Monterey Jazz Festival’s Traveling Clinicians

S ince 1984, Monterey Jazz Festival has sent top professional musicians and vocalists,known as the Traveling Clinicians, to work with hundreds of students in private andpublic classrooms throughout Monterey County, including underserved communities.Starting in November and culminating in April, the clinicians work with both students

and music directors in helping ensembles prepare for performances and music festivals.The clinicians recognize the area’s top players from participating schools with a place in oneof Monterey Jazz Festival’s Honor Ensembles, which tour annually.

The Forefront of Jazz EducationFrom its inception in 1958, Monterey Jazz Festival has been at the forefront of jazz education. Founded as a non-profit corporation, Monterey Jazz Festival invests more than half a million dollars every year in Jazz Education programs. With your help, this investment has resulted in a number of other innovative and successful jazz education programs including:

Next Generation Jazz Festival – Referred to as “the Super Bowl of jazz education” by Joshua Redman, the Festivalis held annually every spring, hosting the highest level of middle school, high school and college ensembles throughout the U.S.

Next Generation Jazz Orchestra – Monterey Jazz Festival’s national touring big band, comprised of the top highschool jazz musicians and future jazz stars in the U.S.

Summer Jazz Camp – Held annually in June, professional faculty convene an intensive two-week jazz laboratory withstudents, including four public performances.

(programs continued on page 3)

Monterey Jazz Festival

QUARTERNOTEVolume 1, Issue 1

• Join us for the 2014 Next Generation Jazz Festival

• March 28-30 at the Monterey Conference Center

• Performance Applications: montereyjazzfestival.org

montereyjazzfestival.org

Paul Contos, Education Director

T he 56th Monterey Jazz Festival took place September 20-22.Highlights from 2013 include the Clayton-Hamilton JazzOrchestra, performing their commission piece in tribute to Dave

Brubeck, and Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club in the Arena. Snarky Puppycreated quite a buzz in Dizzy’s Den. Despite some light drizzle on Saturdaymorning, Arena highlights included incredible sets from George Benson,Joe Lovano and Dave Douglas: Sound Prints (debuting two new pieces byWayne Shorter); Dave Holland’s Prism, and a quietly powerful set fromBobby McFerrin. Saturday’s Grounds highlights include standing-room-only

crowds for Ravi Coltrane, Charlie Hunter & Scott Amendola, Big Sam’sFunky Nation, the California Honeydrops, and Mary Stallings.

Sunday’s Arena highlights were the Next Generation JazzOrchestra with Artist-In-Residence, Joe Lovano; Bob James and DavidSanborn, the Wayne Shorter Quartet, and Diana Krall. On the Grounds,NEA Jazz Masters Lou Donaldson and Bobby Hutcherson were crowdpleasers, as was Davina and the Vagabonds, who were considered thebreakout artist of 2013. Dr. Lonnie Smith, the closing act, played alegendary set until late Sunday night, far beyond the official closing time!

Gregory Porter

Meet Howard FisherDedicated Festival Patron

W e would like to shine the spotlight on one ofMonterey Jazz Festival’s most dedicatedpatrons, Howard Fisher. Howard’s love of jazz

goes back to his childhood. His dad, a San Francisco pianistand band leader, instilled in Howard an appreciation formusic. “There was always music in the house,” recallsHoward, “and my dad’s favorite pianist was Erroll Garner;I remember him pointing out to me the complex voicing inGarner’s chords. My first spiritual connection to the Montereyarea, and indirectly to the Festival, was through Garner’sclassic album, Concert by the Sea. Jimmy Lyons, who was adisc jockey and lived in Big Surat the time, brought Garner toCarmel to play the concert,which resulted in the 1955recording —three years beforeLyons founded the MontereyJazz Festival.”

Although Howarddidn’t follow his dad into the music busi-ness, he has played trumpet, off and on, since he was 12 years old—including 2 ½ years in a U.S. Army band in Germany. He is currently play-ing in the Monterey Peninsula College big band. He says, “I enjoy playingthe music, the charts are often challenging, and I struggle with theharmonic structure of an occasional solo. So I know how hard it is toplay good jazz and am in awe of the genius of the great jazz artists whohave graced the Monterey Jazz Festival stages.”

Howard grew up on the San Francisco Peninsula, graduatedfrom U.C. Berkeley, and worked for Stanford Research Institute. Howardand his wife, Roz, have two grown sons and three grandchildren. Theywere long-time supporters of the Stanford Jazz Workshop while living inthe Bay Area.

Howard and Roz attended their first Monterey Jazz Festivalafter moving to Carmel in 2000. Initially, they purchased grounds ticketsto the Festival, but were soon drawn in by its ambiance and the greatmusic. “Just walking around the grounds between shows is a wonderfulexperience,” says Howard, “the crowd is so mellow, diverse, andfriendly—a reflection of jazz itself.”

The Fishers soon became supporters of the Festival, and in2010 Howard was asked to become the first MJF Ambassador. “Asambassador,” he says, “I encourage our friends to attend MJF functionswith us, such as the annual Jazz Legends Gala fundraising dinner, theNext Generation Jazz Festival in April, and special receptions and eventsI sponsor to introduce them to the MJF jazz education programs.”Howard remembers attending a master class during the 2010 NextGeneration Jazz Festival, in which the Artist-In-Residence, Dianne Reeves,“brought tears” to his eyes because of the impact she made on the fourtalented young singers in her master class.

Monterey Jazz Festival’s Board of Directors and staffappreciate all the support that Howard has provided over the years.We look forward to many more years of sharing the MJF experience withHoward and his family.

MJF56 Recap

We welcome you to this inaugural issue of the revamped and revitalizedMonterey Jazz Festival Newsletter, now called Quarter Note. Over the next year,we will bring you a quarterly newsletter, featuring profiles of our educationprograms, donors and sponsors, and updates on our activities. This is yourchance to learn about what the organization does the other 362 days of theyear when we are not presenting the annual Monterey Jazz Festival. We havesome exciting things coming up in the next quarter, so stay tuned.

Terry O’Connor, President Monterey Jazz Festival Board of Directors

Welcome

Howard & Roz Fisher

Bobby McFerrin Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club Wayne Shorter

About North Coast BrewingA pioneer in the craft beer movement, North Coast Brewing Companyopened in 1988 as a local brewpub in the historic town of Fort Bragg,located on California’s Mendocino Coast. Under the leadership of Brew-master Mark Ruedrich, the brewery has developed a strong reputation forquality having won more than 70 awards in national and internationalcompetitions. These exceptional beers are available in 47 states now andalso are exported to Europe and the Pacific Rim.

Programs / Continued from page 1

Monterey County Honor Ensembles – selected byTraveling Clinicians, three All-Star Ensembles comprising High School All-Star Big Band, High School Honor Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and MiddleSchool Honor Band.

Artist-In-Residence – a respected name jazz artist works threetimes per year in various settings, mentoring and coaching jazz students,with special appearances and performances.

DMEP – Digital Music Education Project – an onlineportal available through Monterey Jazz Festival’s website, featuringvaluable personal interviews as well as tips for musicians by acomprehensive roster of reputable and wide-ranging jazz artists.

Featured Partner: North Coast Brewing / Official Beer

2013 Jazz Legends Gala Honors Wayne Shorter

N ow in their eighth year as a partner of Monterey Jazz Festival,North Coast Brewing Company has signed on to continue asthe Official Beer of Monterey Jazz Festival through 2017. The

Fort Bragg-based company is currently the longest contiguous financialsupporter of the Festival. An advocate for jazz education,North Coast Brewing Company has also been a longtimecontributor to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz,making donations for every case of BrotherThelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale sold.

Doug Moody, Senior Vice President and Sales Manager of North Coast Brewing, has been a “hardcore jazz fan” for ages. “It’s been a privilege for us to be associated with both the Monterey Jazz Festival and theThelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and to be able to contribute in somemeasure to this American art form.”

To show their support of jazz education, this fall, North CoastBrewing Company sponsored the Education Pavilion at the 56th AnnualMonterey Jazz Festival. The North Coast Brewing Company Jazz EducationPavilion hosted beer tastings of their Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout,Pranqster, Le Merle and Old Stock Ale, as well as Monterey Jazz Festival’sSilent Auction which, all together, helped Monterey Jazz Festival raisenearly $22,000!

In addition to partnering with Monterey Jazz Festival andthe Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, North Coast Brewing is also asupporter of Northern California jazz organizations, including theRedwood Jazz Alliance and the San Francisco Jazz Festival.

montereyjazzfestival.org

Tim Jackson, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock

Gregory Porter Band

Luis & Ronnie Alvarez, Andy Sudol

Solomon, Don & Henry Was

Next Generation Jazz Orchestra

Dave Douglas, Brianna Rancour-Ibarra, Joe Lovano, Judi Silvano

C O N N E C T T O U S

T H A N K S T O O U R 2 0 1 3 P A R T N E R S & M A J O R F U N D E R S

Join us for the

Next Generation Jazz Festival

March 28-30, 2014

Monterey Conference Center

montereyjazzfestival.org

P.O. Box Jazz, Monterey, CA 93942

NON PROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGEPAID

MONTEREY, CAPERMIT NO. 215