Bassist

Monterey Jazz Festival brings together 20 of the most accomplished high school jazz musicians from across the country to form the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra (NGJO), directed by GRAMMY-nominated pianist and composer Gerald Clayton. Established in 1971, tenure in this year's NGJO culminates in a main stage performance in September at the Monterey Jazz Festival.

Next Generation Jazz Orchestra Combo

Monterey County Fairgrounds

More than five decades after being named DownBeat’s 1967 Jazz Artist of the Year, saxophonist, flutist, and composer Charles Lloyd received that very same honor in 2023, affirming his vital presence in music. One of the first jazz artists to sell a million copies of a recording, Lloyd celebrates his 86th birthday with the release of The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow— one of his most significant recordings to date. The NEA Jazz Master and legendary bandleader returns to Spoleto at the helm of a remarkable ensemble, including pianist and Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz, Jason Moran, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Brian Blade.

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Charles Lloyd Sky Quartet

College of Charleston

Grammy Award-winning jazz pianist Brad Mehldau and his trio have a nearly 20-year history, touring around the world — often performing on stage at Symphony Center — and recording six highly praised albums together. Mehldau consistently presents audiences with an intense live experience, embodying the essence of jazz exploration, classical romanticism and pop allure.

Brad Mehldau Trio

Symphony Center

Among the most distinctive voices of his generation, Grammy-winning jazz pianist Brad Mehldau traffics in extremes. His music weaves together a host of seeming contradictions—a passion for in-the-moment discovery balanced by a penchant for narrative and structure; a sensibility prone to heady abstraction and dense counterpoint but also drawn to the tunefulness, simplicity, and directness of a delicious pop song. With 12 trio recordings to his name over more than 25 years, Mehldau has entered the canon of great jazz piano trio leaders, and here is joined by longtime bandmates, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard, for an evening of probing original compositions and expertly reimagined jazz standards. “A marvel of contemporary jazz. The ever-empathic Mehldau trio…never stops fizzing with life” (Jazzwise).

University of California, Berkeley

“Among the most accomplished living practitioners of the jazz tenor saxophone” (NPR Music), Joshua Redman presents a celebration of the power of three! Saxophone, bass, and drums make up a classic trio format playing compositions from three of Redman’s favorite musicians—Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, and Wayne Shorter. Following the music wherever it leads, Redman and his bandmates breathe new improvisational life into works Redman considers “not just relevant but foundational.” Redman is joined onstage by Larry Grenadier, bass, and Marcus Gilmore, drums. Discover your favorites anew with 3×3!

Joshua Redman: 3×3

Lensic Performing Arts Center

Tenor titan, bandleader, and composer Charles Lloyd has played with countless legends from Cannonball Adderley to Howlin’ Wolf. In a rare appearance to celebrate his 85th birthday, he visits The Soraya with two of his trios featuring very special guests guitarist Bill Frisell, pianist Gerald Clayton, and double bassist Larry Grenadier, among others.

Charles Lloyd 85th Birthday Celebration

Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts

With her vocal prowess, it’s no surprise that Dianne Reeves has received five Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album, an honorary doctorate of music from Julliard, and was recently named a 2018 National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master – the highest honor the United States bestows on jazz artists. The albums in her Blue Note discography are among the finest jazz vocal albums every made, featuring side players who are all giants in their own rights — Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clarke, Tony Williams, Freddie Hubbard, and many others. To close this special 50th Anniversary concert, Dianne will be accompanied by her quintet and by a full orchestra conducted by multi-Grammy winner Vince Mendoza.
The SJW 50th Anniversary Band is truly a superband of musicians who have shaped the sound of jazz in recent decades. The astonishing artists of this ensemble share one thing in common: time at SJW as young jazz musicians. Now they’re going to be raising a glass — and their horns and voices — to celebrate 50 years of the Stanford Jazz Workshop.

Dianne Reeves with Quintet and Orchestra / SJW 50th Anniversary Band

Stanford University

An eagerly-anticipated annual tradition at SJW, this concert presents some of the greatest artists in jazz, performing in combinations familiar and unfamiliar, delivering performances of unrivalled intensity, passion, and excitement. Among the artists you’ll hear are Kenny Barron, George Cables, Peter Bernstein, Rufus Reid, Larry Grenadier, Taylor Eigsti, and many others.

SJW All-Star Jam

Touring regularly with trumpeter Terrance Blanchard’s band, Charles Altura is a singular new voice of jazz guitar. Adventurous yet melodic, Altura’s own music has elements of many of the great artists with whom he’s toured and recorded, such as the late Chick Corea, Tom Harrell, and fellow SJW alumni Ambrose Akinmusire and Dayna Stephens.

Peter Bernstein gave the classic organ trio format new life as a member of the Larry Goldings Trio in the early ’90s, and his mastery of the idiom and the guitar give him a style all his own. A virtuoso’s virtuoso, Bernstein’s music never fails to excite and delight the audience.

Charles Altura and Peter Bernstein featuring Larry Grenadier, Eric Harland and Johnathan Blake

James Francies has a talent that comes along only once in a generation. A graduate of the renowned Houston High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and an alumnus of SJW, in what seemed like the blink of an eye, James had joined the Pat Metheny Side-Eye trio, toured with Chris Potter, performed with R&B superstars such as Lauryn Hill and José James, appeared with The Roots on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon alongside his mentor and friend, Questlove — and released his Blue Note debut, Flight.

George Cables one of the true greats of jazz piano. He has the touch and swing of Oscar Peterson, the harmonic inventiveness of Herbie Hancock, the strength of McCoy Tyner, and yet his sound is unmistakably his own. George spent his formative years playing with saxophone giants Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, and Joe Henderson, and his collaborations with alto star Art Pepper, vibes virtuoso Bobby Hutcherson, and trumpet masters Woody Shaw and Freddie Hubbard yielded recordings that are on every critic’s must-have list. George is going to deliver a performance you won’t want to miss.

Larry Grenadier

Bassist

Events

Past events

Sep 28, 2024

Next Generation Jazz Orchestra Combo · Monterey Jazz Festival

May 31, 2024

Charles Lloyd Sky Quartet · Spoleto Festival USA

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