Monterey Jazz Festival - Yes, you can still go

If you have to ask what is the 52nd Monterey Jazz Festival presented by Verizon, you probably should skip the rest of this post because by the time you act on the information, it'll be too late. Normally, there's a scramble for the few remaining tickets for the Festival Grounds. This year, this close to the festival there are still tickets available for an Arena Ticket subscription.

This is extremely rare, and is no doubt caused by the current economic climate. The last time this happened precedes my festival experience by a lot of years, and I've been going for 13 years. The purchase of an arena subscription allows you to be a part of this magnificent annual music event that is world renown.

Why should you hurry to buy tickets, arrange for hotels, and figure out how to get your behind to Monterey for September 18-20? If you're a true jazz fan, these are all the reasons you need: Chick Corea, Lizz Wright, Kenny Baron, Regina Carter, Esperanza Spalding, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra, Hank Jones & Joe Lovano, George Duke, Soulive, Kurt Elling, Russell Malone, John Scoffield, and a whole host of others. Monterey Jazz Festival, - handle your business

Comments

66th Monterey Jazz Festival - Part 2, New Discoveries

Festivals offer the opportunity to see a variety of artists, within a short period of time, and frequently at the same venue. The Monterey Jazz Festival is one of that presents a well crafted mix ranging from established legends of the music to local fan favorites. Each year I especially look forward to hearing emerging artists that have either been part of groups or recordings from headliners and legends, composing and producing for other artists, part of a collective of artists involved with a variety of collaborations, or, stepping out on their own as a leader. The artist list for the 66th Monterey Jazz Festival is filled with artists I'm very familiar with and plan to hear their latest work. It also contains quite a few I've either heard on other artist's recordings, read about a number of times, heard their current recordings, or are just plain curious about. I know the pattern well. These artists that are less familiar to the festival audience at large frequently find...

68th Monterey Jazz Festival Preview

The 67th Monterey Jazz Festival presented a dynamic musical celebration of jazz which respected traditional music while embracing modern creative approaches. The 2024 festival at the Monterey County Fairgrounds presented Herbie Hancock and Dianne Reeves alongside Samara Joy and Immanuel Wilkins and DOMi & JD Beck in outstanding performances. The festival maintained its inclusive programming and intimate setting which allowed jazz fans from different generations to unite through music. The festival paid tribute to Wayne Shorter through a tribute performance while Terri Lyne Carrington led a jam session between different generations of musicians and the Garden Stage hosted late-night performances that kept audiences dancing until the sun went down. Image Gallery from the 67TH Monterey Jazz Festival The 68th Monterey Jazz Festival scheduled for September 26–28, 2025 will uphold its tradition by presenting a combination of exceptional artistic performances and innovative musical approa...

Jazz 500 - An Overdue Personal Project

Hello again. First, I must apologize for being away for so long. I wish I had more of an excuse to give you, but the fact is, sometimes life just gets in the way. In any case, I’m back just in time for the heart of the festival season. Next up for me is the Monterey Jazz Festival in September. We have our tickets in hand, and can’t wait for this, the 61st edition, of the longest continuously running jazz festival in the world. In the meantime, if you’ve followed my Instagram feed in the past, you may have noticed quite a bit more activity than normal. I usually post images live from the festival, and hope to be doing that again this year. In addition, I’ve started a series I’m referring to as Jazz 500 (#jazz500). My Jazz Photojournalism adventure began in 1995. A year later, I covered my first Monterey Jazz Festival. Since then, I’ve covered it every year except 1997 and 1998. As you can imagine, after 20 years of photographing some of the greatest legends of the musi...

Jazz Currents

Search This Blog