Monterey Jazz Festival Presents Terence Blanchard Quintet Live in Concert
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 16, 2007
www.montereyjazzfestival.org
Media Contact: Timothy Orr
Direct Line: 510-652-1122
MJF Phone: 831-373-3366 X252
Email: timorr@montereyjazzfestival.org
Monterey Jazz Festival Presents Terence Blanchard Quintet Live in Concert at Monterey ‘s Historic Golden State Theatre, Thursday, March 22, 2007 at 8:00 PM
Internationally Renowned Trumpeter/Composer Kicks Off MJF’s Next Generation Festival Weekend, March 22-25 in Downtown Monterey
February 16, 2007; Monterey, California; The Monterey Jazz Festival, a leader in jazz education since 1958, is pleased to announce that MJF’s 2007 Artist-In-Residence, Terence Blanchard, will play a special concert with his Quintet at the historic Golden State Theatre in Downtown Monterey on Thursday, March 22 at 8:00 PM. Tickets go on sale on February 20th and are available through the MJF website, www.montereyjazzfestival.org or by calling the MJF Ticket Office at 925-275-9255.
Tickets are priced at $30 for General Admission, $45 for Premium General Admission and $75 for Gold Circle Admission, which includes an after-concert reception with the Grammy Award winning artist.
The concert kicks off the 3rd Annual Next Generation Festival, which is sponsored by MJF. The weekend-long event is an expansion of the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Annual National High School Jazz Competition, now in its 37th year. Featuring over forty groups from across the nation, the top big bands, combos and vocal ensembles will win cash awards and an invitation to perform at the 50th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival presented by Verizon, September 21-23, 2007. Auditions will also be held for chairs in the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, which tours internationally and is a featured ensemble on the Festival’s Sunday afternoon Arena/Lyons Stage.
Blanchard was named as the 2007 MJF Artist-In-Residence last fall, and has been a committed supporter of jazz education throughout his career. Terence was one of the fire-tempered “Young Lions” of the early 80s, and has been on the cutting edge of the resurgence of hard-bop and other modern jazz styles for his entire adult life. As one of his generation’s most artistically mature and innovative artists, Blanchard will be thoroughly engaged with the Monterey community in 2007. He will perform with his own group on the stage of the newly renovated and historic Golden State Theatre, act as a clinician during the MJF’s 37th Annual National High School Jazz Competition, mentor students at the MJF Summer Jazz Camp and perform with the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra at the Monterey Jazz Festival presented by Verizon, September 21-23, 2007.
“We are very excited to feature Terence this year as our Artist-In-Residence,” says Tim Jackson, MJF’s General Manager and Artistic Director. “His artistry, breadth of experience and ability to communicate will make this a residency worth remembering for our community and for our young students. We are also pleased to present our first concert at the beautiful Golden State Theatre in downtown Monterey and hope that this will be the first of many MJF musical moments at this historic facility.”
Featured in Terence’s band will be some of the most talented new stars on the jazz scene: Brice Winston on saxophone; Fabian Almazan on piano; Derrick Hodge on bass and Kendrick Scott on drums. Winston’s work includes membership in Terence’s regular band, and he is a featured musician and soloist on numerous soundtracks by Terence as well. Fabian Almazan is a Cuban native and recently graduated from the Manhattan School of Music. Derrick Hodge and Kendrick Scott are both members of Terence’s Flow group, have contributed to Blanchard’s recent soundtracks, and have gigged or recorded with Donald Byrd, Dianne Reeves, Pat Metheny, Mulgrew Miller, Kanye West, Mos Def, David Sanborn, and many others.
Tickets for the Terence Blanchard concert will go on sale on February 20 at 9 AM, and can be purchased through the Festival’s website, www.montereyjazzfestival.org or by calling the MJF Ticket Office at 925-275-9255.
The Golden State Theatre is located at 417 Alvarado Street in downtown Monterey , California , and has been recently restored to its stately and opulent 1926 glory, with beautiful frescos, gilded details and stained glass lighting. For more information on the Golden State Theatre, please visit www.goldenstatetheatre.com.
ABOUT TERENCE BLANCHARD
Blanchard gained his unique voice through informal mentorship and formal studies. Born in New Orleans in 1962, he began to play the trumpet in elementary school and was mentored by pianist and jazz patriarch, Ellis Marsalis. He attended Rutgers University in New Jersey , toured with vibraphone icon Lionel Hampton and in 1983, he replaced Wynton Marsalis in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. By 1985, Terence and fellow Messenger saxophonist Donald Harrison formed a critically acclaimed project that lasted through the end of the decade.
Blanchard pursued a solo career in 1990, ultimately recording eight albums for the Columbia and Sony Classical labels, including Jazz in Film, Let’s Get Lost and Wandering Moon. In 2003 he signed with the Blue Note label, releasing Bounce and Flow to critical success. Lauded for both his soundtracks and small group work, Blanchard’s accolades include multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for Mo’ Better Blues, The Heart Speaks, The Promised Land and The 25th Hour, as well as instrumental and album Grammy nominations for Wandering Moon, Let’s Get Lost and Flow. In 2005, Terence won a Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for his participation on McCoy Tyner’s Illuminations, an award he shared with Tyner, Gary Bartz, Christian McBride and Lewis Nash. As a soundtrack composer, Blanchard has enjoyed an association with the film director and actor Spike Lee. Starting with 1991’s Jungle Fever, some of Terence’s scores for Lee’s screen and television films include Malcolm X, Crooklyn, Four Little Girls, Summer of Sam, Bamboozled, Inside Man and 2006’s four-hour Hurricane Katrina documentary for HBO, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts.
Terence continues to record and tour with both “Young Lions” and legends of the jazz world, and is the Artistic Director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, which is moving from University of Southern California to Loyola in New Orleans this fall.
ABOUT THE NEXT GENERATION FESTIVAL
The genesis of the Next Generation Festival started in 1971 when Jimmy Lyons, the founder and General Manager of the Monterey Jazz Festival began presenting the winners of the California High School Jazz Band Competition on the final day of the MJF. Over the years, some of the young musicians who have participated in what tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman describes as “the Superbowl of California high school jazz competitions” have gone on to become stars of their generation their own right: saxophonists Joshua Redman, Dave Koz and Dave Ellis, pianists Benny Green and Patrice Rushen, multi-instrumentalist Peter Apfelbaum, bassist Larry Grenadier and many more. In 2005, the competition was renamed the Next Generation Festival, and the High School All-Star Band morphed into the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra. Now in its third year, the NGF draws upon 37 years of educational experience, history and innovation to its expanding lineup and scope.
To see this year’s finalists for the Next Generation Festival, please visit http://www.montereyjazzfestival.org/NGF/2007finalists.htm
Starting with a modest $35,000 scholarship fund in 1970, the Monterey Jazz Festival now invests over $700,000 annually in jazz education through a variety of different programs which are a model of arts education for the entire nation. These hands-on, cutting-edge educational components include the Traveling Clinician and Latin Jazz Programs, with professional musicians visiting Monterey County schools to teach students how to play and improvise in jazz and Latin styles; the Artist-In-Residence Program, which brings a leading jazz performer to work one-on-one with the students throughout the year; the MJF Summer Jazz Camp, the MJF Instrument and Sheet Music Library, the Next Generation Festival, the Monterey County High School All-Star-Band, the MJF Middle School Honor Band and MJF Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra.
The Next Generation Festival is produced, funded and sponsored by the Monterey Jazz Festival. NGF partner and long-time supporter of the MJF Education Programs, Yamaha Instruments, donates instruments essential to the event’s success. The Next Generation Festival is also made possible in part by grants from The D’Addario Foundation for the Performing Arts with support from J. D’Addario & Company, Inc., D’Addario Strings, Evans Drumheads, Planet Waves Accessories, and Rico Reeds; The Community Foundation of Monterey County through their Community Advancing the Arts Fund; JazzTimes Magazine; Borders Books; and individual donors Frank Geisler, Renée Mayne and Jackson Booth.
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For more information, please contact:
Timothy Orr, Marketing and Public Relations Associate
Direct Line: 510-652-1122
MJF Phone: 831-373-3366 X252
Email: timorr@montereyjazzfestival.org
www.montereyjazzfestival.org
Photo Credit: James Knox
Wow, that’s a fantastic shot!