Monterey Jazz Festival celebrates 40 years in Japan – and China could be the next stop
As the festival in California marks its 61st anniversary with artists Norah Jones and Herbie Hancock, its sister event in Noto, Japan, celebrated 40 years; organisers hope China will be next
Monterey, California and Noto, Japan are nearly 9,000 miles (14,484 kilometres) but they have a shared passion: jazz.
Both coastal cities – picturesque, with their individual versions of fisherman’s wharf – Monterey and Noto annually each host flagship jazz festivals that draw thousands of visitors. Every year a kaleidoscope of jazz music explodes in around-the-clock concerts by artists from all over the world.
This month the Monterey Jazz Festival in California marks its 61st annual event with international artists including Norah Jones and Herbie Hancock. Its sister festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival Japan, just celebrated its 40th year drawing a record crowd of 6,000 in Noto during the day long event.
In some ways Monterey, with a year-round population of 30,000 and a rough 130-mile (209-km) drive south of San Francisco, seems like an unlikely place for a premiere jazz festival. But Monterey, launched in 1958, remains the world’s longest consecutively run jazz festival. Every year it is held at the Monterey Fair Grounds and draws over 40,000 over three days.
But how did jazz, which some would argue is American as apple pie and baseball, make its way from Monterey to Noto?
The birth of Monterey Jazz Festival Japan began with friendships. Monterey Jazz Festival’s founder Jimmy Lyons, a jazz radio broadcaster based in San Francisco, had connections and networks with jazz artists internationally including Japan.
