Monterey 56 scrapbook: even more reasons we love the Festival

Random moments. Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca's band had just played the opening set on the first night on the Garden Stage.

Signed CDs.

Press creds.

Wandering the fairgrounds before the Festival opens. The Arena seats thousands. It's a fancy-schmancy place. The seating is rows of metal chairs tied together. The floor is covered with a thick layer of sawdust. There is no ceiling. Planes fly directly overhead, low and loud, on their way to and from the nearby Monterey Airport.

The Garden Stage and some of the oaks for which the Festival grounds are famous.

The dining room, not yet set up.

It takes a long time to cook ribs properly, so he starts early in the day. Wish I'd snapped this a few seconds sooner, when he lifted the lid of the cooker to a billow of smoke as large as the cloud overhead.

Dave Holland (l) with the Craig Taborn Quartet: Dave King, Chris Lightcap, Craig Taborn, and Chris Speed. Photo by Louise Holland. Dave King sent it to me because he's wearing a scarf I loaned him after the Quartet played.

Jazz buses. A collaboration between Monterey-Salinas Transit (MST) and the Monterey Jazz Festival, these colorful buses have run daily year-round since 2012 along the first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor in Monterey County. The 30 new bus shelters are a linear jazz museum, with vintage photos from the Monterey Jazz Archives and descriptive text by jazz writer Bill Minor. Each has a bar code that can be scanned with a smart phone to link to a live recording of a performance from a particular year of the Festival. Photos: Monterey-Salinas Transit.

Dr. Lonnie Smith (l) came to hear Willard Jenkins (c) interview Lonnie's old friend, NEA Jazz Master Lou Donaldson (r). Lonnie and Lou played together for many years; Lou joined Lonnie for a set at the Festival's final show in Dizzy's Den.

Crowds.

Kids.

Visiting the exhibit "Brubeck at Monterey: Six Decades of Excellence" in the Coffee House Gallery and finding something you've written.

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All photos by John Whiting and Pamela Espeland unless otherwise indicated.

Related: Monterey 56 2013, a photo set on Flickr.

Day 3 of Monterey 56: Masters

Davina Sowers by John Whiting

Monterey 56, Day 3, was a celebration of NEA Jazz Masters and a likely career breakthrough for a band from Minnesota.

A conversation with Jazz Master Lou Donaldson is an exercise in hilarity. At 86, he may look sleepy and frail, but he's quicker with a comeback than most 20-year-olds. We learned that Sunday afternoon, when Willard Jenkins, jazz journalist (and coauthor with Randy Weston of Weston's autobiography, "African Rhythms"), interviewed Donaldson in Dizzy's Den.

The conversation was also supposed to include fellow Jazz Master Bobby Hutcherson, who couldn't make it (but performed later; more on that below).

A few moments from the Jenkins-Donaldson exchange:

Willard Jenkins: "What would you say to a young person today who comes to jazz without knowing the blues?"
Lou Donaldson: "I'd say he should look for a day job."

WJ: "What advice would you give a young person who wants to be a jazz musician?"
LD: "I'd have to hear them first."
WJ: "If you hear them and they have some possibility, what do you tell them?"
LD: "I tell them, you got some possibilities."

WJ: "How did it feel to receive the NEA Jazz Master award?"
LD: "I didn't feel nothing, because I should have got it 30 years ago."

Willard Jenkins and Lou Donaldson by John Whiting

When asked by an audience member, "When is your book coming out?" Donaldson demurred; he fears that when he writes his book, it will jeopardize his future employment, because he plans to spill some major beans. "I can tell you about musicians in any town that had jazz in it," he claimed, and when Jenkins said, "I'm from Cleveland. Tell me about Cleveland," Donaldson obliged with a string of names. "Music keeps you young," he offered at one point, and you'd better believe it.

At the Arena, Bob James and David Sanborn drew a huge crowd. Their Quartette Humaine with famed drummer Steve Gadd and bassist James Genus was one of the most talked-about events of the Festival, and the line that formed later for CD signings one of the longest.

Bob James David Sanborn, Steve Gadd, and James Genus by John Whiting

Sanborn and James at their signing by John Whiting

We knew that Davina and the Vagabonds would be a hit; we've heard them several times in their home city of Minneapolis and have seen first-hand their ability to wow a crowd with their rollicking, bluesy, jazzy New Orleans-based sound. But we couldn't have predicted they would be a huge hit -- this year's Trombone Shorty. Scheduled for a perfect time, when the evening sun lit the garden stage and both the Arena and the Night Club were on break, they pulled an audience that filled the benches, bleachers, and lawn, then spilled out past the entry and onto the sidewalk.

Davina and the Vagabonds by John Whiting

Dan Eikmeier and Ben Link by John Whiting

Part of Davina's crowd

Not only were audience members enthusiastic; they listened and stayed put. When bandleader and pianist Davina Sowers sang the Etta James classic "I'd Rather Go Blind," you could have heard a pin drop on the grass. People teared up. They loved her originals as much as her covers. They adored her band -- Dan Eikmeier on trumpet and vocals, Ben Link on trombone, Alec Tackmann on drums, Andrew Burns on sousaphone and bass. Overheard: "Who is she? She's great!"

A Monterey insider called this performance "one of those rare Monterey moments when everything comes together -- the band, the music, the audience, the weather." Their CDs sold out before their signing, scheduled for after the show, but people lined up anyway to meet them, holding out tickets and programs and scraps of paper to be signed. Afterward, a spur-of-the-moment interview was recorded, and the interviewer's first words were, "You're being called the break-out act of this year's Festival." Read a profile of Davina here.

NEA Jazz Master Wayne Shorter celebrated his 80th birthday in the Arena with a transporting concert by his brilliant, telepathic, and committed quartet (together 13 years now and counting) of Danilo Perez on piano, John Patitucci on bass, and Brian Blade on drums. (Shorter's actual birthday: August 25. Close enough.) It was a whirlwind of music, a tsunami that lifted you up to where the planes flew overhead. Dense and intense, with Shorter on the soprano saxophone the whole time. Others who were there could distinguish bits of melodies from Shorter's book, including "Plaza Real" and "Orbits." For me, it was an immersive experience where nothing was immediately recognizable but everything felt familiar - and new. This might not make a bit of sense, but that's how it was.

Danilo Perez, Wayne Shorter, John Patitucci, and Brian Blade by John Whiting

John Patitucci and Brian Blade by John Whiting

Wayne Shorter by John Whiting

Danilo Perez and Wayne Shorter by John Whiting

The Wayne Shorter Quartet by John Whiting

Monterey is always about choices -- Solomonic, draconian, and coin-toss -- because with 500 artists on five stages, you can't see it all. Having heard Diana Krall's closing night performance in the Arena in 2007, the same key position on the schedule she held this year, we opted for Bobby Hutcherson in the Night Club and Dr. Lonnie Smith in Dizzy's Den as our final concerts of 2013. Hutcherson was a replacement for NEA Jazz Master Cedar Walton, who died on August 19. Now 72, Hutcherson has emphysema and is hooked up to oxygen, a transparent tube trailing across his face and shoulder. He has slowed down and rests often while performing, but he still plays with passion and elation, whether on a slow ballad, when his vibes are crystalline, or the fiery "Bolivia," one of Cedar Walton's most famous tunes. (The concert was a tribute to Walton.) Hutcherson seemed to gather energy as the set went on; shouting "Here we go!" during the final number, before his final mighty flourish, mallets flying. He played until 10:15, then closed with "Don't forget Cedar Walton! Goodbye, Monterey."

Bobby Hutcherson by John Whiting 

The Bobby Hutcherson Quartet by John Whiting

The crowd streamed across two green lawns and a sidewalk to Dizzy's Den, where Lou Donaldson was performing with his old partner in crime, Dr. Lonnie Smith. There was no room. We flashed our creds (sorry, but it's true) and squeezed in the side door. Donaldson launched into "She's a Whiskey Drinking Woman," then sang all the verses and probably added a few. "She drinks whiskey every morning/She drinks whiskey every night/She drinks whiskey when we're loving/She drinks whiskey when we fight ... She puts whiskey in her cornflakes/She puts whiskey in her beer/She can't stand strong perfume/So she puts whiskey behind her ear ..." The crowd roared. "I'm glad to see that you all appreciate classical singing," Donaldson remarked. "The Doctor and I played together for 20 years, and when we get together now, we talk about all the places we got thrown out of."

Dr. Lonnie Smith by John Whiting 

Lou Donaldson by John Whiting

Dr. Lonnie Smith and Lou Donaldson by John Whiting

Donaldson has famously said that when he can no longer play "Cherokee," he'll give it up, so he played it -- the real bebop, fast and furious, accompanied by the Doctor's smoking B3 and the other members of his trio, Jonathan Kreisberg on guitar and Johnathan Blake on drums, both youngsters who held their own with the two crafty elders. When Donaldson ended his set, Smith remarked wryly, "And you thought I was Dorian Gray."

The rest of the night -- which lasted well beyond the official 11 p.m. end time -- belonged to the Doctor, his amazing instrument, and his colorful music: a sepulchral tune that began with his low-pitched warning to "Get out of the woods!" and morphed into "My Favorite Things;" a song from "The Healer," released in 2012 on his own label, Pilgrimage; a slow and lovely ballad with a gospel feel. We thought -- this might be the end, and he'll close with a kind of blessing, as Bobby McFerrin did on Saturday.

Jonathan Kreisberg, Dr. Lonnie Smith, and Johnathan Blake by John Whiting

Johnathan Blake by John Whiting

We were wrong. Those were not the mad Doctor's plans. He scatted, he sang falsetto and he made his B3 rumble and wail until the crowd stomped and shouted. Then he stood up, stepped back, and walked off stage. Was this the end? It was not. With a buzz that knocked us flat, he was back with his secret weapon: the cane he uses to walk with, which doubles as an electric percussion instrument (thanks to a company called Slaperoo; check it out). People who had started to leave turned around, came back, and climbed on chairs for a better look. Monterey's finale was pure funk, played by a man in a turban on a cane that burned.

Now that's the way to close a festival.

Jonathan Kreisberg and Dr. Lonnie Smith by John Whiting

Dr. Lonnie Smith by John Whiting

All photos copyright (C) 2013 by John Whiting

Day 2 of Monterey 56: Hallelujahs

The Dave Douglas Quintet with Joe Lovano and Joey Baron by John Whiting

Our Saturday at the 56th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival began in late afternoon, after all the stages had opened and some were hosting their second concerts of the day. The sounds of Big Sam's Funky Nation met us at the gate, and we headed for our Saturday ritual, a tradition for many festival-goers: the annual DownBeat Blindfold Test.

Jazz journalist and author Dan Ouellette (whose new biography of Bruce Lundvall, "Playing by Ear," is forthcoming) did his best to stump Joe Lovano, a genial man with an encyclopedic knowledge of jazz. In among guessing the saxophonists on recordings Ouellette had chosen, Lovano shared stories of people he had known, admired, and worked with. He told us what Steve Lacy had once told him: "I don't want to make a record that sells a million copies. I want to make a million records and sell one copy of each." After he had correctly identified Chris Potter as the overdubbed soloist on a recording no one in the room had ever heard, Ouellette asked, "How did you come up with Chris Potter?" Lovano replied, a bit testily, "I wasn't guessing."

Joe Lovano and Dan Oullette by John Whiting

The Relatives -- Texas preachers and brothers who made their first recordings 30 years ago, then disappeared from sight, only to be rediscovered by a savvy producer -- were tearing up the Garden Stage. When we arrived, half the crowd were on their feet and most were dancing. The elderly gentlemen in white suits acted like teenagers on stage. The speakers were turned up so loud that when I got too close, my pants started shaking. "Try God!" the Relatives shouted. "Take the hand of the person standing next to you! Try God!" Many people in the audience knew the words to the old-time gospel songs the Relatives sang with blow-down-the-walls-of-Jericho force. Afterward, they went to the Amoeba tent to sign CDs. They're having the time of their lives, and they thought they were retired.

The Relatives by John Whiting

Later that day on the Garden Stage, the bass player Charnett Moffett showed us, not for the first time, that the only instrument you really need is the bass, if you know how to use it. We heard "Eleanor Rigby," the melody as clear as if Paul McCartney were singing, and Wynton Marsalis's "Black Codes," and Mingus's "Haitian Fight Song," and Moffett's own "The Bridge," the title track from his new CD, and his Hendrix-infused "Star Spangled Banner." One of the most imaginative, technically adept, and physically expressive bassists on the planet, Moffett asked for and got audience participation on one tune. Who has ever suggested that a crowd sing along with a bass? Moffett's bass is a wonder: ebony-black, with piped white details and edges, like frosting.

Charnette Moffett by John Whiting

We raced to the Night Club for a few moments of our hometown hero Craig Taborn (he lives in New York now but grew up in Minneapolis) and his quartet, which includes another Minneapolis son, drummer Dave King, and New York imports Chris Lightcap on bass and Chris Speed on saxophone. (Along with playing in John Hollenbeck's band and leading several of his own, Speed is also a member of one of King's new-ish bands, the Dave King Trucking Company). Across the way at Dizzy's Den, a huge queue formed, hoping to get into Ravi Coltrane's quartet. There was a good crowd at the Night Club, but experimental, unpredictable jazz is not what most people come to Monterey to see. That's what Taborn delivers, often to his own band members. (As a sweaty Dave King said backstage after the set, "What did you think of that last tune? Craig called double-time on it. It was cantina music!") We heard demanding, adventuresome tunes, tricky time signatures and driving grooves.

Craig Taborn by John Whiting

Craig Taborn, Chris Lightcap, Dave King and Chris Speed by John Whiting

In the Arena, Joe Lovano and the Dave Douglas Quintet were premiering two Wayne Shorter compositions commissioned by the Festival, "To Sail Beyond the Sunset" and "Destination Unknown." We heard the closing moments, soaring and celebratory, and a solo by bassist Linda Oh that drew shouts from the crowd. Tonight's quintet included Joey Baron on drums.

Lawrence Fields, Dave Douglas, Linda Oh, Joey Baron and Joe Lovano by John Whiting

Up next in the Arena was one of the bands we looked forward most to seeing this year: Dave Holland's Prism, with Taborn (in his second gig of the night) on Fender Rhodes, Kevin Eubanks on guitar, and Eric Harland on drums. A supergroup and a true collaboration -- all the members compose for it -- Prism just released its self-titled debut album on Holland's label, Dare2. (If you've ever wondered why Holland left ECM after thirty years to strike out on his own, Prism is a clue.) Prism reaches back to Holland's Electric Miles days of the late 1960s, travels through the intervening years of Holland's genius at putting bands together, reunites Holland with Eubanks (they last recorded together in 1988; "Extensions," with Steve Coleman and Marvin "Smitty" Smith," was named DownBeat's Album of the Year), and adds two spectacular younger players, the restlessly experimental and brainiac Taborn and the powerful and sensitive Harland, who is also a member of Charles Lloyd's quartet. It was a tremendously exciting set by a searing, sometimes screaming band, with Eubanks' guitar front and center. A Festival high point.

Dave Holland's Prism by John Whiting

The night ended in the Arena with Bobby McFerrin's latest project, "Spirityouall." Every McFerrin performance is a spiritual experience; this was just more literal and direct than most. Joined onstage by six people including his daughter (and Berklee student) Maddy on background vocals, McFerrin led the rapt crowd on a profound and joyous journey through gospel songs, "Wipeout," the Twist, an exquisitely moving cover of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released," "Whole World" with alternating pronouns ("He's got the whole world in his hands .. She's got you and me, brother, in her hands"), and a front-porch-in-the-holler "25:15" (from Psalm 25, verse 15: "My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only He will release my feet from the snares").

Someone behind us said, "I had no idea what this guy does. This is awesome." It was all so sincere and heartfelt, so relaxed and easy; McFerrin in jeans and a casual shirt, his gray dreads loose, going where the spirit led. At the end, he sent us off into the night with these words: "Promise me now: at least one Hallelujah a day."

Bobby McFerrin by John Whiting

 All photos (C) 2013 by John Whiting

Opening night of the 56th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival: Perfection

Gregory Porter by John Whiting

The 56th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival (yes, 56th -- it's the longest continuously-running jazz festival in the world) opened last night on the Monterey County Fairgrounds, and if that wasn't the most perfect opening night ever, it must be somewhere in the top ten.

All the stars aligned. The weather was ideal; although the temperature was predicted to drop into the brrr zone, it never did, and the fog that often rolls in to add to the chill stayed away. The crowds were healthy and excited to be there. And the music - the reason most of us drove and some of us flew many miles - could not have been better chosen or performed.

The set that opened the festival - on the Garden Stage at 6:30, soon after the gates opened - featured the Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca and his band. Raised on music, steeped in music, nurtured by great artists like Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo, Fonseca possesses monstrous technique and the soul of a poet. One moment, his fingers were jackhammers; the next, the softest of summer breezes.

Roberto Fonseca by John Whiting

Monterey is about the masters - and this year's festival includes plenty of those, from Wayne Shorter to Joe Lovano, Bobby Hutcherson, Dave Douglas, Dave Holland, Dr. Lonnie Smith and more - but it's also about discoveries. Many people at the Garden Stage had probably never heard of Fonseca. Now they'll never forget him.

Tapped to be the first act on the Jimmy Lyons Stage in the open-air Arena, the festival's headliner venue, singer Gregory Porter immediately owned the gigantic stage, the crowd, and probably a good part of the airspace above. This might be unprecedented, but Porter performed here just last year, in the Night Club, where he knocked people over with his big, beautiful voice, storytelling songs (most of which he writes himself), and charisma. That he was back so soon, with an upgrade, says a lot about his rise to stardom.

Gregory Porter by John Whiting

He sang with energy, passion, and command, inviting the audience to join in on the optimistic, affirming "No Love Dying Here" and clap their hands to "Liquid Spirit," both from his just-released Blue Note debut album, also called "Liquid Spirit." Porter is a generous artist; one gets the sense that it's not about him, it's about us - what he wants to lavish on us, how he hopes we will feel. This comes through on his recordings, but it's most evident in live performance, where he gives off gusts of positive energy. Porter has the magic, and he also has a very fine band, with a special nod to saxophonist Yosuke Sato.

With Fonseca on the grounds and Porter in the Arena, Monterey set the tone for the weekend: this festival would be sublime, exhilarating, joyous.

From the Arena, we returned to the Garden Stage, where the 2013 artist-in-residence, Joe Lovano, led the Berklee Global Jazz Ambassadors - six profoundly talented students, members of the elite Berklee Global Jazz Institute, whose artistic director is Danilo Perez - in an all-Coltrane set. September 23 would have been Coltrane's 86th birthday. Joined by Lovano, the group played "Ascension," "Naima," "Seraphic Light," "Spiritual," "Lonnie's Lament," and more Coltrane tunes. The students were brilliant and fearless, proof that when you're given the opportunity to play with someone of Lovano's caliber, you rise to meet it.

Joe Lovano and the Berklee Global Jazz Ambassadors by John Whiting

Witness Fireboy Matlou of the Berklee Ambassadors by John Whiting

Back at the Arena, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, one of the best big bands in the world, turned Mingus's "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" into a buttery ballad and swung hard through Ellington's "Squatty Roo." Led by the exuberant, balletic John Clayton, with Jeff Hamilton at the drums, they performed one of the festival's two commissions for 2013: "Suite Sweet Dave: The Brubeck Files."

John Clayton by John Whiting

An homage to Dave Brubeck, beloved friend of the festival who died last December, it featured nine seldom-heard Brubeck compositions, arranged by Clayton in all kinds of ways: for the whole band, for soloists, for small ensembles within the band. The shifting melodies, rhythms, and moods sketched a lifetime in jazz and brought Brubeck home to the festival he championed from the start. A highlight: Clayton on arco bass, slow and sad, with light piano comping from Tamir Hendelman. A surprise: hearing Louis Armstrong's voice on Brubeck's "Summer Song" ("Still, and warm, and peaceful").

John Clayton by John Whiting

After a taste of the Uri Caine trio in the Coffee House Gallery, we returned to the Arena for the Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club and its star soloist, 82-year-old Omara Portuondo. People danced in the aisles. It was a sepia-toned set, a taste of old Cuba, enchanting under the stars.

The Uri Caine Trio by John Whiting

Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club by John Whiting

Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club with Omara Portuondo by John Whiting

By now the first night of Monterey 56 was waning, so we dashed through the grounds to the Night Club to hear Joe Lovano and Us Five, his dynamic young band with two drummers, Francisco Mela and Otis Brown III. We heard Us Five plus one: Joe's wife, Judi Silvano, brought her unique vocalise to the stage, singing along with the saxophone or soaring above it, soloing and accompanying, playful and free. We've heard Lovano play several times before, but we had never heard Silvano sing. Thank you, Monterey. And for that spectacular full-force duet by Mela and Brown.

James Weidman, Judi Silvano, Joe Lovano by John Whiting

Francisco Mela by John Whiting

All photos (C) 2013 by John Whiting