“It was one of the most important nights of jazz music to take place in Northern California in a long time. The 69th annual Monterey Jazz Festival came to a close in historic fashion as three of the Top 5 greatest living (and still performing) jazz musicians – Charles Lloyd, Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter – appeared on the same stage on the same night.” — San Jose Mercury News
“…MJF’s commission artist, Meshell Ndegeocello, played a potent hour-plus-long set that captured some of her ethereal themes… In so many ways, she captured that essence of contradictions, including in her commission piece themed around America at 250. As she sang her take on the National Anthem, I teared up… She started with themes of anger and exclusion, building up lyrically to sing about belonging. I was deeply moved…” — Monterey County Weekly
“The Monterey Jazz Festival is typically too much, in the best possible way. With five stages spread across the Monterey County Fairgrounds’ 22 bucolic acres, even an unambitious festivalgoer is likely to reach 10,000 steps in the course of a day… the roster brimmed with superlative talent spanning some four generations.” — San Francisco Classical Voice
“Two other brilliant, unique and alluring performances broke the purely jazz/blues mode of the festival. The first was by aja monet, who uses spoken word poetically almost as Claude Monet painted impressionistically … Her spoken words embody the spirit of freedom, especially for women, and social change … and her appearance at the festival was an experience to see, hear and behold. The second act combined the storytelling of novelist Amy Tan with the improvised music of piano prodigy Joey Alexander … His hour long solo improvised piano with Amy Tan’s storytelling mesmerized the audience.” — Sacramento News & Review
“Latin jazz and salsa pioneer Palmieri would have been tickled by the extravaganza that honored him. Led by alto saxophonist and vocalist Louis Fouché … the crowd went wild … one of the best Friday nights in Monterey history.” — DownBeat
“All in all, MJF 69 delivered its usual musical payload, both reveling in history and showcasing discoveries and hidden and semi-hidden gems within the broad cosmos that is jazz. The tacit axiom here is to offer a weekend sampler implying the message of: “this is jazz, now, and then.” — Allaboutjazz
“ … some of the strongest impacts were made by … the remarkable and chameleonic Cécile McLorin Salvant, who never ceases to amaze … showed up both as featured guest of the JALC band, leading her own quartet, and cameo’d at the special “1958” all-star group … fascinating maverick pianist Kris Davis; the multi-talented Meshell Ndegeocello, whose hypnotic minimalist commissioned work, America 250 further cemented her position as a prime socio-cultural adventurer; and subtle tenor sax powerhouse Melissa Aldana, whose Wayne Shorter–esque powers as player and composer with fresh ideas puts her in an upper echelon in her jazz generation. — Santa Barbara Independent
