the death of his son and bandmate Eddy Shaver last year. Shaver, whose contributions to outlaw lore include writing the bulk of Waylon Jennings’ 1973 album “Honky Tonk Heroes,” carries on nonetheless, hitting the road with a new album, “The Earth Rolls On.”

* Billy Joe Shaver, with Cowboy Nation, Knitting Factory Hollywood, 7021 Hollywood Blvd., L.A., 8 p.m. $15. (323) 463-0204.

7:30 pm: Movies

More than two dozen jazz greats, including Billie Holiday in a clip unscreened since 1956, can be seen in “Playboy Jazz on Film,” tonight at LACMA. Musicians Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, James Moody, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Benny Goodman, Charles Mingus, Clark Terry and Dave Brubeck appear in two hours of rare footage. “Jazz on Film” is presented for the 20th year by music and film archivist Mark Cantor in cooperation with the LACMA Film department.

* Playboy Jazz on Film, Bing Theatre, LACMA, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. Tonight, 7:30. Free, but tickets are required and will be available at the museum box office today at 5 p.m. (310) 449-4070.

8&9 pm: Jazz

Jimmy Scott’s latest album, “Over the Rainbow,” is a sterling showcase for the singer, who, at 76, remains a wonder of the jazz world with his high-pitched, achingly-soulful voice.

* Jimmy Scott, the Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City. 8 & 9:30 p.m., through Sunday. $25. (310) 271-9039.

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Freebie

* The seventh annual “Summer Nights at MOCA” series kicks off today with a performance by jazz pianist Les McCann, plus guided exhibition tours, microbrewery tastings and free admission from 5 to 8 p.m. MOCA at the Geffen Contemporary, 152 N. Central Ave., Little Tokyo, downtown L.A. (213) 626-6222.