In the middle of her set, Emi Secrest stepped off the stage and into the crowd, weaving in between the audience members. The crowd danced along with her as she sang. For an evening, Los Angeles Union Station had turned into a live concert venue. 

On Saturday night, The historic Ticket Concourse in L.A. Union Station hosted “KJazz Tracks,” a free jazz concert created by Metro Art in collaboration with KJazz 88.1 FM and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. 

The event was the most recent iteration of Metro Art’s live cultural programming series, “Metro Art Presents.” Heidi Zeller, senior manager of cultural planning and communications at Metro, said the aim of the series is to connect the public with art. 

“One way we serve the public is bringing them artwork that’s meaningful, and they can connect with,” Zeller said. “We want people to feel connected with one another.”

The historic Ticket Concourse was filled to the brim with attendees. Metro Art filled the space with benches for seating, and a back area allowed people to stand and watch the show. KJazz 88.1 FM was also selling merch at a stand, while Metro sold drinks. 

The event opened with up-and-coming artist Merges, who played “cool” along with songs from her newest EP, “Agnus.” She was followed by modern R&B singer Emi Secrest, who had the crowd up on their feet and dancing by the end of her set. Secrest played some of her more popular songs, “Yellow” and “Push Ya,” and even did a cover of Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak and Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open.”

The night ended with a performance from Grammy Award-winner Jon Cleary and his band, The Absolute Monster Gentlemen. Each time Cleary played a solo on the piano, he was met with applause.

For Ben Berkowitz, an attendee of the event, Cleary was the reason he made his way down to Union Station on Saturday night. 

“Jon Cleary and his band, The Absolute Monster Gentleman, [are] pretty much one of my favorite bands of all time,” Berkowitz said. “I love New Orleans music. … It rarely makes its way to L.A. So when it does, I try to come and support it, because I love this music, and I’m really excited to hear it live.”

Beyond the lineup, Berkowitz said that the accessibility of the event is what made it so special. 

“Free events open the venue up to all different types of people. There are people that can’t afford to go to a jazz club,” Berkowitz said. “Whenever an event is free, I think it really equalizes the ability of people to attend.”

Cesar Murillo, another attendee, said he found out about the event by listening to KJazz 88.1 FM. He said access to public art was important, and so he also appreciated the free venue. 

“Everyone should be able to enjoy art. It should be accessible to everyone, and it should be free,” Murillo said. “It’s important to just have public space for people to just lounge and enjoy art and be in community with each other.”

According to Zeller, community building is one of the biggest components of the “Metro Arts Presents” series. 

“It’s not just about, ‘I’m listening to some music,’ but listening in community,” Zeller said. “I like to think that we bring the humanity to the space.”

Clarence John Williams III, who was knitting while watching the performances, is one of the featured artists for the Metro Art program and created artwork for the Second and Historic Broadway station. He said Metro Art as a whole is about bringing the Los Angeles community together. 

“Our world is absolutely upside down, moreso than ever,” Williams said. “We could use a little bit of closeness.”

Zeller said feeling a sense of connection to one’s community is increasingly important in a technology-dominated world. 

“There is this loneliness epidemic,” Zeller said. “But I do feel that there’s a hunger for these kinds of ways of connecting that’s just getting off your devices and being together.” 

For Berkowitz, the shared connection events like KJazz Tracks offer is something people need more of.

“Any time they can find ways to bring people together through art, music, conversation, those are things we need more than ever in our current society,” Berkowitz said. “This is a very positive and wonderful thing.”