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Monterey Jazz Festival

50th Golden Celebration Poster (2007)

Location(s)

Monterey, California, USA

Years active

1958 — Present

Founded by

Date(s)

third weekend in September

Genre(s)

Jazz, Blues, Rock music

Website

Monterey Jazz Festival

Debuting on October 3, 1958, the Monterey Jazz Festival (MJF) is one of the longest consecutively running jazz festivals. It was founded by San Francisco jazz radio broadcaster Jimmy Lyons.¹ Since 1992, Tim Jackson has been general manager, and for fifteen years famed film director and actor Clint Eastwood has been on MJF's board of directors.²

The festival is held annually on the 20-acre, oak-studded Monterey Fairgrounds, located at 2000 Fairground Road in Monterey, California, USA on the third full weekend in September, beginning on Friday. More than 500 top jazz artists perform on nine stages spread throughout the grounds, with more than 50 concert performances. In addition, the Monterey Jazz Festival features jazz conversations, panel discussions, workshops, exhibitions, clinics, and an international array of food, shopping and festivities spread throughout the 20-acre Monterey Fairgrounds.

In 2006, the festival set an attendance record of more than 40,000, selling out all five major concerts on the main stage arena,⁴ and in 2007, more than 40,000 attended the 50th Golden Celebration.⁵

Primary purpose

The Monterey Jazz Festival is not just about a three-day event. The primary purpose of the non-profit MJF is to fund jazz education programs throughout the United States. Every year, the festival and its associated activities raises hundreds of thousands of dollars, provides scholarships for promising young musicians to attend the Berklee School of Music, and features the nation’s most talented middle school, high school and college jazz musicians and vocalists opportunities to shine on the stages. Starting with a modest $35,000 scholarship fund in 1970, the Monterey Jazz Festival now invests over $500,000 annually for jazz education in a variety of different programs which are a model of arts education for the entire nation.⁶ Every Spring, the Monterey Jazz Festival invites the top student musicians from across the country and around the world to participate in the "Next Generation Festival". With the MJF National High School Jazz Competition, free concerts and clinics, as well as auditions for MJF's Next Generation Jazz Orchestra (which performs at MJF and in a North American and European tour).

Notable performers by year

"It's almost easier to say who was not there over the years than it is to say who was," says Bill Minor, a jazz expert and author of a Monterey Jazz Festival history. "When you're there, you get that sense of incredible history. [In one of my books], I talk about hearing these voices of the past. It's impossible to be there and not do that."⁷ Clark Terry holds the record with 20 paid gigs at MJF.⁸ Dave Brubeck was instrumental in getting city approval for the first festival in 1958. The founder and general manager of MJF for 35 years, Jimmy Lyons, brought Brubeck to Monterey to perform for the city council to persuade them to allow the festival to occur. He has performed at the Festival 14 times since then, which includes his appearance at the 2007 / 50th golden anniversary.⁹

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

Footnotes

^ Monterey Jazz Festival 50th Anniversary Book Released
^ Zimmerman, Keith and Kent. The Art of Jazz: Monterey Jazz Festival/50 Years (July 2007), acknowledgments page
^ Zimmerman, Keith and Kent. The Art of Jazz: Monterey Jazz Festival/50 Years (July 2007), page 119
^ Big names, experience set Monterey apart
^ More than 40,000 party at Monterey Jazz Festival's 50th birthday
^ Next Generation Festival
^ CNN: Monterey Jazz Festival swings into action
^ The Great American Jazz Event Hits Five-0
^ Dave Brubeck Honored at Monterey Jazz Festival's First MJF Legends Award Presentation
^ Zimmerman, Keith and Kent. The Art of Jazz: Monterey Jazz Festival/50 Years (July 2007), page 14
^ Billie Holiday At Monterey/1958
^ The Great American Jazz Event Hits Five-0
^ Zimmerman, Keith and Kent. The Art of Jazz: Monterey Jazz Festival/50 Years (July 2007), page 93
^ Monterey Jazz Festival 50th Anniversary Band Tour

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