Whether it's the power of three or that people don't need to spend more than a few days in these places, three centre holidays is the preferred choice for America's West Coast. Vegas and San Francisco have long been bucket-list items, but I've become increasingly daunted by the enormity of Los Angeles, without any specific location I'm desperate to go to.I needed a small town without the usual skyscrapers and a long-established, world-famous jazz festival not too far from San Francisco. Monterey.
Long suffering photographer Mrs. T is very understanding of my affliction but her interest in jazz is not without limits, so it was agreed two of the three days was sufficient.
We arrived to the sounds of the Marcie Chapa Project of drums (Chapa), sax, guitar, keys, bass and congas in the Courtyard Stage; essentially a bit jazz-funky out in the sunshine with park benches dotted around.
Jimmy Lyons is the mainstage, a large seated outdoor space with covered seats along the sides. Mr. Sipp was the first attraction and proper blues never fails to deliver. Sipp is a Malaco recording singer/ guitarist; a label I've collected since the early eighties, known as the Last Soul Company and led the revival of blues/country/southern: 'real soul' in the eighties. Mrs. Jones found him in amongst the crowd before he lost the guitar and focused on a pair of pure soul songs including Sam Cooke's Change is a Gonna Come. He retrieved the guitar for a reprise of one of the blues cuts to play out.
Soundchecks had already knocked the schedules out, so I headed to another outdoor arena, the Tim Jackson Garden Stage, to catch a bit of Davina and the Vagabonds; more roots than Black American Music and less 'out there' than they'd have you believe.
I'd planned to return to the mainstage for at least a glimpse of Diane Reeves but got caught up with the David Holodiloff Group, featuring him on mandolin with violin, piano and drums and particularly a fascinating rendition of Led Zeppelin's Kashmir.
Then it was back to Tim Jackson Garden Stage for more blues, from JC Smith. All blues is soulful, but JC couldn't be a pure soul singer in the way Mr. Sipp could. The band was the same: JC on vocals and guitar with keys, bass and drums and added sax who sang one, as did the drummer.
Back to the mainstage for trumpeter Keyon Harrold, who began his career playing straight jazz in a standard quintet
but has gravitated towards a more contemporary hip-hop/ neo soul version of jazz. We assumed front row seats in the second tier as the sun arrived right on cue for a brilliant heavy set, moving from post electric Miles to the arrival of soul singer Malaya Watson by way of a tribute to John Coltrane, hinting at A Love Supreme which gradually came to the fore prompting inevitable audience participation. He has dates in the UK soon and is well worth checking out.
Over to Dizzy's Den - an indoor venue - for a peek at Carmen Lundy but stayed for a run of songs. I knew of her from the UK's acid jazz-dance scene, so was skeptical but was pleasantly surprised by a colourful, charismatic singer with a fine voice and things to say. An artist to investigate.
My final act pencilled in was Brandon Woody's Upendo at the Pacific Jazz Cafe - another indoor space - featuring his trumpet with drums, bass, piano and an additional keyboardist. Their debut set For the Love of it All - on Blue Note - is well worth checking out. He sets up the melody, improvises around it, the rhythm section building things up all the time, then sometimes taking it back down and sometimes up again. Fine musicianship all round, with a busy drummer, and it works.
We'd been advised not to miss Cory Wong on the mainstage; something of a boy-wonder, a sensation, but I'd dismissed him though I was tempted by Ledisi, the final act of the evening. We popped in, as much to get a look at it in darkness, but it sounded to these ears like a pastiche of the Jaco Pastorius Big Band, doing Elton John's Benny and the Jets so we called it a day. Steve T
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