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Behind the Scenes at Monterey, Part 2: The Hard-Working Staff and All That Jazz

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Yesterday, I posted the first of a two-part interview with Timothy Orr. Monterey Jazz Festival marketing associate since 2006, Orr oversees much of the media/publicity effort surrounding the event, which is set for Sept. 18-20 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds.

If you’ve never attended the festival, make 2009 the year. As I’ve previously noted, there is more to the Monterey experience than just seeing the world’s top jazz artists in one of North America’s most scenic locales. There is also the inimitable Monterey vibe – you stroll the fairgrounds and feel not just at home but as if you’re among friends and fellow true believers. With all the bleak news recently regarding the jazz audience, Monterey is nothing short of a tonic – attend just one of the three days and you’re sure to go home feeling you have participated in a gathering of the faithful.



My connection with the festival stretches back 11 years (thank you, Ray and Marilyn) and with Orr about half that, to when he was associate director of University of the Pacific’s Brubeck Institute and I served as the arts and entertainment reporter at the local newspaper in Stockton.

Suffice it to say, you can expect a lot more MJF coverage in this space over the next four weeks. In the meantime, here’s the second half of my interview with Orr, this installment focusing on the talent at this year’s festival and what it’s like in these last few weeks to be inside the nation’s oldest, continually operating jazz festival. If you’ve never been and want to see some great video, click here.


Question:
What is the booking process like? I assume there are some hectic moments when issues of logistics, costs and balance must collide. A single person is juggling all this or a committee?

Orr: Tim Jackson is the artistic director and the general manager since 1992. The booking process begins when he decides on the artist-in-residence for the year and then things begin falling into place. He’ll have a pretty good idea about a natural theme, like an anniversary. Our 50th was a good example of that. He’s very inclusive about the variety of groups but it all falls into the world of jazz, although we’ve had some interesting crossover groups in recent years – Bonnie Raitt, Los Lobos, Pete Seeger. It all fits into the theme of the year and the flavor of the music.

Obviously costs are a factor, but Tim handles this with aplomb and each year is really a separate animal that reflects the past, present and future of jazz. Booking takes place from November through February and we go public in late March. There’s a lot of history at Monterey and we have to uphold that legacy but push it into the future, so to speak. It’s a barometer of what’s happening on the music world. Sometimes, artists have last-minute changes and that’s always hectic, but it’s also exciting to navigate. Artists who are interested to find out what the process is like can go to our website.

Question: I know I come away from Monterey every year having had the experience of seeing not only legends but being surprised by little-known artists. Handicap, if you will, this year's festival and tell us who you think are those more obscure names that people should not miss.

Orr: Well, I think it’s impossible to see everyone, but this year, I’m really excited to see Vijay Iyer, Buffalo Collision, the Rodriguez Brothers, the Peter Erskine/Alan Pasqua Trio, Forro In The Dark and Jason Moran, who will be debut the MJF commission piece, “Feedback,” which is based on his impressions of the film about the Monterey Pop Festival from 1967. I don’t know if he is going to set the piano on fire and smash it, but that would be an interesting development.

Tim Jackson has a top 10 of artists that he recommends each year and some of them are the 2009 MJF All-Stars featuring Kenny Barron, Regina Carter, Kurt Elling and Russell Malone; Esperanza Spalding, who is in breakout mode right now; the legendary Pete Seeger, Raul Midon, Soulive with John Scofield, Joe Lovano’s Us Five and DJ Logic.

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