Our mission is to inspire the discovery and celebration of jazz, anchored by an iconic festival.
We envision a sustainable organization that sets the standard of excellence for jazz, connects a diverse community, and helps people appreciate and learn about jazz as fans and performers.
A love for jazz | Innovation and Creativity | Diversity and Inclusiveness | Professionalism and Excellence | Honesty and Integrity | Collaboration | Respect and Dignity | Flexible and Open | Financially Responsible | Fun
Jazz sits within American culture as a singular and distinctive art form. It has been created by, perpetuated by, and anchored in Black voices and culture. Having begun presenting jazz in 1958, Monterey Jazz Festival has led the world in supporting and advocating for this legendary art form. Entwined in this story are two realities. Jazz has historically shuttered participation by women. Monterey Jazz Festival audiences have largely consisted of white males, due to geography and the fact that Black and female audiences have not been cultivated and maintained. To be on the path of diversity, equity, and inclusion these realities must be addressed in the policies and practices of Monterey Jazz Festival. As leaders in the field, to make change, we will look to these truths. We affirm our commitment to continuing to question our role within this important community of artists, to create innovative and accessible education and music programs that expand who experiences, performs, and receives this beautiful music. The Monterey Jazz Festival takes its inspiration from the ethos of jazz and derives its strength from the diversity and inclusion inherent in the art form. We strive to reflect these values both on and off the bandstand, and in every aspect of the organization—the Board, professional staff and employees, volunteers, vendors, artists, students, donors, and attendees.
Since the beginning, the Monterey Jazz Festival has been committed to presenting, nurturing and celebrating all jazz artists. To this end, Monterey Jazz Festival has adopted the We Have Voice Collective code of conduct. This code is about ensuring safe spaces for all musicians, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, culture, etc. to work and perform in – something we strive towards every day at Monterey Jazz Festival, and an initiative we are proud to support.
Image: B.B. King at MJF10 in 1967, from The Art of Jazz: Monterey Jazz Festival / 50 Years.
Colleen Finegan Bailey, Executive Director
Darin Atwater, Artistic Director
Bobbie Young, Director of Operations
Elvira Paredes, Administrative Assistant
Thom Taft, Director of Finance & Administration
Claire Kim-Shin, Director of Education
Joy Wiseblood, Director of Marketing
Lauren Tobin, Director of Media
Ken Gordon, Chair | Tom LaFaille, President Elect | Mimi Hahn, Secretary | Don Barnett, Treasurer | Laura Zehm, Member-at-Large | Colleen Bailey, Director | Susie Brusa, Director | Kevin Cartwright, Director | Sherol Chen, PhD, Director | Clint Eastwood, Director | John Garcia, Director | Mike Knapek, Director | Lori Ella Miller, Director | Sharon Wesley, MD, Director | Larry Williams, Director
Carsbia Anderson Jr. | Jackson Booth | Jim Costello | Michael Fields | Terry O’Connor
Colleen joined the Monterey Jazz Festival in 2015 and has worked closely with her talented team to improve the festival experience while simultaneously ensuring the integration of high-quality education and outreach programs that expand the legacy and popularity of jazz to a larger, more diverse audience. Devoted to removing barriers to participation in the arts, in 2021, Bailey led the organization through a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) process that resulted in a DEI roadmap and has built and nurtured a broad range of partnerships including with corporations such as Alaska Airlines, Google, as well as education partners such as CSU Monterey Bay, Texas Southern University, Berklee College of Music and more, that have greatly expanded access to the Monterey Jazz Festival’s programs. She blends her passion for social impact with sound business expertise to help meet the mission of the organization. Under her leadership, the organization has strengthened its governance model, amended its policies and procedures, and improved its financial sustainability, which accounted for its successful comeback from the pandemic.
A native of Monterey County, Bailey has a long history of leadership in the nonprofit and education sectors. Prior to joining Monterey Jazz, she served as the Executive Director of the National Steinbeck Center (NSC), the largest literary museum in the country.
Bailey’s first career was as an award-winning arts educator and administrator in schools in the west. Committed to the local community, Bailey has served on many boards and in leadership roles. She is currently a Trustee of the York School and is a member of the Advisor’s Circle for the Community Foundation of Monterey County. Most notably she helped found the Youth Orchestra of Salinas (YoSal), an El Sistema-modeled music program in Salinas that serves approximately 300 students every day after school, all year long. Bailey holds an undergraduate degree from USC, a master’s degree from Northwestern University and a Certificate from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business’ Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders at the Center for Social Innovation.
An artistic force in the broadest sense of the word, Darin Atwater's career has encompassed the roles of artistic director, composer, conductor, pianist, vocalist, and cultural advocate. For over 20 years, he has forwarded historically marginalized and underrepresented art forms and artists, advancing both to the fore of American Culture.
Born in Washington DC, Atwater attended both Morgan State University and Peabody Conservatory and made his orchestral debut as both composer and pianist with the National Symphony Orchestra performing his Piano Concerto. Engagements with major orchestras, in Performance at The White House, a European tour and world premieres of his numerous compositions followed. As Guest Conductor he has appeared with the Baltimore Symphony, National Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Columbus Symphony, and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
Atwater is a master inventor of musical hybrids. From the Emmy Award-winning, jazz-tinged Song in a Strange Land to Day of Affirmation — commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center — along with numerous arrangements for gospel legends Richard Smallwood, Donald Lawrence, and Yolanda Adams, he has blended jazz, gospel, and classical music into dazzling fusions. Atwater is a champion of large-form jazz works, having programmed and conducted Duke Ellington’s Black, Brown & Beige, The Nutcracker Suite, Billy Childs' The Calling: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan and David Baker’s Jazz Suite for Clarinet and Orchestra, among others.
Most recently Atwater premiered his newly commissioned Black Metropolis, a ballad opera with the Philadelphia Orchestra in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop.
Atwater is the Founding Artistic Director of Soulful Symphony, a uniquely American orchestra of national stature that has become the benchmark for innovation and diversity. It has broadened the audiences engaging in music in the concert hall, literally redefining the symphony experience all while contributing to the canon of American Roots music.
He joined the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University where he teaches American Roots music and culture and serves as a diversity advocate supporting the selection and evaluation of repertoire taught and performed at the Conservatory.
Jazz impresario and disc jockey Jimmy Lyons presents pianist Erroll Garner as an installment of his ongoing Jazz at the Sunset concert series in Carmel. A confiscated bootleg recording of the show is released as "Concert by the Sea" and becomes one of the best-selling albums of the era.
At Doc Ricketts’ Lab on Cannery Row (now known as the Pacific Biological Laboratories), members invite Jimmy Lyons to discuss the idea about a jazz festival in Monterey. Jimmy raises the money through $100 donations.
Jimmy Lyons and jazz critic Ralph Gleason present the inaugural Monterey Jazz Festival, October 3-5. The festival is founded as a non-profit. Among the performers were Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Sonny Rollins, Dave Brubeck, Cal Tjader, Harry James, and Billie Holiday, her only MJF performance.
MJF is moved to the third full weekend in September. Performers include Ornette Coleman, Gerry Mulligan, John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong, and many others. Duke Ellington premieres “Suite Thursday” and Jon Hendricks premieres "Evolution of the Blues Song."
Dave Brubeck premieres "The Real Ambassadors" with Louis Armstrong and Carmen McRae. Quincy Jones and Stan Getz make their first MJF appearances.
Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk make their first MJF appearances.
John Handy records "Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival" and Mary Lou Williams makes her first of three MJF appearances.
The Jefferson Airplane, Muddy Waters, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Don Ellis, Randy Weston, and many others perform. Charles Lloyd records "Forest Flower" which becomes an iconic crossover hit album and features his young sidemen Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette, and Cecil McBee.
Saturday afternoon blues show features T-Bone Walker, B.B. King, Richie Havens, and Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin.
Legendary actor and director Clint Eastwood films part of his iconic directorial debut, "Play Misty For Me" at the Monterey Jazz Festival.
MJF presents the first annual winners of the Next Generation Jazz Festival, a student competition, and the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra (NGJO), a high school all-star band.
MJF25. Performers include Tito Puente, Poncho Sanchez, Gerald Wilson, Cal Tjader, Etta James, Dave Brubeck, Dizzy Gillespie, and many others.
MJF in Noto Japan is established, and the students in the local county all-star bands and the NGJO begin to travel there annually to perform. It rains during the festival for the first time.
MJF35. Jimmy Lyons retires as General Manager, and Tim Jackson takes over as GM and Artistic Director.
The Artist-in-Residence and Commission programs are reintroduced with Bob Mintzer and James Williams acting as AIRs and Billy Childs as Commission Artist.
Joshua Redman is the first MJF jazz education alumnus to be named Artist-in-Residence.
MJF40. Diana Krall, Sonny Rollins, David Sanborn, Charlie Haden, Koko Taylor, and many others perform. The Coffee House Gallery is added as a fifth venue. A book, "Monterey Jazz Festival: Forty Legendary Years" is released along with a CD box set of archival recordings.
MJF50. Artists from the first MJF include Sonny Rollins, Dave Brubeck, Jim Hall, Ernestine Anderson, Buddy Montgomery. MJF Records is launched, featuring archive recordings from the festival and a coffee table book of artwork, "The Art of Jazz."
MJF60. Artist-in-Residence is John Clayton, Jeff Hamilton, Gerald Clayton, making them first parent-child AIR. John Clayton premieres "Stories of a Groove" as the MJF Commission.
Enjoy Multiple Benefits from a Variety of MJF Partnership Opportunities!
For more information about becoming a partner of the 67th annual Monterey Jazz Festival, contact Executive Director, Colleen Bailey at
colleen@montereyjazzfestival.org or 831.373.3368
There are many ways to partner with the Monterey Jazz Festival, from sponsoring a stage at the Festival to supporting the year-round jazz education programs.
The David & Lucile Packard Foundation / National Endowment for the Arts / Kaiser Permanente / Alaska Airlines / AT&T / Taylor Farms / Montage Health / Jazz Cruises, LLC / MedCom Solutions / Inns of Monterey / CSUMB / Texas Southern University / Castoro Cellars / Arts Council for Monterey County / Other Brother Beer / Alvarado Street Brewery / Naturipe Berry Growers / J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines / Steinway & Sons / Gretsch / LP / Remo / Integris Wealth Management / U.S. Pure Water / Destination x Design California / Alvarez Technology Group / SiriusXM / DownBeat / Monterey-Salinas Transit / SmoothJazz.com Global / KSBW / KAZU 90.3 / Monterey Herald / KTSU Radio / KSQD 90.7
