Tony Bennett, Sonny Rollins, the Pat Metheny Trio, Branford Marsalis and John Scofield are among the artists lined up for California’s 48th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival, which will be held Sept. 16-18.
Showcase artist Scofield and artist-in-residence Marsalis will be the festival’s most ubiquitous artists. Among Scofield’s plans is a tribute to Ray Charles with Mavis Staples and a “New Grooves” segment featuring the John Scofield Uberjam Band and Banyan.
Marsalis, meanwhile, will headline a final night show with his quintet and participate in one of the festival’s “conversations” a day earlier, discussing “Jazz: The Big Picture.” Others taking part in such discourse will be artists Carla Bley and Steve Swallow (“The Creative Process”) and Billboard jazz columnist Dan Ouellette, who will lead a journalists’ panel discussion.
Saxophonist John Handy is planning to commemorate his legendary 1965 Monterey performance with a 40th anniversary reunion of several members of that quintet. That ’65 set featured then virtually unknown players Michael White (violin), Jerry Hahn (guitar), Terry Clarke (drums) and Don Thompson (bass) who played just two songs: a 27-minute version of “If Only We Knew” and a 19-minute take on “Spanish Lady.” The performance was recorded and released the following year as Handy’s Columbia Records debut.
Other highlights for the 48th annual event include the debut Monterey appearance by Bennett, Rollins’ first appearance there since 1997 and performances by Larry Carlton & Sapphire Blue with Ledisi, Lee Ritenour & Friends with Dave Grusin, the Spanish Harlem Orchestra and vocalist Madeleine Peyroux.
Source billboard.com.