At Monterey, the weather is always an open question. The only way to be safe is to dress in layers — over the course of a day, the temperature may swing as much as twenty degrees Fahrenheit, and at night the Arena has a strange knack for making 55 degrees feel like something closer to 40…
Returning to Monterey after a 13-year absence, Maria Schneider is looking back in more ways than one. Monterey was the scene of Schneider’s first major commission, so for this late set at Dizzy’s Den, Schneider and her 18-piece band revisit that earlier work, “Scenes from Childhood.”
In a strong set at the Arena stage, Christian McBride’s sublime new acoustic quintet made a good case for a ranking among the top bop bands working today.
The small stage is crammed with gear — in addition to piano, bass and drums, there’s a Fender keyboard, a set of tablas, two laptop computers and an array of mixers and effects boxes strung together with yards of cable.
“Aw, that’s okay, man,” says the hip-looking older gentleman to his companion, after finding the Garden Stage crowd so thick that all sightlines have been obliterated. “You don’t need to see Maceo Parker!”
Out of the bright afternoon sun and seemingly a world away from the R&B being laid down elsewhere on the fairgrounds, pianist Junko Moriya’s quartet is offering up a breezy mix of modern bop and cool contemporary jazz…
Kicking off Saturday at the Garden Stage, young vocalist Ryan Shaw is putting a modern twist on the glory days of soul with a sound that’s part Motown, part Stax, but also incorporates bits of Little Richard and Lenny Kravitz…
As Day Two of the 51st annual Monterey Jazz Festival gets underway, it is perhaps a good time to step back a bit and explain to those of you who have never been here just where everything is…
The Arena debut of Cuban flutist Orlando “Maraca” Valle has been one of the most highly-anticipated events of this year’s festival, and it takes very little time for Valle to justify the interest.
A sticker on Anat Cohen’s saxophone case reads simply, “MEAN PEOPLE SUCK.” Anyone who has listened to the myriad albums Cohen has graced will be unsurprised by that philosophy.
Standing alone, his tenor sax running through effects pedals on the floor, Chris Cheek moans and keens, sounding now like a runaway train whistle, now like one of Charlie Brown’s long-suffering teachers.
Every opening night has its own unique atmosphere. Last year there was a charge in the air; two years before that, a hollow sadness over Hurricane Katrina. But this year, the mood is one of laid-back conviviality.
