Monterey Jazz Festival
Monterey, California, USA
9/17/2010 - 9/19/2010Description

The Monterey Jazz Festival is the longest running jazz festival in the world. Every third full weekend in September, 45,000 high income, well educated, sophisticated, and loyal jazz fans enjoy over 500 top name jazz artists performing on 9 stages spread over 20 acres of the Festival's magnificent Monterey Fairgrounds site.

Unlike city-wide jazz festivals that followed MJF--with a concert in the church one night, a show in the theater the next night, and a jam session in the club another night--once fans enter the Monterey Fairgrounds, they are enveloped by and become a part of the Monterey Jazz Festival. Fans don't leave (they can't leave and come back without buying another ticket), and they constantly wander from stage to stage, visiting with our partners all along the way.

MJF Founder, 1950s radio personality Jimmy Lyons, once dreamed of "a sylvan setting with the best jazz people in the world playing on the same stage, having a whole weekend of just getting drowned in jazz." That dream became a reality in Monterey in 1958, with a single stage that hosted Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Art Farmer, Dave Brubeck, and Billie Holiday, just to name a few. Today, the world's oldest continuously running jazz festival continues to be recognized by fans and artists alike as one of the world's premier jazz events.

Over the weekend, the world's top jazz artists perform five concert programs on the Arena's Jimmy Lyons Stage, with each of these sold-out concerts simulcast in two different venues on the grounds. There are eight additional stages spread throughout the oak-studded Fairgrounds, each available for partnership, providing intimate indoor and outdoor settings, perfect for enjoying jazz.

Hundreds of music, merchandise, food and beverage booths, historical exhibitions, workshops and clinics, jazz conversations and more make the Fairgrounds buzz with activity throughout the Festival weekend.

The best news about the Monterey Jazz Festival is where all the money goes. Founded as a nonprofit educational corporation, MJF invests its proceeds in a year-round series of jazz education programs, ranging from local sheet music and instrument banks, to a regional in-school teaching program (with pros teaching kids, hands-on, how to play jazz), to MJF's other national event--the Next Generation Festival (held in April in Monterey), with thousands of the country's top young jazz musician in attendance, vying for a spot on the stages of the venerable Monterey Jazz Festival.

Performers
Herbie Hancock, Nancy Wilson/Tribute to Cannonball Adderley, Jamie Cullum, Cassandra Wilson, Wayne Shorter Quartet, Maria Schneider Orchestra/Commission Artist; Christian McBride/Artist-In-Residence; Matt Wilson/Showcase Artist; Joshua Redman, Terence Blanchard, Kurt Elling, Bill Frisell, Maceo Parker, Maraca/Cuban Lullabies, The Derek Trucks Band, Ledisi, Brian Blade Fellowship, Kyle Eastwood Band, Yaron Herman Trio, Rudder, 4onefunk, Quantic/New Grooves, Barbara Dennerlein, Brian Auger's Oblivion Express/Hammond B3 Blowout

Conversation with Clint Eastwood and Jamie Cullum, Spencer Day, Anat Cohen, La Tuque Bleue, Marc Cary Trio, DownBeat Blindfold Test, Antonio Sanchez & Migration, Tom Scott, Ryan Shaw, Tuck & Patti, Rebeca Mauleón & Afro-Kuban Fusion, Jamie Davis Big Band, Myra Melford, Mark Dresser, Matt Wilson/Trio M, Berklee Latin Jazz Allstars.

Conversation with Nancy Wilson and John Levy, Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, Cannonball Adderley Panel Discussion, Junko Moriya, US Air Force "Falconaires", Sadza Zun Zun, George Young Quartet, Brass Menažeri, Sue Downs, My Name is Albert Ayler/Film, Electric Heart: Don Ellis/Film, The Country's Best High School & College Jazz Groups.

Venue
Monterey Fairgrounds
Directions
From Highway One, take Casa Verde Exit straight to Fairgrounds.
Times
Gates Open: 6:00 pm Friday 11:30 am Saturday 11:00 am Sunday Nonstop jazz until 1:00 am
Admission & Parking
Arena Packages (including nonstop jazz on 9 stages for 3 nights and 2 days)from $220. Grounds Tickets with 8 stages of nonstop jazz + Arena simulcasts from $35.
Website
http://www.montereyjazzfestival.org/
Infophone
831--373-3366
Email
paul@montereyjazzfestival.org