LIVE FROM MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL, PT. 2

LIVE FROM MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL, PT. 2: STAR-STUDDED RUMORS, NANCY WILSON, BRUNCHIN' ON THE WHARF

Okay so the rumors were wrong about Clint Eastwood joining Nancy Wilson for Saturday afternoon's panel at the Monterey Jazz Festival. The legend is supposed to actually shoot down from Carmel-by-the-sea for Sunday afternoon.

No problem because the festival was jumping anyway!

A LOT more people came out, as expected, for the full day's events. After a leisurely brunch we hit the grounds where we saw a bit more diversity in the age demo and wonderful diversity race-wise. Everyone was eating from the variety of food stands, unfolding chairs brought from home, spreading out blankets, ordering glasses of wine and basically getting their jam on.

Highlights of the day included the famed Maceo Parker performing at the Garden Stage, which was packed! It's so nice to see these legends in such an informal environment, and it's great to see them having just as much fun performing as the crowd is listening and watching!T

he line started forming for a special Tom Scott tribute while the Parker performance was going on. Reaching almost half of the festival fairgrounds, we decided best bests were to select the "Dizzy's Den" venue and watch Maraca, which would turn out to be a fabulous Latin jazz group -- so talented and energetic we could hardly believe it. Very much worth the wait - and let the A-List tell you, there was one.

Scooping up some kettle corn to pass the time, we made a bee line for a pretty decent place in line and ended up making it in!

About 45 minutes later, we left to hit the far end of the Festival to check out the lounge all the while checking out the shops, huge Sharp mobile presentation truck and more, along the way!

Oh, we did end up finding the Internet cafe but with about 10 computers all eternally booked, we knew we would be sending in this report from our own laptop later.

The lounge was a nice little break from the regular scene of the festival. Seemed someone finally realized that a bit more hip, young vibe needs to be injected into the Festival in order to keep its relevance. While a noble effort, there still seems a bit more road to travel.

The lighting in this tented venue was a bit too harsh to be cool, the elderly bartender showing long-wrinkled cleavage not really adding to the ambiance and the DJ hitting an almost not quite jazzanova-style/rare grooves vibe which later gave way to an electro-jazz group, which, if it had been five years ago, would have been terribly progressive. Though spirits raised and some people hitting the dance floor, the lounge is the spot from which next growth of this festival could well-occur if actually booked by those with "feet on the ground", so to speak. Also something that could infuse the festival is the booking of international artists as well. One gets the feeling that this is a bit of an oldies but goodies scenario, not much discovery but certainly expertly delivering that which is standard.

We made our way from the lounge to grab a tea from one of the stands and survey the area as we got ready for our girl Nancy Wilson.

Soon enough, it was time - time for disappointment. Not ever having seen her live but holding her in high regard from not only rocking one on Donna Karan's best dresses on a cover back in the 80's as much as her vocal talent, we were excited to say the least. Time to brave the cold night air of this seaside down and listen to a jazz great in open air. And listen we did: to so much dialogue in between each track that we weren't quite sure whether she was shooting a documentary or not. It was an evening of "overdone" - over talking, over-emotion of facial expressions, over-communication in general - and a real shame.

Wilson commented on everything from her Grammys to the fact that new artists should be paid for showcases (a noble thought by the way which would have been even more noble followed by her announcement of a Wilson fund to help with that rather than mere observation). It seemed to be an evening of homage to Cannonball Adderly and her rendition of "Sleeping Bee" was nice, but we just don't think people had the patience for all the dialogue given the venue, weather, seats and non-traditional aspect of that type of performance.Sad but true.

We finish the night by peeping the Matt Wilson, Bill Frisell duo, hit the shuttle exhausted and head for the hotel room.

Waking up leisurely on Sunday (hey we could get used to this) and knowing that we did not intend to zero into anyone until Jaimie Cullim at 2pm, we took advantage of the time to check out Monterey downtown (not too much happening for a Sunday even though there are a few stores and restaurants. We looked for a used/rare bookstore, which ended up being closed??? on a Sunday) but at the Fisherman's Wharf, we found a bit of life from the sea otters playing around in the marina (pictured) to glass bottom boat rides being offered to all the clam chowder soup in a bread bowl and fish and chips you could eat! Perfect given the fact that as the fog burnt off, the early afternoon there became more and more beautiful as we eat outside and then sipped an espresso.

All left just enough time to hit the Festival for the afternoon's events (particularly gonna check out the Hammond Organ jump off) and Herbie Hancock.

Stay tuned, Y'all......