Monterey Bay Area Culture, Still Cool After All These Years

It was 1957 and Jimmy Lyons had a vision: an entire weekend of live jazz, all on one stage, with only the best musicians. Lyons was passionate about the U.S.-born music style and, with a little help from his friends, this obscure jazz musician set out to create the first Monterey Jazz Festival.

Jazz had been the music world’s emerging genre from about the turn of the century. Its origin, many experts contend, traces to West African black folk music and the European light classical music of the time; they became the syncopated rhythms of ragtime, which evolved into modern-day jazz.

Lyons convinced pianist Dave Brubeck to play for city leaders. Despite the popularity of jazz in the late 50s, Monterey’s elders were a bit leery of having Monterey associated with jazz. Whatever Brubeck played conviced the business leaders to put up $6,700 seed money and ensure Lyons’ vision saw the light of day.

Lyons recruited the biggest stars of the time — Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Harry James, and Billie Holiday — to perform in 1958 at the first Monterey Jazz Festival, which the nation’s oldest continuously operated jazz festival.

The big names continued to converge on the idyllic Monterey Peninsula. Jon Hendricks debuted “Evolution of the Blues” in 1960 and Brubeck presented his Louis Armstrong tribute, “The Real Ambassadors,” in 1962. That compilation was not publicly performed again until 2002, when Brubeck graced the festival stage to reprise that wonderful collection to the delight of a huge audience.

More recently, Theonious Monk, Miles Davis, Carmen McRae, Ella Fitzgerald, and Etta James have appeared. In 2006, McCoy Tyner Trio with special guests Bobby Hutcherson and Roy Hargrove, Grammy Award winner Dianne Reeves, and Charles Lloyd Quartet performed on the same stage from which “Forest Flower” became a hit 40 years earlier. Even Brubeck returned to perform with his Dave Brubeck Quartet.

Thirty-five thousand fans now converge on the 20-acre, oakstudded Monterey County Fairgrounds each September for three days of nonstop entertainment by more than 500 performers. And at least 200 vendors help keep everybody happy, well fed, and entertained. They marvel not only at the legendary artists but also tomorrow’s jazz greats, including the winners from the festival’s annual high school jazz competition, the MJF Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, and the country’s top high school and college jazz groups.

On the Thursday preceding the festival, Carmel Valley Ranch Resort hosts the Quartet Scramble golf tournament. Participants attend a private festival barbecue, concert, and awards ceremony. Greens fee include “rehearsal” balls on the range, live jazz on the course, golf cart, box lunch, great gifts, jazzy prizes, and more. Proceeds benefit the festival’s Jazz Education Fund.

Information: (925) 275-9255

More Information: Maps, directions.