The Monterey Jazz Festival (MJF) announces its sixth national tour in 2023, with 25 shows scheduled in January and April. Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour–Celebrating 65 is MJF’s latest national outing of jazz superstars and up-and-comers to present the artistry, spirit, and fun of the Monterey Jazz Festival to audiences everywhere with musicians who embody the Central Coast aesthetic by performing music, both historic and new, that reflects the values and legacy of the Monterey Jazz Festival over the last 65 years. Fronted by Dee Dee Bridgewater and Kurt Elling on vocals with Musical Director Christian Sands on piano, the sextet also features 2023 MJF Artist-in-Residence Lakecia Benjamin on alto saxophone, Yasushi Nakamura on bass, and Clarence Penn on drums.
The band’s 22-day tour, taking place in two legs in January and April 2023, will perform 25 concerts in 12 states. January’s shows focus on the Western United States with concerts in California, Arizona, and Utah. April’s shows include Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic states, and the Midwest. Highlights include two nights at New York City’s Jazz at Lincoln Center; Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall; UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall; Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center; Boston’s Berklee Performance Center, and many others. Click here for tickets.
As the longest continuously-running jazz festival in the world, MJF on Tour groups have brought the Festival’s reach to over 150,000 jazz fans across the country and Canada since 2008, featuring some of the genre’s greatest practitioners, including James Moody, Christian McBride, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Gerald Clayton, Christian McBride, Benny Green, Bria Skonberg, Kenny Barron, Regina Carter, Nicholas Payton, Ravi Coltrane, Russell Malone, Chris Potter, Melissa Aldana, and Ambrose Akinmusire, to name a few.
