The theme this year for the 69th annual Monterey Jazz Festival, held Friday-Sunday, Sept. 25-27 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds, was "Only in Monterey," meaning the audience was going to see performances and pairings that one could only see at what has become the world's longest-running jazz festival.
That theme held true from beginning to end, starting with an entertaining performance by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. This is Marsalis' last year with the orchestra he cofounded 39 years ago.
The festival saw the debut of a talented and rising young jazz singer, Kate Kortum, who gave a playful and delightful set on Friday night in the Pacific Jazz Café. Shortly after her set ended, Marsalis from the Jimmy Lyons Stage in the arena introduced her as a surprise guest.
"You'll say you saw somebody," Marsalis said as he brought Kortum to the stage, praising her talent.
Later, bassist Ron Carter performed ahead of his headlining act with Herbie Hancock on Sunday, playing with his Foursight Quartet. They delivered a seamless stream of consciousness of jazz music, barely ever pausing. This was just jazz, and it took about 45 minutes for the players to pause and for Carter to introduce the band.
As they wrapped up, Carter delivered the bass solo he's now becoming known for, with "You Are My Sunshine" unfolding into J.S. Bach's "Prelude to Cello Suite No. 1" for a bit, before being reconstructed into the country standard inflected with slapping sounds, Carter's technical mastery of his instrument on full display. He repeated the solo with Hancock on Sunday.
The weekend also included powerful female voices delivering meaningful messages, either through music or spoken word. They included Meshell Ndegeocello, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Aja Monet and Brittany Davis. All but Salvant were appearing for the first time at the festival.
Ndegeocello, the MJF 2026 commissioned artist, offered few words of introduction to her set on the main stage on Saturday evening, letting the music speak for itself.
"I''m just going to play some music," she said by way of introduction.
Later, she said, "This festival lives in my mind as a video of all the shows I've watched in the past, so it's really an honor to be here."
She thanked all those who came before, specifically naming Carter and Hancock.
Ndegeocello saved her commanding commissioned piece, "America 250," for the end of the set. Explaining her inspiration for the two-part piece, in part coming from a story in the Atlantic about the "Star Spangled Banner," she added, "I'm Black, so it's a complicated story."
The second headliner of Saturday night, Salvant, delivered an entertaining set, combining some poignant songs with humorous ones, ending with the impactful "Black Wing and Silver Hue," from the Greek tragedy Agamemnon. It is a violent song about war, but ends on the line, "Batter, batter the doom-drum, but believe there'll be better."
Apologizing for ending on a dark tune, Salvant said the times called for it. As she repeated the last line, her band joined in with the chant. They turned to the audience to join them, in what became another impactful moment, following Ndegeocello's moving piece about America earlier in the evening.
On Sunday, spoken word artist Monet, reading her poetry as her band accompanied her, opened with her poem, "The Devil You Know."
One excerpt: "Vote / With the way you love / A gut singing soft city sleep dreaming of protest / The ballot /T he ballot in not a bullet / But it can be a border or a bridge..."
The eclectic mix of old and new at the festival included another moment that could only happen at MJF: The pairing of bestselling author Amy Tan, 74, with jazz pianist Joey Alexander, 23, for a standing-room only performance on Sunday. Tan read from her successful nonfiction Backyard Bird Chronicles with Alexander improvising on the piano as she spoke.
The first-ever combination of literature and jazz, according to Jason Olaine, who booked this year's acts along with Gerald Clayton, came about because of his long friendship with Tan. He originally introduced Tan to Alexander when he was just a young teen and she went on to become a mentor and supporter of the pianist.
On Sunday, fans enjoyed tenor saxophonist and flutist Charles Lloyd who celebrated the 60th anniversary of his album Forest Flower, recorded live at MJF in 1966, with a performance.
That was followed by Hancock and Carter, who played a stripped-down set, just the two on stage, Hancock at the piano and Carter with his bass. It was a tribute to Miles Davis on the occasion of what would have been his 100th birthday, the last two remaining musicians alive who played with the iconic trumpet player.
Yet another tribute during the festival was by saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, who played a set with his band to honor his iconic father, John Coltrane, during what would have been his 100th year.
The festival featured a diverse playlist with around 74 acts. They included Christone "Kingfish" Ingram and his band playing the blues, Mariachi Herencia de México and the Eddie Palmieri Experience, featuring stellar performers paying tribute to the dynamic Latin fusion artist who died last year.