SUMMER has long been the high season for jazz festivals in New York—there were three, running almost simultaneously, in June—but the fall just might belong to California. Consider that the venerable Monterey Jazz Festival takes place next weekend, from Sept. 17 to 19. Or that the San Francisco Jazz Festival, up the coast, begins the following week, with concerts running through November. Then toss in a promising newcomer this year: the Angel City Jazz Fest, in Los Angeles the first week of October.
If all that doesn't add up to a critical mass, it's fodder, at least, for coastal bragging rights.
The Monterey Jazz Festival, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007, is the prevailing anchor for West Coast jazz pride. That remains true this year even if the headliners mostly hail from elsewhere—like the Boston area, in the case of the drummer Roy Haynes and the pianist Chick Corea, who play together in the Freedom Band. (Among the other headliners: the pianist Ahmad Jamal, from Pittsburgh, and the singer Dianne Reeves, originally from Detroit.)
A few artists booked at Monterey will later appear on the season-long concert series that makes up the San Francisco Jazz Festival: the saxophonist Chris Potter, with Underground, his jazz-funk group (Sept. 25); the cosmopolitan young singer Gretchen Parlato (Oct. 22); and Mr. Haynes, with his Fountain of Youth Band (Nov. 6). The festival's nonprofit parent organization, SFJazz, has big ambitions—notably, plans for a multimillion-dollar new building—and so the sweep of its programming, ostensibly with something for everyone, makes sense.
If all that doesn't add up to a critical mass, it's fodder, at least, for coastal bragging rights.
The Monterey Jazz Festival, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007, is the prevailing anchor for West Coast jazz pride. That remains true this year even if the headliners mostly hail from elsewhere—like the Boston area, in the case of the drummer Roy Haynes and the pianist Chick Corea, who play together in the Freedom Band. (Among the other headliners: the pianist Ahmad Jamal, from Pittsburgh, and the singer Dianne Reeves, originally from Detroit.)
A few artists booked at Monterey will later appear on the season-long concert series that makes up the San Francisco Jazz Festival: the saxophonist Chris Potter, with Underground, his jazz-funk group (Sept. 25); the cosmopolitan young singer Gretchen Parlato (Oct. 22); and Mr. Haynes, with his Fountain of Youth Band (Nov. 6). The festival's nonprofit parent organization, SFJazz, has big ambitions—notably, plans for a multimillion-dollar new building—and so the sweep of its programming, ostensibly with something for everyone, makes sense.
