New Names, Familiar Faces, One Epic Festival!

The legends you love are back — and they’re bringing tomorrow’s greats with them. Get acquainted with icons, innovators, and newcomers performing at MJF68.

Featured Returning Favorite: Davina & The Vagabonds

Sunday afternoon or evening can be a difficult slot for artists at the Monterey Jazz Festival. It’s the end of a long weekend and people can get exhausted. But in 2013, on the Garden Stage on Sunday at 5:30pm, something special was happening — an unknown band from Minnesota called Davina and the Vagabonds was just starting their set, an exuberant romp through a bygone era of jazz, blues, R&B and New Orleans-flavored music with a serious attitude. Davina Sowers, the pianist and vocalist, was clearly having a good time and the Garden Stage audience grew song-by-song to standing room only and a roaring enthusiastic reception. After the festival, staff agreed that Davina should appear on the Jimmy Lyons Stage in the Arena, and she performed on the big stage in 2014 and again in 2016.

Davina & the Vagabonds in 2013 on the Garden Stage

For her second appearance on Saturday in 2014, Davina arrived early and looked a little lost as she walked around backstage behind the Arena near the press room for her morning soundcheck. MJF’s Marketing Associate welcomed her. “I can’t believe this, that I’ve been asked back,” she said. “How many people get to play Monterey twice in a row?”  The Marketing Associate flatly said, “Oh there’s been a lot of people. Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Dave Brubeck…”  “But… I’m not Dave Brubeck,” Davina said, a little panicked. “Don’t worry. You’ll do great. People love you here,” said the staff member.

And they did. “Pianist and vocalist Davina Sowers and company were up to the challenge. Davina and her hornmen – trumpeter Dan Eikmeier and trombonist Ben Link – traded playful vocal-and-horn call-and-response much to the audience’s delight,” wrote KUSP radio.

That was not an understatement. Traditional Monterey audiences have connected with Davina and the Vagabonds in an emotional way — deeply rooted in a beloved musical past with a modern twist. A sincere stage presence and a clear and charming confidence can go a long way with patrons who frequent the Fairgrounds — they listen deeply but want to have fun. Davina’s years on the road, crafted through financial hardship and deep musical study has been winning fans to her vintage sound for nearly 20 years with the Vagabonds across the United States and Europe. Monterey Jazz is excited to welcome her back to MJF68 on the Garden Stage on Saturday September 27 at 1:30pm.

Lucía: The Makings of a Classic Debut at Monterey

“What A Difference A Day Makes” is an American jazz standard, but it serves as a metaphor for the emergence of 23-year-old Mexican vocalist Lucía. She performed her arrangement of the song in her winning appearance as a finalist at the 2022 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocalist competition. Originally written in Spanish by Maria Grever, Lucía introduces it in the jazz idiom, then segues to a luscious bolero on the title track of her new album.

Lucía

With a mature, haunting and rich voice that contrasts her young age, Lucía Gutierrez Rebolloso was born in Veracruz to a musical family. Her parents established the popular son jarocho band “Son de Madera.” Performing since the age of two, Lucía went on to back up Latin star Natalia LaFourcade.

Lucía recently told DownBeat Magazine about her journey: “I discovered Ella Fitzgerald. And I already knew [of her], I just didn’t know it was jazz. I already had listened to Coltrane because my mom had a CD. I had already listened to Miles to Nina Simone to Billie, but I wasn’t aware that it was a whole thing. So, when I discovered it, I discovered scat singing, and then I just fell in love and it was like, I can’t go back.”

The Sarah Vaughan award led to her new album, Lucía, featuring Edward Simon, Antonio Sánchez, Larry Grenadier, and David Sanchez. The record, released in May 2025, was shepherded into existence by Grammy-winning veteran producer Matt Pierson, who also produced Samara Joy’s Linger Awhile.

“There was a moment in the studio,” Lucía says, “when we were recording ‘Veracruz’ and I just started to cry. It was that line about Veracruz shimmering in my soul, and the need to return to its distant beaches. I had sung that beautiful Agustín Lara song in choir during elementary school, and suddenly here I was, making a record with Antonio Sánchez and Larry Grenadier standing next to me.” Lucía makes her Monterey debut Sunday at 5 p.m. in Dizzy’s Den.