Last night was the opening night of the 51st annual Monterey Jazz Festival. Here’s what we saw:
Started off with the Berklee Latin Jazz All-Stars on the garden stage. Caught three tunes with this capable group but had to hit the arena, so we didn’t see the whole thing. They clearly understood the Latin Jazz style.
The arena show started off with the Joshua Redman Trio, which consists of Joshua Redman on sax (tenor and soprano), Matt Penman on bass and Brian Blade on drums. I saw Brian Blade a couple years ago in New York at the Iridium jazz club with Ed Simon (see below) and John Patitucci (see the yet-to-be-written Sunday entry). That was a pretty amazing set. And he didn’t disappoint with Redman either. Great playing, and often quite intense at delicate volumes.
Next up was Cassandra Wilson. She had a good band with her (including Herlin Riley on drums, who I’ve heard before), but her musical director, guitarist Marvin Sewell didn’t really impress me. Based on the applause, he impressed the rest of the audience. He was, indeed, quite expressive, but I found myself thinking he fell too far on the side of experimentation and less on the side of experienced. That said, the rest of the band really gelled well.
Closing the set was “Maraca” (Orlando “Maraca” Valle) presenting Cuban Lullabies. They weren’t all lullabies, and the rest of the band was a rather impressive all-star line up, including guests David Sanchez on tenor sax, Ed Simon on piano, Giovanni Hidalgo on congas (and percussion), and Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez on drums (not to mention the MJF Chamber Orchestra). Let me tell you, the talent per square inch on that stage was way up there. I heard Ed Simon’s jazz chops last year, but this performance demonstrated his salsa chops which were at least as impressive. He’s clean, creative, and has fantastic time (something piano players often struggle with). It was a kick to see Giovanni and Horacio before. I’ve seen them both play before, but never together. They gelled well and both of them let the chops fly on occasion, which is always impressive with either of them, and even moreso together. There’s a reprise tonight in Dizzy’s Den and I may just have to go catch it…
Off to see more! Pictures later…
V-