What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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10 WHAT'S UP! MARCH 24-30, 2019 FAQ Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour WHEN — 2 p.m. March 31 WHERE — Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville COST — $10-$37 INFO — 443-5600, waltonarts center.org, monterey jazzfestival.org History In The Making JOCELYN MURPHY NWA Democrat-Gazette W hen you listen to the stories about [legends] Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter and John Coltrane and all those guys when they were younger hanging out, this is very much that. This is very much a historic stepping stone for all of us — for jazz in general, for us as musicians, for us as artists, for people coming to watch us." Christian Sands is the music director and pianist for the fifth year of the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour, coming March 31 to Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville. Sands joins a lineup of some of the most critically acclaimed, Grammy-winning and Grammy- nominated jazz musicians of their generation. The tour's fifth incarnation is in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the original MJF on Tour — the previous national tours taking place in 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2016 — and is unique in makeup and influences, Sands reveals. "To have a group like this with musicians who are currently affecting the way the music is, but also will affect all of it more intently later on as well, these are the young stars of jazz. It's really fun, and it's a learning experience," Sands explains. Where previous tours have utilized a mix of up-and-comers and seasoned musicians from the genre, the 2019 tour comprises all impressive musicians in their late 20s and early 30s, as well as an equal balance of men and women. "It's not just an all-star band. There has been that in the past, but this particular one, there is a certain direction we're all going in. Even if it's different branches off of the jazz tree, there's still a certain direction we're all moving toward. And I think that's a very distinct sound and distinct message that we have, versus any other Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour band that has been presented before." The first tour hit the road in 2008 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Monterey Jazz Festival. Still held at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in California where the festival debuted in 1958, MJF is the longest-running jazz festival in the world. The lineup of this year's tour reflects the festival's mission of presenting the diverse, international and inspiring future of jazz. "When people always say jazz is typically for the older crowd, I always tell them, that's just because the older crowd kept it, and the younger crowd hasn't been introduced to it yet," Sands muses. "Because that's what it's all about — introduction and showing people what the music is. Because it hasn't stopped. Music is always changing, always moving in a different direction, in several directions. So, there's a type of jazz for every single person in the world, whether you like trap music or pop music or rock music, jazz is available for every single person of every single generation." One of the most exciting parts of the tour for the musicians is how their varied backgrounds and influences are affecting each other's music as they collaborate. At each of the tour's 26 performances across the country, the musicians will cover traditional jazz, avant garde jazz, ballads, up-tempo music and originals from each of the six members. "To be fans of the other musicians in the band," is thrilling, Sands says of adding their talents to his own works. "To have Cécile McLorin Salvant sing something that I didn't even think had words to it, or to add horns, or to have (saxophonist) Melissa Aldana solo on a song that originally was trio, it is interesting and really fun to play and experiment with the music that's already been created." Sands also reveals how each performance will vary from city to city as the musicians tap into the history and culture and audience of each place. But no matter where audiences experience the show, Sands promises a night of immense talent, aural drama, and an exciting peek at the future of jazz. "We're all about keeping the tradition, but we're also about moving it forward in different types of ways." New generation of jazz celebrates the craft The fifth incarnation of the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour marks the 10th anniversary of the first tour and the 60th anniversary of the festival itself. The current lineup highlights the future of jazz with drummer Jamison Ross (from left), vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, Melissa Aldana on tenor saxophone, pianist Christian Sands, Bria Skonberg on trumpet and bassist Yasushi Nakamura. Photo courtesy R.R. Jones FAYETTEVILLE