Monterey Jazz Festival - Sept. 28

We arrived to the sounds of Tammy L. Hall featuring the Texas Southern University Cadence Chorale on the Tom Jackson Garden Stage; a gospel choir on an open-air stage on a sunny California Sunday morning.

The first item on my itinerary was to check out the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio in Dizzy's Den. I'd planned to see them at Newcastle's Cluny but bought the album ahead of the gig and wasn't sufficiently impressed. I was pleasantly surprised and stayed a while until the conclusion of an inspired version of Can't Hide Love, originally by Creative Source but made famous by Earth Wind and Fire. I have a particular liking and fascination for organ trios, especially with guitar, and Bruce Calvin kept it at eleven the whole time I was there. I believe they're back at the Cluny soon.

This was followed by one of the big pulls for me; another organ trio and three heavy-weight musicians: Larry Goldings on organ, Peter Bernstein on guitar and drummer Bill Stewart. From what I could gather, the Hammond B3 had done what some of these old keyboards often do and gone to sleep for the afternoon. The festival produced a replacement modern keyboard with an authentic sound and Goldings proceeded un-phased. He actually seemed uninterested in prescribed myths and rituals and one of his amusing introductions he told us the next album would come out on vinyl, though his preferred format is Corinthian leather; something about the sound.

I know they played a track from their album, not because I have the album and recognised it, but because he told us, and I know they did Joni Mitchell's Woodstock, not because I know the song, but because he told us. Three serious musicians who know each other's musicality intimately and wherever one went the others could follow in a heartbeat. The faithful got there early, filled the room and stayed put 'til the end.

My only date in the mainstage on Sunday was the current lineup of supergroup Echoes of an Era: trumpeter Eddie Henderson, saxophonist Javon Jackson, pianist Orrin Evans with double bass and drums by John Patitucci and Lenny White respectively, and guest singer Lisa Fischer. I have fine albums by or featuring all of these great instrumentalists but the Echoes of an Era I was previously familiar with featured Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and a younger Lenny White, with Chaka Khan guest vocalist, so extra large shoes to fill.

It started well with a selection of post-bop, including a Miles Davis piece which reminded me of Blue in Green but wasn't.

Evans was the most commanding but Patitucci and White acquitted themselves well, as did Dr Henderson, despite being eighty five any day now. I was slightly disappointed by Jackson, whose playing is always exemplary on his albums, which always feature major musicians and include interesting covers from across black American music. Here his playing and his announcements seemed a little tentative and lacking in authority. Perhaps the occasion and the shoes were too big on the day.

However, the main reason this gig was disappointing was because Lisa Fischer arrived too soon and stayed too long. A fine singer, as a soul fan, the vocal gymnastics and acrobatics quickly became irritating. Mercifully she mostly stayed out of a radically overhauled Take the A Train, and I thought she'd leave straight after and they'd remain for a couple more but, crushingly, they all left after what must have been a fairly short set.

The last item on my itinerary was the New Jazz Underground; three young firebrands full of confidence and intent on conquering the jazz world and maybe the whole world. Trumpet, bass and drums, all impressive musicians, on top of heavy rhythms mostly heard in hip-hop. The festival loved them but half a set was enough for me so I woke Mrs T from her slumber and we left.

If I'm honest day two was disappointing, an anti-climax after the Saturday. As often happens, I returned from one of my expeditions to find Mrs T in conversation with a man, who turned out to be one of the festival organisers. Several people had told me it's never fully recovered after covid and he was keen to get our thought on how it could be improved. The site is wonderful and a perfect size with five exceptional arenas, especially the mainstage. Monterey is a friendly town with lots to do, and a welcome break from skyscrapers and countless lanes of constant high-speed traffic. The problem for me I identified months earlier when I first saw the programme; too many singers. And too many ears pricked up every time somebody starts singing. Unlike N'warlins and most of the big British festivals, they've refused to look too far away from jazz, but to pull in the crowds they have to give them a constant stream of singers.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but perhaps we'd have been better off doing Friday and Saturday; but I'd have always imagined Echoes of an Era would have been much better than it was, and I'd have missed Goldings, Bernstein and Stewart. It was a fantastic experience and when it was good it was brilliant. Steve T