Recent Stories
French Toasts
Les Nubians blend political concerns with passionate sounds.
The sisters Hélène and Célia Faussart weren’t trying to jump start a musical movement, but as Les Nubians, the siblings are an international Francophone force, delivering lithe vocal harmonies and uplifting messages set to a ...
Combining Forces
MJF vet Billy Childs performs a commissioned piece with the Kronos Quartet.
Good things happen when Billy Childs is on the bill at Monterey. Regularly featured at the Fairgrounds since Tim Jackson was hired as the director of the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1992, the pianist/composer is ...
Gen Extra
MJF’s Next Generation Festival charges Monterey with the most talented young jazz energy out there.
It’s been several decades since jazz attained all the hallmarks of a fine art form, with degrees offered at top universities, regular performances in international concert halls, and a steady flow of doctoral dissertations examining ...
Fichot Fo’ Sho
Worldly, multilingual Jessica Fichot visits newly redone Blue Fin stage.
What’s exotic is truly in the eye of the beholder, though in the case of the chanteuse Jessica Fichot, the ear is the organ in question. As a young musician performing around the cafes, clubs ...
Jig Comes Up
The 42nd annual Scottish Games features powerful Celtic sounds.
If the cheering seems a little louder, the music rings more clearly, and the athletes throw further this weekend at the 42nd Annual Monterey Scottish Games and Celtic Festival, it may be a case of ...
No Kidding
MJF’s Next Gen Fest still attracting eager students, savvy mentors of swing.
At a time when belt tightening is the order of the day, the Monterey Jazz Festival’s student showcase Next Generation Festival is moving in the opposite direction, offering more of everything. There are more opportunities ...
Modest Master
Shy jazz star Kenny Washington visits Carmel.
Kenny Washington is one of jazz’s most dynamic vocalists, a brilliant improviser who alternates between soulful crooning and electrifying scat solos. But Washington is loath to blow his own horn. In nearly 20 years of ...
Minor Miracle
The latest chapter in Bill Minor’s remarkable relationship with jazz and poetry.
Bill Minor has traveled to the far ends of the globe in his quest to understand how jazz has taken root far from its native soil. His 1990 sojourn across the vast Soviet empire in ...
Coco is Crisp
Blues standout Coco Montoya plays a rare Oldemeyer Center show.
The blues is a tough taskmaster, and there are precious few musicians who have succeeded in the art form after getting a late start. Coco Montoya is one of the rare exceptions. His path to ...
Jazz Genes
Multi-generational Gail Dobson Latin Jazz Septet visits Wave Street.
Last month’s San Jose Jazz Festival featured a dazzling array of international talent, but the act that packed the biggest emotional punch also claims the deepest roots in the region. Vocalist Gail Dobson opened the ...
