Under the Radar

JAZZ IS BROAD, INCLUSIVE AND SOMETIMES ELUSIVE. From blues and ragtime to French dance hall sounds, house, hip – hop and even country, the musicians constantly defining jazz interact with the world and bring their experiences into the fold. While there are hundreds of acts at Monterey Jazz Festival and all are of importance, here are a few to see if you want to understand how jazz remains a living, growing, ever-changing genre.

Jane Bunnett and Maqueque

Although a Latin influence began seeping into jazz around the 1940s, Bunnett has peered through the reaches of Afro-Cuban melodies, listened to the cultural beat and brought that – the rhythm of Cuban life – into a pioneering sound. It’s not a fusion of styles, but an expression of music as something both universal and indicative. Bunnett performs with Maqueque, a group of Cuban women who are not only young, but also equally audacious.

Friday, Sept. 21. Dizzy’s Den. 7:30pm.

Knower

This Los Angeles group pushes jazz far into the future. Their sound has been described not as otherworldly, but rather as an “off-world experience.” That means Knower – headed by drummer Louis Cole and singer Genevieve Artadi – is risky, imaginative and boundless. They play a ripping funk paired to a rich and intense melodic structure and flaring vocals that devour the borders between hot funk, acid jazz and jazz itself. And they are visually dynamic, gaining a following on YouTube numbering in the millions.

Friday, Sept. 21. Night Club. 8:30pm.

Cameron Graves

To call Cameron Graves a pianist is to refer to Tom Ford as a tailor or I.M. Pei a builder. “Musical genius” is the line Kamasi Washington laid on Graves and his work. He is a founding member of West Coast Get Down and continues to break the genre-blurring rules. Blending salsa and Latin jazz makes sense. Dropping a beat from contemporary and hip-hop – it works easily. But Graves and Get Down bust through rock, hip-hop, classical and even death metal to find their style of jazz. It is revolutionary, yet entirely within the ever-evolving spirit of jazz.

Friday, Sept. 21. Night Club. 10pm.

Oscar Hernández & The Spanish Harlem Orchestra

While salsa captures the tone of jazz, rock or funk and returns it to an intricate and playful dance, Hernández and The Spanish Harlem Orchestra take salsa and inform it with New York roots and contemporary Latin jazz. It is the first Monterey Jazz Festival salsa commission arrangement, and backed by the world’s top salsa orchestra and a three-time Grammy winner, it promises to be groundbreaking.

Saturday, Sept. 22. Jimmy Lyons Stage. 3:40pm.

Gabriel Royal

Gabriel Royal’s music is from the past – not the jazz past, but the lost era before social media. His is a contemplative style, with lyrics drifting over a lone cello. The songs are not meant to set a crowd in motion or to be understood in the moment. This is jazz reduced to thought, to notions, to a style that eludes definition but gathers around you and fixes you. When you get it, Royal’s sound is powerful and avant garde.

Sunday, Sept. 23. Garden Stage. 2:30pm.