Monterey Surprise: 1958 Throwback

The “Monterey Surprise” throwback to 1958 at MJF69 celebrates the musicians and music from the inaugural Monterey Jazz Festival featuring contemporary jazz musicians of today.

Stepping in for jazz icons Billie Holiday, Sonny Rollins, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck, the Modern Jazz Quartet, and Max Roach, are modern masters: trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, drummer Brian Blade, vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, pianist Gerald Clayton, bassist Larry Grenadier, and tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana.

The Surprise lineup, chosen from current MJF artists, will be a changing and updated theme in coming years with the “surprise” being revealed closer to the festival.

For 2026, the Surprise is stacked: Akinmusire, Salvant, Clayton, and Aldana have all represented Monterey in touring bands across the county in the last decade. Brian Blade has been performing at the festival consistently for the last 30 years. Larry Grenadier, along with Akinmusire, are both Next Generation Jazz Orchestra alumni. Their deep understanding of the creative idiom and their depth of experience with Monterey’s history makes them worthy and exciting successors for this year’s theme, hearkening back to 1958. And perhaps in a changing of the guard (and of no surprise!), this past summer’s DownBeat Critics Poll named Akinmusire, Salvant and Blade as the 2026 winners on their instruments with Gerald Clayton taking two Rising Star awards for keyboards and organ, with Aldana taking a bronze.

Catch this all-star group on the Ray Drummond West End Stage at 2pm on Saturday afternoon for what is truly an “Only in Monterey” experience.