Monterey Bound….
I was sitting here trying to put together a few reviews since I have not posted this week and my mind is just cloudy. Of course I know the reason why. I am Monterey bound. I am headed to the sounds of good jazz at the Monterey Jazz Festival for 3 days with my journal and pen in hand. Last year, I came back so on fire after the festival, I called ej and we secured the domain name for j-notes.com. I will be writing about the year in review on j-notes.com in mid-October. It has been quite a journey and I am loving every minute of it.
Speaking of the journey, Wednesday night I attended a Blue Note Records listening party in the city. We were treated to upcoming new grooves from Cassandra Wilson, Van Morrison, and Al Green. They were all very good and will definitely worth checking out when they hit the stores soon.
Monday night, I checked out Jason Moran and The Bandwagon. He has a sound that is in tune with the past but he is definitely cutting a new path into the future. I will be checking him out again at Monterey this weekend.
I also saw the Terence Blanchard Sextet last weekend and they gave a great show. Terence is definitely innovator cultivating new grooves and new talent.
More reviews when I return from Monterey. Here is my list of must sees for Monterey in no particular order.
- The Crusaders featuring Randy Crawford
- Carla Cook
- Mary Stallings
- Soulive
- Kurt Elling
- Jacky Terrasson
- Herbie Hancock Quartet w/ Bobby Hutcherson
- Dena DeRose
- Gary Burton
- Nnenna Freelon
- Peter Cincotti
- Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra
- Jay McShann
- Dave Ellis
The challenge is that some of the performances overlap so I will catch as many artists as possible.
Enjoy your music! I know I will! 🙂
Know it was FANTASTIC! Waiting anxiously for all the great details.
Hating you on the Monterey tip…