Monterey Jazz Festival
50th Anniversary Tour

In Janurary 2008, some of the most distinguished names in Jazz embarked on a ten week, fifty-four date, twenty-two state celebration of the Golden Anniversary of the Monterey Jazz Festival. Heralded as a meeting of three generations of Jazz masters, the MJF 50th Anniversary Band showcased the leaders of the past, present and future with Terence Blanchard on trumpet, James Moody on saxophone, musical director Benny Green on piano, Derrick Hodge on bass, and Kendrick Scott on drums and featured vocalist Nnenna Freelon.

Each member of the 50th Anniversary Band had a special relationship with the Monterey Jazz Festival and a commitment to the Festival and the cultivation of Jazz audiences worldwide. Saxophonist James Moody made his first appearance at MJF in the early 1960s with Dizzy Gillespie; Benny Green participated in MJF's educational programs as a teenager in the 1970s; Terence Blanchard was MJF's Artist-In-Residence in 2007; Nnenna Freelon has been performing at MJF since the mid 1990s; Kendrick Scott was a three-time member of the Berklee-Monterey Quartet from 1999-2002, and Derrick Hodge has been a member of Terence Blanchard's bands that have performed at Monterey.

"We wanted to create a lasting legacy for our 50th anniversary," says Monterey Jazz Festival General Manager Tim Jackson. "To kick it off, we've assembled some of the masters of Jazz who have a close relationship with the Festival to carry the MJF name across America. We've had all-star groups who have performed at Monterey in the past, but they've never gone on a multiple-week tour in the US, so this is an historic occasion for us. All the members represent the spirit and educational enthusiasm of the Monterey Jazz Festival that we'd like to present to the country...plus they're an incredible band, they were mesmerizing at the 50th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival in September 2007. They embody the past, present and future of Jazz history."

The Monterey Jazz Festival 50th Anniversary Band began their ten-week tour in the Pacific Northwest in Bellingham, Washington on January 8, 2008. They appeared at major performing arts organizations in many regions of the county including California, the Southwest, Texas, Florida, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, the Washington DC area, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, the New England states, Indiana, and Michigan. Each of the shows featured a selection of standards and favorites from all periods of Jazz, including the Tin-Pan Alley, bebop, and modern eras.

All-Star Bands at Monterey have been a long-standing tradition at MJF. Starting in 1966, the Festival assembled master musicians under the "Monterey All-Stars" moniker. At least seventeen Monterey All-Star Bands have graced the stages of Monterey and have included Gil Evans, Gerry Mulligan, Elvin Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Ray Brown, Sonny Stitt, Max Roach, John Lewis, Shelly Manne, Bobby Hutcherson, Hank Jones, Milt Jackson, and many more as members. All together, the members of the MJF 50th Anniversary Band have performed at Monterey twenty-eight times.