By Jim Harrington

As a rule, I try not to get all giddy about meeting celebrities.

One notable exception, however, occurred at the 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival when I got the chance to speak with the area’s most famous resident, Clint Eastwood.

I was so thrilled after the encounter that I immediately went and called my parents. My dad, who doesn’t get impressed very easily, was knocked out that his son had met Dirty Harry.
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By Jim Harrington

Any jazz fan that’s within driving distance to Jack London Square in Oakland should make a trip to Yoshi’s this week. Heck, I’ll take it one further – this occasion is worth the cost of a plane ticket.

That’s because Wayne Shorter, the greatest living composer in jazz music and one of the genre’s all-time best saxophonists, is performing a rare club stand at the venue. Usually, fans only get to see him in 1,000-plus-seat performing arts centers and at big festivals. Thus, Shorter’s six-night run at the 330-seat Yoshi’s, which continues through Sunday (Oct. 5), ranks as a major treat.
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(Here is the final report from Monterey, which I’m handing over to my editors for print.)

By Jim Harrington

Christian McBride had been waiting a long time for the moment to arrive. When it finally did, the bassist couldn’t hold back his enthusiasm.

“Monterey,” he exclaimed. “Hot damn!”

That pretty much summed up what everyone was feeling during the 51st annual Monterey Jazz Festival, which ran Friday through Sunday (Sept. 19-21) at the city’s gorgeous oak-tree-dotted fairgrounds. Many of the 40,000 fans that turned out for the event had been looking ahead to the 2008 festival basically from the moment last year’s ended.

Some probably didn’t even wait that long to start anticipating. For proof, consider that people could be heard over the weekend making their plans for 2009.
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Sunday is said (or played) and done. That means that the 51st Monterey Jazz Festival is over. See you next year.

Sunday evening was definitely “the ticket” for the fest, in regard to the arena. It featured big guns Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock and Kurt Elling. I’m not a big Elling guy, although I appreciate his talent. I know that he’s widely considered to be the greatest male vocalist in jazz.

Still, I skipped Elling. But I did see another vocalist who knocked my socks off: Jamie Davis.
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Color me impressed. And surprised. A while back, I wrote something a bit snarky about Cullum (I know - bandwagon-criticism, prior to investigation) and I heard from a reader. She told me not to write Cullum off so quickly and that he would impress me in concert.

To put it mildly, she was right.
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There are more than 500 artists playing this year’s Monterey Jazz Festival. Jazz artists tend to be much more approachable than other type of musicians (especially rock stars). What that means is that the festival-goer is bound to rub elbows with, and probably even chat up, some of the MJF.

For instance, I ran into Miguel Zenon, who was hanging out with Terence Blanchard. I got to talk with Zenon and tell him how much I appreciate his music. That happened Friday. On Saturday, I shared a table with drummer Matt Wilson. And we had a delightful conversation.
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It had been years since I last saw Maceo Parker. Don’t quote me on the year - but I think the last time I saw the saxophonist, best known for playing in James Brown’s band, was way back in 2000 at the Montreal Jazz Festival.

In other words, I was past due for a Maceo dose.

Fortunately, I was able to correct that situation on Saturday when the sax great performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival. His set was broken into two halves. The first part featured him with MJF Next Generation Jazz Orchestra. What a kick it was to see these high school kids share the stage with one of funk music’s all-time greats. The students held their own - especially the kid on the organ.
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In what’s getting to be a trend, my day at the 51st annual Monterey Jazz Festival started on Saturday in true East Bay fashion. On Friday, the first act that I saw was Berkeley’s own saxophone giant Joshua Redman. On Saturday, the first act was Oakland’s Ledisi, who was making her debut on the festival’s big arena stage.

The vocalist has come a long way in a relatively short time (that’s not to say that she didn’t pay her dues). She wasn’t well known outside of the Bay Area until Verve Forecast released her “Lost and Found” last year. Then came a radio single. Then came two Grammy nominations. Now, everyone seems to know Ledisi.
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Well, it’s a bit of an overstatement to say that Day 2 has begun for me - yet. I am still getting up and around (hey, I was up to 3:30 a.m. writing last night - I’m allowed to sleep in!) But I am sitting on the couch in my hotel room and thinking about starting my day.

Haven’t decided exactly what I’m going to see this afternoon. There is definitely some good stuff going on - the East Bay’s own Ledisi, blues guitarist Derek Trucks, funk king Maceo Parker. Some of that, I’m sure, will factor into my equation. Whatever way I go, I guess, I can’t go wrong. I’ll report back later with my findings.
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The first night of the 51st annual Monterey Jazz Festival came to a close with a big band peformance led by Orlando “Maraca” Valle, who was making his festival debut. The 42-year-old Cuban-born flutist, who came to fame as a member of Chucho Valdes’ legendary Irakere group, was presenting a new program titled “Cuban Lullabies.”

To put it mildly, the work didn’t connect with the crowd and hundreds of listeners began heading for the exits after only a few minutes of music. Some might blame the wet weather, but the exodus was equally noticeable in the areas that are sheltered from rain.
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