We haven’t posted in a while, but another Monterey Jazz Festival has come and gone in a whirlwind of activity. It’s a year’s worth of planning that culminates in a weekend that is exhilarating, exhausting, overwhelming…there are not enough words to describe how the process works to bring each festival to the public each year. But when we see people starting to come through the gates and the music begins to play, it’s unlike anything else in the world! For that love and enthusiasm, we are grateful to all of the fans, artists, vendors, volunteers and many others that make this festival a reality every year. Thank you!
Some of the reviews that have come in can be read at:
Monterey County Herald: Monterey Jazz Fest: Blues afternoon brightens festival
Monterey County Herald: Monterey Jazz Festival: Tunes keep it cool on closing day
International Review of Music: DAY ONE, 60th Monterey Jazz Festival
JazzTimes: MJF2017: Story of Some Grooves
DownBeat: Genres Blur & Swirl in Monterey’s ‘Big Tent’
DownBeat: Monterey Artists Lovingly Salute Jazz Icons
Classical Voice North America: Monterey Jazz Festival celebrates its 60th edition
Allaboutjazz.com: Monterey Jazz Festival 2017
San Francisco Classical Voice: Monterey Jazz Festival at 60
The Independent Ear: Why NJF & MJF remain THE jazz festivals
And many more. Dan Baldwin, the President/CEO of the Community Foundation for Monterey County, wrote on his blog:
If you’re looking for hope, buy a Saturday grounds pass to the next jazz festival. It is the most seamless, effortless example of how people of different races, genders, ages and backgrounds commune with each other. It is without question the most diverse audience I experience in Monterey County, and, it is so comfortable.
When I stroll the grounds of the jazz festival, my first reaction is that I wouldn’t have it any other way. My second is a desire to have this experience somehow transported into the consciousness of all the people who feel so threatened by diverse communities.
I wish our U.S. Senate, Congress and Executive Branch could experience the sensation of not just co-existing, but being together around a common cause (in my case Herbie Hancock; in their case governance, perhaps?) and finding that while background and genetics still inform us in many ways, my perspective intersects with others, who, if we’re standing side by side, it would appear we have nothing in common.
We are beginning to plan for the 2018 Next Generation Jazz Festival and Monterey Jazz Festival with the announcement of Tia Fuller and Ingrid Jensen as our Artists-in-Residence for next year. We’re exited to have these dedicated musicians working with us in 2018! Photo by Walter Wagner.
Tia Fuller and Ingrid Jensen (c)Walter Wagner
There are already many videos on YouTube from the festival, but we are pleased to show in its entirety our stellar Next Generation Jazz Orchestra’s set from the Arena Stage:
We are looking forward to MJF61, September 21-23, 2018! Stay tuned for more!