Skip to main content

2010 Monterey Jazz Festival - Friday Evening

The 53rd Monterey Jazz Festival presented by Verizon got off to a flaming start with the Ben Flocks Quartet on the Garden Stage. Led by Flocks on saxophones, this was a great warmup for things got into full swing with the 8:00 and 8:30 sets.

Roy Hargrove opened the night's lineup on the Jimmy Lyons Stage with his big band ensemble. This is a huge sound, with fantastic arrangements. Not only to they swing, they groove with a full, rich sound. Spicing things up a bit, Roberta Gambarini added a sultry and sensuous tone with her vocals.


At the other end of the fairgrounds, the Jazz Mafia was tearing up Dizzy's Den. This was an even bigger band ensemble, complete with strings and vocals. This was jazz meets hip-hip meets world, in an intriguing mix of young musicians that know no boundaries.

 Les Nubians was the group that caught the Lyons stage audience off guard. The music of this French duo routinely blurs the lines between musical genres. Fitting with the Friday night theme of "New Grooves", that's exactly what they brought. Closing the night on the Lyons Stage was the legendary Septeto Nacional de Cuba. This origin of this group dates back to the 1920s and was one of the groups pioneering the style of music known as son.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Essential Tracks: "African Skies", Album: "Tales From The Hudson", Michael Brecker, 1996

Essential tracks highlights tracks that arguably should be found somewhere in any serious jazz collector's library. This segment is also meant to inspire readers to seek out foundational tracks from the various sub-genres of this great music. "African Skies" from the Impulse Record release "Tales from the Hudson", 1996 You'd be hard pressed to find a track from Michael Brecker that wouldn't be considered an essential track. This release came after a year hiatus in recordings from Brecker, and was the beginning of a phenomenal run of outstanding recordings. Already an established, though probably under-appreciated giant of the saxophone, this released caused the jazz world to collectively take notice. Personnel on "African Skies" besides Brecker: Pat Metheny on guitar, Jack DeJohnette on drums, Dave Holland on bass, MyCoy Tyner on piano, and Don Alias on percussion. #Jazz

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

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