San Jose Mercury News: Monterey Jazz Festival: Exhausting, uplifting, often remarkable

September 24, 2013 / No Comments / Tags: Monterey Jazz Festival

Richard Scheinin
San Jose Mercury News

The Ravi Coltrane Quartet performs at the 56th annual Monterey Jazz Festival in Monterey, Calif, 2013. (Photo: John Green/Bay Area News Group)
The Ravi Coltrane Quartet performs at the 56th annual Monterey Jazz Festival in Monterey, Calif, 2013. (Photo: John Green/Bay Area News Group)

The Monterey Jazz Festival is an annual event and an ongoing chronicle. Sure, Armstrong, Ellington, Miles and Coltrane all played there. But so-called “golden eras” are romantic notions, maybe even figments of historical imagination. Jazz continues, and Monterey does as good a job as any festival of documenting its current condition.

Last weekend’s 56th edition, a strong one, presented emerging artists (i.e. Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca), hot artists (singer Gregory Porter), overlooked artists (baritone saxophonist Claire Daly), respected mid-career artists (saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, son of John) and venerable artists (saxophonist/composer Wayne Shorter).

Source: San Jose Mercury News

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