Taking advantage of the extended time I’m spending on California’s mid-coast, in late September 2022 I attended the 65th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival. Its inaugural year was in 1958, and it is the oldest jazz festival in the country. Some of the people who played that first year include Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Max Roach, and Gerry Mulligan. To say I was excited to be a part of this tradition would be putting it mildly.

Tickets were sold out by the time I knew I could attend, but after the great experience I had in Telluride, I signed up to be a volunteer.

Following Zoom training on Wednesday, I was off on the 3.5-hour drive to Monterey on Friday morning. My first shift at The Premier Club was at 6:00 that evening.

I camped at the Monterey Elks Lodge, a midcentury modern gem in the heart of Monterey, which included showers and a pool.

As festival parking is $50 per day, I left Vinny Van Go-Go at the lodge and took Uber to the event, which was three miles away. It turned out to be the wisest and most economical choice, costing me $25 on average per day to get there and back.

Walking into the Monterey County Fairgrounds, I was instantly struck by its crumbling infrastructure. The buildings were constructed around the same time as the first MJF, and they have all seen better days. I learned that the county is hosting off-track betting there now, which is a license to print money, but they certainly aren’t plowing it back into the facilities. There is talk that future MJFs may not take place at the fairgrounds because of the county’s insistence on higher fees. It would be a shame to alter the plan after 65 years, but a more up-to-date venue would be nice too.

Despite the politics, I was on hallowed ground; at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, two years before Woodstock, Jimi Hendrix burned a guitar on stage for the first time.

I was surprised by the intimate size of the space. There are four stages, but you can walk from one end of the festival to the other in about ten minutes, compared to Jazz Fest in New Orleans, which is held on a horse track.

Capacity is limited, giving the festival an intimate feel. Approximately 20,000 people attend MJF daily, compared to around 100,000 at Jazz Fest. As a result, ticket prices are higher than you might expect. Daily grounds admission includes the three outdoor stages – The Courtyard Stage, The Garden Stage, and The West End Stage.

A separate ticket is required for admission to the arena, where the most well-known acts perform. Add in the $50 parking and $150 for Premier Club, and the total MJF experience can cost up to  $600 per person per day.

Given the proximity of Pebble Beach, Pacific Grove, and Carmel By-The-Sea, I assumed that festivalgoers would be rich white folks. I was thrilled to be wrong. About half in attendance were People of Color, and for many, going to MJF was a long-standing yearly tradition. I saw people wearing festival tee shirts going back to the 1980’s. Other than those sporting festival-specific merch, people showed up and showed out; they were dressed to the nines. If I am fortunate enough to return to MJF, I’m really going to have to crank up my attire game.

Over at the Premier Club, admission included lunches and dinners prepared by guest chefs, snacks, a no-host bar, dedicated restroom facilities, and concerts simulcast from the arena stage. As a volunteer I was given a free T-shirt, and I worked four hours per day on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. My duties ranged from setting tables to rolling silverware set ups, taking tickets, and passing out wristbands.

Volunteer wristbands do not include admission to the Arena Stage, but after my shifts I was allowed to stay if I changed into a different shirt. I bought a cocktail and watched the simulcasts of several main stage performances.

Ravi Coltrane, John Coltrane’s son, was there. Dave Brubeck‘s sons played both “Take Five” and “Blue Rondo.”

Clint Eastwood’s son, Kyle, did a set. You get the idea. The festival upholds traditional jazz concepts and is heavy on classic jazz performances, but given the number of Baby Boomers in attendance, that probably can’t last forever. Other performances included dancers, acid jazz, jazz fusion, mariachi bands, and more. Here are the posts I made to Facebook each day, illustrating the astounding variety.

Alas, I could not do it all, so here is the lineup for 2022. If you are interested in new talent, I highly recommend Samara Joy, Veronica Swift, Butcher Brown, and the Emmet Cohen Trio.

In 2022 I volunteered at both the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and the Monterey Jazz Festival – a great way to save money, make a contribution, meet new people, and feel like a part of the community right away, especially when traveling alone. I’m thinking Newport, Rhode Island is next, for both the folk festival in July, and their jazz festival in August.