 © John Whiting Someday I’ll figure out how to be in five places at once. That’s what it takes to see every performance at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Until then, I’ll do what I’ve done for the past four years: study the program, make hard choices, get distracted, see things I want to see, miss other things I should see, kick myself, enjoy, reflect, plan to return. What a great festival this is. Seemingly so relaxed, yet brilliantly programmed, with something for everyone from children to twenty-somethings to their grandparents. Legends, up-and-comers, new names and faces. Easy jazz (notice I did not say “smooth”), edgy jazz, brand-new, history-steeped. All in a sylvan setting with really good fair food at hand. We have Jo-Jo’s Ribs for breakfast one day. Sauce on the side. A little plastic cup of potato salad. And one night, ’round midnight, samosas and naan. Any concerns about whether the 51st year of this beloved festival would match the excitement and star power of last year’s 50th birthday party fade once the lineup is announced. It takes a bit longer for the arena tickets to sell out, but they do, and by the time the festival starts grounds passes are available only for Sunday. Some 45,000 fans pass through the turnstiles onto the Monterey fairgrounds.
 Matt Penman, Joshua Redman, Brian Blade © John Whiting Monterey Day-by-Day: Friday, September 19
Music is already underway at the Garden Stage (the George Young Quintet), the Night Club/Bill Berry Stage (singer Spencer Day), and the Coffee House Gallery (Yaron Herman Trio) when we enter the Arena for the festival’s big opener: the Joshua Redman Trio. Saxophonist Redman was born in Berkeley; he has played Monterey several times (this was his fifth). “One of the first gigs I ever had was with my high school jazz band here, only a couple of years ago,” he jokes. Someone in the audience yells, “You look good!”  Vicente Archer, Anat Cohen © John Whiting From the Arena we dash to the Night Club to hear a few moments of Anat Cohen, clarinetist and saxophonist, with her quartet: Jason Lindner on piano, Vicente Archer on bass, Daniel Freedman on drums. (She is introduced by a local radio host who announces that Anat’s brother Avishai plays bass. Wrong! There are two Avishai Cohens in jazz today, and Anat’s brother is the trumpeter.) She plays a lighthearted, virtuosic arrangement of “Jitterbug Waltz” that knocks me out, her clarinet skipping over the notes and rhythms like someone crossing a stream on slippery stones. By the time she begins an Ernesto Lecuona tune we’ve moved on to the Garden Stage for another few moments, this time with Matt Wilson’s Arts & Crafts.  Gary Versace, Terrell Stafford, Martin Wind, Matt Wilson © John Whiting Terell Stafford on trumpet, Martin Wind on bass, Matt Wilson on drums, Gary Versace on piano, organ, and accordion. I love this quartet—high-energy, brainy, fun. We arrive in time to hear a gorgeous bowed bass solo with a classical feel. Versace, a man of many keyboards, is surrounded by his instruments: seated at the acoustic piano, with the Hammond B-3 to his right, the accordion tucked between, and the rotating Leslie behind him. Stafford plays a beautiful ballad on flugelhorn. Wilson, the festival showcase artist (meaning he’s “at large on the grounds,” so watch out), plays every square inch of his drum set.  Cassandra Wilson © John Whiting  Geoffrey Keezer, Christian McBride, Walter Smith III, Terreon Gully © John Whiting  Maraca “Cuban Lullabies” © John Whiting I think we’re hearing something called “Cha Cha Monterey” but can’t be sure because Maraca speaks only Spanish. (Tomorrow we’ll see him being interviewed for a podcast, with an interpreter.) Then a lovely tune with flute and percussion. It’s late, it’s raining (or, more precisely, the “Monterey mist” is in the air), and it’s chilly. People are leaving. By the end of the final melody, most of the crowd has gone and the rest of us have moved closer. It’s still a far larger audience than most jazz artists ever get. Monterey Day-by-Day: Saturday, September 20 We start the day at Maria Schneider’s rehearsal. Tonight she will perform her second Monterey commission, a new work for her orchestra called “Willow Lake” and inspired, like much of her music, by her childhood memories of Windom, Minnesota. Once again I appreciate how Gary Versace’s accordion adds a layer of lushness.  Maceo Parker and the Next Generation Orchestra © John Whiting Because we would have missed an hour and a half in a room with Cassandra Wilson, two rows from the stage.  Cassandra Wilson and Dan Oullette © John Whiting  Maria Schneider Orchestra © John Whiting Everything about Schneider’s music feels so warm and intimate. Every melody seems like a window into her life, memories, emotions, and what matters to her. The crowd gives her a standing ovation.  David Sanchez, Miguel Zenon, Scott Colley, Antonio Sanchez © John Whiting  Matt Wilson and Bill Frisell © John Whiting  Herbie Hancock, Terence Blanchard, Lionel Louecke © John Whiting At first, Wilson and Frisell seem to be noodling. Nothing much is happening and people are leaving. Then, with an almost audible snap, they’re in the groove, moving in and out of a tune—is it Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come?” I think so but don’t hold me to it. Now they’re noodling again…no, wait, it’s “Where Have All the Flowers Gone.” Frisell’s guitar is making strange beeps and deedles, like we imagine satellites in space do. Later I hear they also performed a version of “When You Wish Upon a Star” that was also out there and equally wonderful. I’m hot and cold on Frisell; I left one of his Walker Art Center performances at intermission. But tonight is ethereal. Monterey Day-by-Day: Sunday, September 21  Jamie Cullum © John Whiting He sings classics (“What a Difference a Day Makes,” “Singing in the Rain”) and originals (“Twentysomething,” “Get Your Way”). His lyrics are sharp and clever (“What kind of game shall we play today? How about the one where you don’t get your way?”). He sings “Nature Boy,” which every male singer has to tackle at one point or another, like a rite of passage. He does just fine but his other material is more fun. He gets a standing ovation.  Jamie Cullum and Clint Eastwood © John Whiting As we leave Dizzy’s and decide what to have for dinner, we pass by the Garden Stage, where Clint’s son Kyle Eastwood, a jazz bassist, is leading his band.  Kurt Elling © John Whiting I’ll be glad to see it again in February. Elling’s quartet is augmented by Ernie Watts on tenor sax (this is, after all, a Coltrane/Hartman tribute) and a string quartet called ETHEL. The strings are just right, adding texture without turning this into a Kurt-with-strings project. Elling begins the evening with a “poetic jazz memory”: “That sweet expression, the smile you gave me, it’s easy to remember—or is it?” He gives some background on the classic ’60s LP on which the show is based. He sings “What’s New?” and then “Lush Life.” I have always wanted to hear Elling sing this beautiful yet tragically sad and enormously challenging song by Billy Strayhorn. No surprise, he nails it. “Autumn Serenade,” “You Are Too Beautiful,” “You Don’t Know What Love Is” (at last, he scats). Elling has a strong relationship with the Monterey Jazz Festival—he performed here in 2002 and was Artist-in-Residence in 2006—which he acknowledges by saying, “We’re so happy to be here with our friends again.” He dedicates “My One and Only Love” to “my loves listening on the radio at home.” He doesn’t like being away from his family; when he sings “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning” (which he doesn’t during this performance, but I have often heard him sing it) you know he means every word, which makes the song especially moving and powerful. Tonight he sings “Nancy with the Laughing Face,” changing “Nancy” to “Lola” (a nickname for his daughter, Luiza?) and at one point singing “Luiza.”  Herbie Hancock © John Whiting Our final Monterey Jazz Festival show: Herbie Hancock in the Arena. There are other temptations—Elling again in the more intimate Dizzy’s Den, where they open with Joe Jackson’s “Steppin’ Out.” (I learn that later from Elling’s website.) I would have liked to hear that. And, in the Coffee House, Trio M, Matt Wilson’s journey into the avant garde with Myra Melford and Mark Dresser. But Herbie is Herbie.  Lionel Louecke © John Whiting As always, leaving the Arena for the last time, walking past the valiant vendors (who stay open late every night), getting your last whiff of fried food, and heading toward the gate is bittersweet. It will be good to go home, but does the music have to end? We’re surrounded by people saying good-bye. We tell new friends and acquaintances we’ll see them next year. How can we not return?  Amy Keyes © John Whiting ___ Pamela Espeland has reported on the Monterey Jazz Festival for Jazz Police since 2005. She writes weekly about jazz for MinnPost and blogs at Bebopified. See also Monterey Jazz Preview: Jazz in the City by the Sea (the 2008 MJF preview) and “Concert for Kids” Kicks Off 51st Monterey Jazz Festival. |
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Tuesday, 02 December 2008
