52nd Monterey Jazz Festival

The Monterey Jazz Festival is the longest running festival in the world. It has been 13 years since I attended this festival so it was wonderful to arrive on perfect day and soak up all the great jazz on offer. From 24 year old rising star Esperanza Spalding to 90 year old Pete Seeger and 91 year old Hank Jones the stage was set for a wonderful week-end of music! Unfortunately I couldn't go on the Sunday as that was the day I was returning to Australia but here are the artists and bands that I saw on the Friday and Saturday.

Roger Eddy Band

The Roger Eddy Band appeared on the Garden Stage early in the evening. They are a quintet comprising all musicians from the Monterey bay peninsula. As well as piano, bass and drums Bob Basa was featured on acoustic guitar. Eddy has a fat sound reminiscent of players like Stan Getz. The music seemed really suited to the setting. Eddy is a tenor sax player with a warm rich tone. The music was relaxed and laid back with plenty of Brazilian tunes. The band opened with Jobim's `Once I loved' and continued with several other sambas. There was a cool version of `Killer Joe' and a couple of Eddy originals `Gospel' and `Bayonne New Jersey'. This band played quality West coast style jazz and set the scene nicely for the rest of the evening.
Esperanza Spalding was the first act appearing in the main arena and the place was buzzing when she hit the stage! Spalding is one of the most exciting new acts to hit the jazz scene and at the tender age of 24, already has developed her own style, drawing on influences of the past but with a definite contemporary touch! I had just missed seeing her at Centre Stage in New York so was very happy to see her on the bill here. She plays upright bass with style and authority and has a strong and expressive voice moving up and down the octave with ease. She began with `Jazz (ain't nothin' but soul' which had the whole audience grooving! Sax and trumpet were featured on this number, giving the band a full sound but most of the set was performed with her quartet comprising Fender Rhodes piano, guitar and drums with occasional use of the trumpet for extra colour. Much of her music had a Brazilian flavour and she sang the Shorter/Nascimento tune `Point of sale' in perfect Portuguese! She took up the electric bass for a Shorter jazz/rock tune and also for a beautiful original tune `Sunlight'. The audience gave a standing ovation at the end enthralled by the talent of this new face at the festival!
Monterey Jazz All Star band




Next up were the Monterey Jazz All Star Band comprising Kurt Elling, vocals, Kenny Barron, piano, Kiyoshi Kitagaura, bass, Johnathan Blake, drums, Russell Malone, guitar and Regina Carter, violin. They opened up with ``When i get too old to dream' in which they all took a solo. This was followed by an instrumental version of the Billie Holliday tune `Don't explain' featuring Regina Carter and Kenny Barron, both showing their virtuosity and with Carter breaking into a Bach like cadenza! Next was some standard jazz guitar with Malone playing Wes Montgomery's `Road song'. Elling returned and evoked the beat generation with the Kerouac inspired `What if', a clever talking dialogue. Barron then mixed it up some more with his own composition `Calypso' followed by Elling featured on `Soul food'. Russell Malone showed his skills on a slower tempo number with `Time after time' and the set finished with my favourite all time song `Nature boy' sung beautifully by Elling. Please note everyone I want this song played at my funeral, the Nat King Cole version!





Saturday 19th September


John Scofield and the Piety Street Band

The opening act on the Jimmy Lyons stage were John Scofield and the Piety Street Band. I've seen John Scofield perform and John Cleary but was looking forward to seeing them play together. John Scofield is a player who likes to explore different styles of music and this time he found inspiration in old gospel tunes. I have the Piety Street album and all I can say is they were able to exactly reproduce that sound! They opened with `That's enough' followed by `Something's got a hold on me' both strongly featuring Scofield's guitar. next was `Walk with me' but then the band broke out of the gospel mode and broke into Shirley and Lee's `Come on baby let the good times roll' featuring Cleary. They slowed things down with the Hank Williams tune `Angel of death' and ended with `It's a big army'. A very tight set which set the scene well for the afternoon!
Pete Seeger

Next was the highly anticipated appearance of American icon Pete Seeger. On Saturday afternoons the festival has always featured American blues and roots performers to add some diversity to the programme. At 90 years old, I wasn't sure what Seeger would be capable of but having seen Les Paul last year at 93 I guessed that he would need help! Yes, he has lost his singing voice but he can still play the banjo and he had a talented ensemble of family and friends to help out with the vocals. The eight piece band included fiddles, guitars, banjo, upright bass and piano. Seeger began with the familiar `Midnight special' which had the audience singing along enthusiastically. Most of the vocal leads are sung by his grandson Tao Rodriguez Seeger who also plays guitar. Next was the `Hudson River Valley Song' which was new to me but everyone seemed to know it! `Turn turn turn' which became a big hit for the Byrds also drew a great response.
`I don't have enough voice left to sing this one, but I can give you the words. In church, they call this `lining the verse' said Seeger. Irving Berlin's `Blue skies' also proved a popular choice of material. Much of the audience were my age or older and were caught up by the nostalgia the songs evoked and were thrilled to see an American folk legend. Tao sang an old Cuban cowboy song in Spanish. Seeger narrated the words and the audience sing along! `Guantanamera' was sung by Tao Seeger is most famous for his protest songs so including one was obligatory. `What you gonna do (when they send your man to war') The band ended with `This land' which as Seeger related, became popular by accident! the song was written by Woody Guthrie for children to sing in school but somehow caught on!
Susan Tesdechi
Susan Tedeschi had the difficult task of following Pete Seeger on the Jimmy Lyons stage. Tedeschi is one of the most talented female singer/guitarists around at the moment along with Ruthie Foster who was appearing on the Garden stage at the same time! Tedeschi can really mix it up from blues, rock to a New Orleans style Allen Toussaint tune. Her band comprised sax, organ, rhythm guitar, bass and drums with Tedeschi playing some great leads. I knew she had a great voice but I hadn't realised just what a talented guitarist she is. There are very few women as talented. Debbie Davies and Deborah Coleman spring to mind and Ana Popovic gets a lot of hype but Tedeschi can really rock! Many of the songs come from her latest album `Back to the river' including `There's a break in the road' `Talking about' and the title track. Trescha ended with Hendrix's `Spanish castle magic' which was performed by Hendrix himself on the same stage at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.


New Orleans All Stars
The last act to perform on the Garden Stage on Saturday were the New Orleans All Stars featuring Henry Butler and Cyril Neville. Ironically since Katrina both have now left the city with Neville residing in Texas and Butler in Colorado! There was standing room only about half an hour before the band began! They kicked off with a great New Orleans style instrumental and then featured Butler on Tipitina and `Let it roll'. The whole audience were rocking to the infectious grooves! Butler has a very strong unique voice and great rhythmic piano style. Next Cyril Neville sang two tunes from his latest album `Brand new blues' `I found joy' and `Mean boss blues'. It was back to Butler .for 2 more numbers `Tie me down' and `Big chief' and then Neville took the vocals again on `Feel like funkin' it up' strongly featuring him on percussion and `Foxy lady'. the band wrapped it up with the rockin `Don't come around my door' sung by Butler. The band played for 90 minutes but still left everyone wanting more! It's a pity they don't do encores at Monterey but of course they must keep to their schedule!






I caught some snippets of a great jazz choir and a contemporary ensemble called the Berklee Monterey Quintet plus a funk band called Global Noize. I missed some of the big names like Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Hank Jones and others but consider myself lucky to have been there atall!