This year’s Newport Beach Jazz Party should be more festive the ever as it celebrates both Valentine’s Day and President’s Day weekend at the Marriott Hotel Newport Beach in Orange County, California. Promoted by Joe Rothman and John McClure, this annual party, along with one on Labor Day, are among the longest running and most successful of this type event in the world. The two entrepreneurs started 12 years ago at the Irvine Marriott, with Newport added three years later. The upcoming will …

Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Cassandra Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, Kurt Elling all these jazz greats and more will appear at the 51st annual Monterey Jazz Festival. The three-day weekend will be held at the Monterey Fairgrounds. Besides the large outdoor Jimmy Lyons Arena Stage, musical events will be held in four other venues on the grounds Dizzy’s Den, the Bill Berry Stage, the outdoor Garden Stage and the intimate Coffee House Gallery. In addition, the majorit …

The 53rd Annual Monterey Jazz Festival will feature a variety of jazz and blues greats with a total of 500 artist, performing on eight stages at the Monterey Fairgrounds. Hardliners Include Harry Connick, Jr., Dianne Reeves, Freedom Band with Chick Corea, Kenny Garrett, Christian McBride, Roy Haynes,Ahmad Jamal, Roy Hargrove Big Band and Billy Childs with the Kronos Quartet. As well, the festival will include many international jazz groups and musicians, such as Septeto Nacional de Cuba, L …

This is the best of times for jazz musician Ken Peplowski, renowned clarinet and tenor sax player. So good in fact, it was difficult for him to find time to talk by phone in June. Having just returned from playing dates in Italy, he was in the midst of performing in New York’s JVC Jazz Festival, and cutting a CD with the Bill Charlap Trio. "It never rains, but it pours...but it is great to be busy," he says. Indeed, and there is no respite in sight. He will soon be on his way to more festival …

Jack Sheldon, a beacon for some 60 years on the West Coast jazz scene, is having a very good year. At 76, the celebrated trumpet player, vocalist, bandleader and TV personality, is the subject of a new documentary film, while his jazz career continues to accelerate. He was there when the so-called West Coast Jazz, a cooled-down version of hard bop was born. He calls himself a "survivor" from the period. "Only a few of us are left. Bud Shank is another," he says. Jack and alto sax player Shank …