THE LATIN SIDE OF THE MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL
MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA
SEPTEMBER 20, 2008

TEXT BY JOHN BENJAMIN AND TOM EHRLICH
PHOTOS BY TOM EHRLICH © 2008

Maraca and the Cuban Lullabies Project in Dizzy's Den

Rebeca Mauleón and Afro Kuban Fusion (Eric Barberia on chékere)

After closing out the show on the main stage on Friday night, Macara and the Cuban Lullabies Project played again on Saturday night in an inside and more intimate venue called Dizzy's Den. But before we get to that, we checked out a couple of noteworthy events in the afternoon. Although we did not catch Nancy Wilson perform at the main stage, we did listen to a conversation between Nancy and Clairdee about her life as a jazz singer. The 71 year old Ms. Wilson is one of the premier jazz singers alive today and she gave an interesting and inspiring talk on her life.

Nancy Wilson

Then it was on to the Garden Stage, an outdoor venue to groove to the funky sounds of Maceo Parker and his band. For almost 20 years Maceo was an important member of James Brown's great band. As Maceo described, his music is 98% funk and 2% jazz and the crowd had no complaints about that.

Maceo Parker

Rodney "Skeet" Curtis, bass and Jamal Thomas, drums

Jamal Thomas, drums

Bruno Speight, guitar

Maceo

Maceo

Maraca and the Cuban Lullabies Project sounded even better than their Friday night performance.

Maraca going over the charts, pianist Ed Simon in the back, Celine Chauveau Maraca's manager and wife and bassist John Benitez putting the charts in order

Celine Chauveau Maraca's manager and wife and bassist John Benitez reviewing the charts.

Horacio "El Negro" Hernández, drums

Murray Low, keyboards

Miguel Zenón, alto sax

Maraca and the Monterey Jazz Festival Chamber Orchestra conducted by Ray Brown and
Susan Brown (violinist on left) muscial director

David Sánchez, tenor sax

Ed Simon, piano

Giovanni Hidalgo, congas

Maraca

Murray Low, keyboards

El Negro

Susan Brown, music director and concertmaster of the Monterey Jazz Festival Chamber Orchestra

Miguel Zenón, alto sax

John Benitez, bass and El Negro, drums

John Benitez, bass; David Sanchez, sax and Maraca on maracas

Ed Simon, piano and Maraca, flute

Giovanni Hildago

Maraca on picolo

Miguel Zenón and Maraca

El Negro

Monterey Jazz Festival Chamber Orchestra

Miguel Zenón, sax and John Benitez, bass

John Benitez

David Sánchez

Ed Simon

Giovanni Hildalgo

John Benitez

Miguel Zenón, sax and Maraca

David Sánchez, sax and John Benitez, bass

John Benitez

Maraca, David Sánchez and Murray Low

Maraca

Number One

Group thanking the crowd

Champagne toast after show

Back to the Garden Stage to see Rebeca Mauleón and the Afro Kuban Fusion. This was the closest music to timba in this years festival. Another power packed group with four Cubanos handling the percussion - living legend Orestes Vilató on timbales and bongos, Jimmy Branly on drum set, Jesus Díaz on congas and Eric Barberia on percussion and vocals. The music combines a variety of Afro-caribbean rhythms with inventive timbaos and jazz ideas and included inspirational solos by all. The group is rounded out by Gary Brown on bass, Neron Black on guitar, Mike Olmos on trumpet, and Marty Wehner on trombone. This group swings, the kind of jazz you can dance to and the crowd did.

Rebeca Mauleón is highly regarded as a pianist, band leader, composer, arranger, educator and author and has been involved in scores of projects. She began her performance career accompanying well established artists such as Tito Puente, Carlos Santana, Carlos "Patato" Valdez, Joe Henderson and Steve Winwood. Rebeca has also published a series of educational books that have become defining texts in the Latin Music World.

Orestes Vilato, who is considered by many as the most important Cuban percussionist living today and one of the most influential figures in Latin music. He has contributed to albums and movies heard and seen by millions and has recorded and performed with some of the greatest musical legends of our times, from Aretha Franklin to Carlos Santana, from Celia Cruz and Cachao to Rubén Blades, Johnny Pacheco, Ray Barretto and many others. Orestes has recorded a CD under his name for the first time in his illustrious career. Its called "Its About Time" and is scheduled to be released by the end of the year.

Rebeca Mauleón singing during sound check

Orestes Vilató on timbales, Jimmy Branly in the background on drums

Jimmy Branly

Jesus Díaz

Gary Brown on bass

Neron Black on guitar and Jesus Díaz on congas

Eric Barberia vocals and percussion

Mike Olmos on trumpet and Marty Wehner on trombone

Jesus Díaz

Rebeca Mauleón

Mike Olmos on trumpet and Marty Wehner on trombone, Orestes Vilató in the foeground

Jimmy Branly

Eric Barberia and Rebeca Mauleón

Orestes Vilató

Jesus Díaz

Jimmy Branly on drum set and Orestes Vilató on timbales

Rebeca Mauleón

Rebeca Mauleón and the Afro Kuban Fusion was so exciting and moving, that we stayed for most of the set, therefore by the time we got back to Dizzy's Den to catch Antonio Sanchez 's Migration the set was finished. Everyone I talked to in the crowd was extremely moved by Antonio Sanchez's piano-less project which included the sax players David Sanchez and Miguel Zenon and Scott Colley on bass.

The closing act at Dizzy's Den Saturday night was the Maria Schneider Orchestra. Maria is considered one of the best jazz conductors, composers and arrangers for big bands, creating music which is moving and intellectually challenging. Ms. Schneider is often described as following in the footsteps of the late Gil Evans, another famous big band conductor and arranger. This year Maria was the Monterey Jazz Festival's commissioned artist. She premiered "Willow Lake" and also played parts from her 1995 commissioned piece "Scenes from Childhood."

The Maria Schneider Orchestra's performance was stunning with excellent solos by trumpeter, Ingrid Jensen and saxophonists Steve Wilson and Donny McCaslin.

Maria Schneider

Maria Schneider conducting

Steve Wilson sax

Steve Wilson solo

Maria Schneider

Maria Schneider conducting, Donny McCaslin soloing on sax

Donny McCaslin

 
Donny McCaslin solo

Maria Schneider

Ingrid Jensen solo

Our final segment on this years Monterey Jazz Festival will be some of the acts from Sunday. Although there were no Latin Music acts, there was some great jazz music.