Top Ten: Best MJF Performances

Each September for more than fifty years, jazz devotees head for the Monterey Peninsula. They not only want to satisfy their need for jazz in all its variations and spin-offs, but also for barbecue, sweet potato pie, New Orleans gumbo, and blissful indolence.

This month, on the third weekend, the hip and the relaxed celebrate the 52^nd Annual Monterey Jazz Festival (MJF). It’s the world’s oldest continuous jazz festival, and for seventeen years has been run by General Manager Tim Jackson.

This year’s festival will feature Dave Brubeck, Wynton Marsalis, Hank Jones, Chick Corea, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Joe Lovano, George Duke, and many other artists; even Pete Seeger—though not of the jazz persuasion, a giant who deserves a place at the festival this year.

Once more the MJF is expected to draw record-breaking attendance on the Monterey County Fairgrounds for its five principal arena concerts and a score of other presentations in smaller sylvan settings.

The big jazz event consistently presents show-stopping performances that resonate as cultural milestones—expectations for this year’s event are as high as always. And that’s a proper segue to some subjective Monterey Jazz Festival history.

As we know, magazines, newspapers, and TV and radio commentators love to create “Best” lists. Best restaurants, movies, songs, travel destinations, airlines, hotels, celebrities, and eligible bachelors are grist for the list mills. And, if you read the Nob Hill Gazette regularly, you know that it too loves lists. Well, here’s another—a serious, highly personal, chronological list of memorable performances at this festival over the years. Did I not include your memorable moment? I welcome your share!

1. Evolution of the Blues Song—The late Jimmy Lyons, who founded the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1958 and served as general manager for thirty-five years, asked jazz vocalist Jon Hendricks to create a program in 1962 which became the monumental Evolution of the Blues Song. It made jazz history.

2. Dave Brubeck’s Real Ambassadors—Conceived by the Northern California jazz pianist Dave Brubeck and his wife, Iola, this 1962 programmatic work told the story of an African-American jazzman who becomes an a good will ambassador. The ambassador of the Real Ambassadors was Louis Armstrong.

3. Charles Mingus’s Meditations—Charles Mingus, the mercurial bassist, led a powerful group in his work Meditations on Integration in 1964. Fortunately, he made a live recording of the performance.

4. John Handy’s Spanish Lady—Northern California local boy John Handy, master saxophonist, scored in 1965 with his live performance of Spanish Lady. The live album remains a big seller.

5. Charles Lloyd’s Forest Flower—Almost overnight in 1966, Charles Lloyd and his quartet became internationally famous when Lloyd on tenor saxophone and flute, Keith Jarrett on piano, Jack DeJohnette on percussion, and Ron McClure on bass, performed Lloyd’s Forest Flower.

6. Dizzy Gillespie Revisited—It was always a jazz lover’s mandate to catch a Dizzy Gillespie performance wherever and whenever the great bop trumpeter appeared. One of his greatest performances at the festival took place on a Sunday evening in 1975. Gillespie’s low register growls and high wailing on A Night in Tunisia slipped away into the foggy night.

7. Sonny Rollins Extended—Sonny Rollins, the big, honking tenor saxophone giant, has played the festival many times, including its first year, 1958. In 1994 he gave his small group the downbeat and never stopped playing for an hour. When he finally did put down his sax, the adoring audience gave him one of its longest standing ovations.

8. Max Roach and M’Boom—Max Roach, keystone percussionist in jazz history, brought a group he called M’Boom to the festival in 1994. It was a Monterey jazz landmark.

9. Diana Krall and Peel Me a Grape—The year 1997 was somewhat early in Diana Krall’s career as a singer and jazz pianist. She was not yet an international, pop-jazz icon, but when Krall sang Peel Me a Grape it was one of the biggest turn-ons in festival history.

10. Tony Bennett Left his Heart—It was Tony Bennett’s first appearance at the festival—2005. It was a powerhouse performance. He sang songs from the great American songbook. When he sang I Left my Heart in (you know where) the sizable Northern California audience went bonkers.

San Francisco writer Ernest Beyl is a jazz devotee. He writes frequently for the Nob Hill Gazette, on jazz, and whatever else strikes his fancy.