Revisiting Monterey jazz
Some of legendary festival's best moments now on CD
It's one of the country's oldest jazz events, yet for those on the East Coast living in the shadow of Newport, R.I., the Monterey Jazz Festival in California is sometimes forgotten.
The festival, which marks its 50th anniversary Sept. 21-23, is changing that with a new record label that just debuted five discs of extraordinary, never-before-released live performances from icons Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Sarah Vaughan. A sixth disc compiles noteworthy tracks from more recent festivals with Diana Krall, Jimmy Witherspoon, and a lost recording of "Someday My Prince Will Come" from the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
It was Brubeck who is credited for getting the festival off the ground in 1958. A modestly successful "cool jazz" pianist working in the Bay Area at the time, Brubeck was still a year away from releasing the classic "Take Five," a record that was often accused of bringing middle-class "respectability" to jazz.
And so Brubeck was called upon by festival cofounders Jimmy Lyons and music critic Ralph J. Gleason to help secure the festival's first permits by performing for officials at Monterey City Hall to show them "jazz music was not just for hippies and struggling lowlifes," says Jason Olaine, general manager of Monterey Jazz Festival Records.
Given the reissue fever surrounding vintage jazz catalogs, it's hard to believe none of the music from the festival has seen the light of day until now. Unlike other festivals, says Olaine, recording was never the primary focus at the laid-back Monterey, where for one weekend a year, jazz under the stars took over the Monterey County Fairgrounds.
"They feel like they're custodians of this music, not to make money," Olaine says of the organizers' desire to release the music. A not-for-profit company was formed, and profits from the releases will fund a number of existing jazz education programs in the area, such as a jazz summer camp and an instrument bank and sheet music library that loans materials to teachers and students in Monterey County free of charge.
After digging through festival archives, Olaine estimates there are 1,600 tapes holding nearly 2,000 hours of music going back to the very first festival. Some reels were "on life support," he says, requiring 18 months of extensive restoration by experts at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, Calif. "We wanted to make it feel like, if you put them on in your living room, you're there," he said. Judging from these first five recordings, the effort was hugely successful.
Armstrong's appearance as the opening act at the first festival in 1958 set a standard that Monterey still holds true: It's about the music. With Gillespie doing the introductions, Armstrong shows himself as the master entertainer and truly gifted artist that he was, weaving together a vaguely slick set of crowd pleasers ("Mack the Knife," "When the Saints Go Marching In," and "St. Louis Blues") and some comedic stage banter with the evocative "When It's Sleepy Time Down South" and a kicking "(Back Home Again in) Indiana."
The 1963 performance by the Miles Davis Quintet is simply outstanding, the best of the bunch and a must for fans of Davis's modernist sound. Featuring George Coleman on tenor sax and a rhythm section of Herbie Hancock on piano, bassist Ron Carter, and a teenage Tony Williams on drums, the group had been together only a few months - just enough time to record "Seven Steps to Heaven" - before turning up at Monterey.
With superbly crisp sound, you can hear the clomp-clomp of Davis's shoes, the only clue that he has arrived onstage. The quintet digs into just a handful of classics long associated with Davis. "Stella By Starlight" opens with Hancock's delicate touch, giving way to some lovely, pensive work by Davis. The attentive audience sits quietly during Davis's sometimes lengthy pauses between notes.
Driven by Carter's pumping bass, the band blisters through the familiar opening theme of "So What." Davis and Coleman blow with blistering intensity, as Williams and Carter push the tempo relentlessly. The supple reading of "Autumn Leaves" is the disc's standout, as the band locks in after Davis's early solo and rides. Coleman shines, outdone only by Carter's bowed tour de force.
Many say Vaughan put out some of her best records in the 1970s. Captured here in 1971, Vaughan is in fine voice and spirits, playfully sassing the crowd between and even during numbers. On "I Remember You," she unfurls a majestic lower register, a signature of her late career. Ably backed by pianist Bill Mays, Bob Magnusson on bass, and drummer Jimmy Cobb, Vaughan offers a lilting "Tenderly" and some first-rate scatting on "Scattin' the Blues."
There are some clunkers, too, like a misguided cover of the Beatles's "And I Love Him" and a glacially slow " 'Round Midnight." On "A Monterey Jam," Vaughan is joined by the Jazz at the Philharmonic All-Stars, with saxophonists Benny Carter and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and horn players Roy Eldridge and Clark Terry for a raucous jam that shows why Vaughan was no "girl singer." "I'm gittin' 'em tonight!" Vaughan says with a giggle.
Monk's 1964 appearance reveals the often aloof pianist just plain jamming with a tight band featuring Charlie Rouse on tenor sax, bassist Steve Swallow, and drummer Ben Riley on classics "Blue Monk," "Bright Mississippi," "Evidence," "Rhythm-a-Ning," "Straight, No Chaser," and "Think of One." While Monk's idiosyncratic style is fully evident on "Blue Monk," he's quite polished, even accessibly melodic on "Bright Mississippi" and on "Straight, No Chaser," where the Monterey Jazz Festival Workshop joins in for a big-band feel.
With 19 appearances, Gillespie was a frequent and welcome visitor to Monterey, known to drop by unannounced. In 1965, Gillespie brought a tight band that included Kenny Barron on piano and James Moody on flute and tenor sax. The set, which includes "Trinidad, Goodbye," "Poor Joe," and "Chega de Saudade (No More Blues)" has a sunny, island vibe thanks to conga player Big Black, who tears up "Ungawa" with an epic solo. Ever the joker, Gillespie engages in a bit of racially charged clowning with a bandmate he calls "whitey," which has the crowd nervously tittering, a vivid relic of the civil rights era.
For now, the label isn't revealing the artists slated for future live releases because of legal red tape but expects to put out between 10 and 15 new titles each year, says Olaine. Some will be classic live material from the archives, while others will be contemporary artists performing new works such as this year's artist in residence, trumpeter Terence Blanchard. Also to be featured will be music from touring groups formed for the event, such as a quartet with bassist Dave Holland, pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, saxophonist Chris Potter, and drummer Eric Harland.
"We're not going to be stuck in a jazz time warp," says Olaine. 