Monterey Jazz Festival

Celebrating 63 years, the Monterey Jazz Festival is the longest running Jazz festival in the world. It is held annually on the 20-acre, oak-studded Monterey Fairgrounds located at 2000 Fairgrounds Road in Monterey, California. More than 500 top jazz artists perform throughout the weekend on 8 stages spread throughout the grounds. Outdoor stages include the Arena/Jimmy Lyons Stage, the Garden Stage and the Courtyard Stage. Indoor stages include the Night Club/Bill Berry Stage, Dizzy's Den, the Jazz Theater and the Coffee House Gallery.

True to its founding principles, each year the Monterey Jazz Festival continues to focus on the festival side as well as presenting an array of clinics, conversations, exhibitions, shopping, food, fun and festivities. The Monterey Jazz Festival is a nonprofit organization and has donated its proceeds to musical education since its inception.

In 1956 Jimmy Lyons, and his co-founder and colleague Ralph Gleason, wanted to create an alternative to East Coast festivals, "a sylvan setting with the best Jazz people in the whole world" to be held in the tranquil seaside setting of Monterey California. The first Monterey Jazz Festival lived up to that billing hosting such legends as Louis Armstrong, Dizzie Gillespie, John Lewis, Gerry Mulligan and Billie Holiday.

Since 1958, through its comprehensive Jazz Education Programs, the Monterey Jazz Festival has helped to perpetuate Jazz and educate people about America's music. The Monterey Jazz Festival invests $500,000 a year to support year-round education endeavors helping to meet the musical needs of thousands of students at the local, state and national levels.

Among the 2019 scheduled artists were Kenny Barron, Dave Holland, Yellowjackets, Allison Miller, Derrick Hodge, Christian McBride, Roberta Gambarini, Luciana Souza, Patrice Rushen, Chris Potter, James Francies, Eric Harland, Gerald Clayton, Antonio Sanchez, Bria Skonberg, DJ Brother Mister, Taylor McFerrin, Connie Han, Donna Grantis, Allison Au, SambaDa, Larkin Poe, Michael Mayo, Steven Bernstein's MTO West, Cha Wa, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, Huntertones, Sasha Berliner, Ben Flocks, Pamela Rose, Terrence Brewer, Natalie Cressman, Ian Faquini, Zion Dyson, Marcus Shelby, Jazzmeia Horn, Jenny Scheinman, Doug Carn, Amina Claudine Myers, Mike LeDonne, Leyla McCalla, Tammy L. Hall, Ruth Davies, Kenny Stahl, Barrio Manouche, Abe Rabade, Kenny Stahl, Barrio Manouche, Abe Rabade, Berklee Global Jazz Institute, California Jazz Conservatory Blue Ensemble, Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, Next Generation Women in Jazz Combo, California Jazz Conservatory Faculty Ensemble and many more.

The 2019 Monterey Jazz Festival was held September 27 to 29.