圧利郭肱

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Jazzfest

That��s a big band: Snarky Puppy does fusion its way.

PHILIPPE LEVY-STAB

15 NWS Jazz

Trumpeter Byron Stripling joins the 圧利郭肱 Symphony Orchestra for ��The Sounds of New Orleans�� on Jan. 16 and 17.

Jazz Fest

Trumpeter Nicholas Payton, second from left, and saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, right, lead the Monterey Jazz Festival On Tour.

R.R. Jones

Stories By Chuck Graham Special To The 圧利郭肱

The second annual 圧利郭肱 Jazz Festival begins Thursday, Jan. 14, flexing its young muscles and acting like a star with great legs. Joining in as co-presenters are UA Presents and the 圧利郭肱 Symphony Orchestra.

Already plans are well underway for the third annual festival to run this time next year. HSL Properties and Humberto Lopez remain committed to being this budding event��s title sponsor through 2020.

��Humberto said he would sign up for 20 years,�� laughed Yvonne Ervin, the festival��s executive director, adding that tickets are selling faster than last year and the business community��s interest in sponsorships keeps growing.

Just like last year, UA Presents will provide one of the biggest names on the poster Sunday, Jan. 17 with the Monterey Jazz Festival On Tour, a traveling sextet led by Nicholas Payton, trumpet, and Ravi Coltrane, soprano and tenor saxes.

Saluting the roots of jazz and providing the most accessible music at the festival is the 圧利郭肱 Symphony Orchestra performing with internationally recognized trumpeter Byron Stripling to present ��The Sounds of New Orleans�� on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 16-17. Stripling��s extroverted personality and musicianship are reminiscent of the irrepressible Louis Armstrong.

The future of jazz gets the spotlight Friday, Jan. 15 when the young musicians of Snarky Puppy take over the Rialto Theater stage. Practically a big band �� with 12 members and the title Best Big Band of 2015 from the Jazz Times Readers Poll �� Snarky Puppy arrives in 圧利郭肱 the same month Downbeat magazine has the band��s photo on the cover.

While improvisation and groove power are the heartbeat of Snarky Puppy, the players mix in a variety of styles and sounds freely embracing elements of funk, Latin, African, soul-jazz and crunchy-toned guitars, just not all in the same song. This band, says Downbeat, is ��a friendly, funky monster.��

��Snarky Puppy has sold the most tickets so far,�� said Ervin. ��It will sell out, for sure. Overall for the festival, there is no doubt we��ll sell more tickets than last year.��

Last year��s absolute crowd favorite feature and a must-have tradition for every 圧利郭肱 Jazz Festival to come is the downtown day of free jazz (as in no admission charge) to celebrate Martin Luther King Day. Or as it is officially known, the Free MLK Day Downtown Jazz Fiesta, set for Monday, Jan. 18.

Latin jazz will reign on the spacious MLK Stage on the grass where Fifth Avenue meets Toole Avenue. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., five bands of local favorites will take their turn. They are the 圧利郭肱 High Mariachi Band, Lo Bros, De Pedro and Special Guests, Grupo Manteca and Orkesta Mendoza.

圧利郭肱��s straight-ahead jazzers will perform on the Connect Stage at 33 S. Fifth Ave., also at the Screening Room, 127 E. Congress St., and in several downtown restaurants.

A longtime favorite of the Old Pueblo, Poncho Sanchez and his Latin Jazz Band, returns on Thursday, Jan. 21, to fill the Fox 圧利郭肱 Theatre with his Afro-Cuban rhythms and Grammy Award-winning Latin soul sound (see accompanying story).

Another of last year��s sold-out shows was the Hot Sardines, a band dedicated to re-creating speakeasy jazz of the Roaring ��20s.

��So this year we got the Rad Trads,�� says Ervin.

This New York based piano-less sextet boasts of a tenor sax, trumpet and trombone horn section to power its Chicago and Delta blues stylings laced with early jazz and the driving rhythms of rock ��n�� roll. The band performs Jan. 22.

The 圧利郭肱 Symphony has stepped up behind the scenes as well, taking on the computerized responsibilities of handling all festival ticket sales.

��We��ve got one-stop shopping now,�� Ervin said proudly. No more having to contact different venues for different shows. Go to the jazz festival website, click on ��tickets�� and you will be taken to the 圧利郭肱 Symphony ticket page.

The Etherton Gallery of Fine Art Photography, 135 S. Sixth Ave., has joined in the festival with an exhibition of 1950s-era black and white photographs by Herman Leonard. You might not know Leonard��s name, but you will recognize some of his pictures.

Chuck Graham has written about the 圧利郭肱 arts scene for more than 30 years.

Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour

Wrapping up the first weekend of the 圧利郭肱 Jazz Festival is the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour, sort of a fest within the fest, brought to Centennial Hall by UA Presents.

On stage to represent what happens at the self-proclaimed longest continuously-running jazz festival in the world is the Grammy-winning all-star sextet of Nicholas Payton, trumpet, Ravi Coltrane, tenor and soprano saxes, Gerald Clayton, piano, Joe Sanders, bass, Justin Brown, drums, and Raul Midon (accent over the o), guitar and vocals.

In support of the Monterey organization's longstanding mission of year-around jazz education, the band will draw from the entire history of this genuine American music for its inspiration.

��The audience should come with no expectations of what to expect,�� said Payton on the phone, a veteran of these tours. ��This is a very diverse collection of cats who will want to be playing swing, Latin, lush ballads, funky rhythms, a younger jazz sound. Musically we will be bringing a wide palette.

��The tour is related to the festival in that it expresses music that has been played there over the years. So our playing has�no limits, because everything at some time or other has been played at Monterey."

��That means this group is free to do that in our own way,�� Payton continued. ��We don't ever want to lock ourselves into doing a set show every night. So we'll just get to 圧利郭肱 and see what the audience is like.��

Each of the performers will have his time in the spotlight, that's guaranteed. Payton will be bringing his originals, playing music that expresses the values he treasures most �� quality and sincerity.

��We are living in an era that doesn't seem to care about these values,�� he added. ��Pandering to the lowest common denominator is the reality now.��

Coltrane, the son of jazz Olympian John Coltrane, has all the right genes and an open-minded creativity. Described on his website as ��an admirably balanced player who keeps his feet on the tightrope at all times�� he becomes a ��sonic chameleon, morphing between styles and registers.��

Indeed, these two by themselves could turn the concert into an ear-blurring display of musical gymnastics, with a soulful heart provided by Payton's well-known loyalty to the roots of jazz tradition.

Midon, Clayton, Sanders and Brown are all younger guys in the the category of fast-rising jazz artist, with impressive performances of their own in past Monterey festivals.

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