This Year’s Monterey Jazz Festival Will Be Remotely Different

For the first time in its history the Monterey Jazz Festival will be completely virtual this year. It won’t be live. Instead, it will be appointment viewing. That means from September 25, for three days, you’ll have to be in front of a screen between 5 and 7 p.m. PST if you want to catch all the performances. 

KAZU’s Michelle Loxton took us on a musical journey sampling the tunes that’ll be featured.

Performances included:

Dianne Reeves - Nine

Christian Sands - Can’t Find My Way Home

Quincy Jones Tribute - Killer Joe

Next Generation Jazz Orchestra - Beginning to See The Light

Gerald Clayton Quartet - Evidence

Gerald Clayton has been coming to the Monterey Jazz Festival since he was part of the high school jazz band competition. This year he is directing the New Generation Jazz Orchestra. The Gerald Clayton Quartet will also perform.

Credit Monterey Jazz Festival.

You can view the festival for free this year but they’ll be raising money over the three days with that being split between the artists, the NAACP Defense Fund and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. 

The festival says this is part of recognizing that jazz comes from the heart of Black culture and wanting to serve as a platform for artists to share social justice messages.