New Names, Familiar Faces, One Epic Festival!
The legends you love are back — and they’re bringing tomorrow’s jazz greats with them. In this new blog series, get acquainted with icons, innovators, and newcomers performing at MJF68.
Featured Returning Favorite: Dianne Reeves!
Dianne Reeves first appeared at the MJF27 in 1984 at age 26 as guest vocalist with “El Rey de los Timbales” Tito Puente. Relatively unknown at the time and with only two indie albums as a leader, the crowd reaction was reserved when Dianne was introduced. But at the conclusion of each of her three featured songs, the Arena crowd roared its approval at their discovery of a great new jazz vocalist. Since then, she’s become a MJF favorite. To date, Dianne has appeared at Monterey 13 times, served as our Artist-in-Residence in 2010, and was honored at Monterey’s Jazz Legend Gala in 2018 — the same year she was our Showcase Artist, and she received the Jazz Master Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
A gifted vocalist with a three-octave range, Reeves made an impression on Clark Terry in the 1970s, and did commercial session work in Los Angeles at the recommendation of members of Earth, Wind & Fire. Additional performances and tours with Billy Childs, Sergio Mendes and Harry Belafonte culminated in a long-term home beginning in 1987 at Blue Note Records, the home of her many chart-topping and Grammy-winning albums. Reeves was also featured in George Clooney’s acclaimed 2005 film Good Night, and Good Luck, whose soundtrack provided Reeves with the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance.
“She is one of the most indispensable parts in the entire history of jazz, frankly,” said Christian McBride in 2018. “One thing that makes her musicality so special is that she is exactly what you hear in her voice. It’s majestic, it’s elegant, it’s sophisticated. It’s larger-than-life, and that’s who Dianne is off the stage as well.”
Jon Hendricks, Dianne Reeves, and Joe Williams at the 1996 Monterey Jazz Festival
Dianne Reeves will perform with her band on Saturday, September 27 on the Jimmy Lyons Stage in the Arena at 1:30pm. Buy tickets now!
Featured First Time Festival Performer: Brandon Woody!
The Baltimore-based trumpeter Brandon Woody makes his debut at the 68th Monterey Jazz Festival … sort of. Nine years ago, in 2016 at MJF59, Brandon had accepted a full scholarship at the University of the Pacific’s Brubeck Institute, and through an educational partnership, the group was asked to perform at that year’s festival. While in Stockton at UOP, Brandon had studied with the Bay Area copper-toned trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire. After his time in Stockton, Brandon moved to New York City to attend the Manhattan School of Music, where his teachers included Cecil Bridgewater and Stefon Harris.
Brandon Woody with the Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet at the 2016 Monterey Jazz Festival.
In 2017, Woody formed Upendo in New York as a vehicle for his original compositions. “I can’t put these genres on things because that’s how people institutionalize them. You can’t learn it from a computer or a book — that’s just not how it works,” Woody told Bmore Art in 2022. “You learn it from jam sessions and being around elder musicians who pass it on to you. That’s how it is and how it always will be.”
Even with the interruption of the pandemic, New York Times jazz journalist Giovanni Russonello said Woody was “…the exact trumpeter of this moment, Roy Hargrove by way of Eddie Gale [and] Freddie Hubbard” on the Times’ Popcast in 2023.
The band’s reputation and sound attracted the attention of Don Was, the president of Blue Note Records who signed Woody and Upendo in late 2024. “Brandon is one of those rare artists who possesses both a vibrant vision and the chops and knowledge to manifest it,” said Was in a 2024 press release. “… he is a natural exponent of the Blue Note Ethos and we’re proud to welcome him to the family.” Woody’s Blue Note Records debut, For The Love Of It All, was released May 9, 2025.
We are glad to welcome back Brandon Woody (for the first time as a leader) to the 68th Monterey Jazz Festival on Saturday Night, September 27 at 7pm in the Pacific Jazz Café. Buy tickets now!
