Let's face it: The Monterey Jazz Festival is as much about music as Mardi Gras is about religious observance.

NPR: Jazz, Alive and Well and Playing in Monterey

When I sit back and think over the life of my career, the first jazz festival I performed in was at the Monterey Jazz Festival in the early '60s.

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The Monterey Jazz Festival just wrapped up its 47th year of swinging by the sea, weathering the ebb and flow of interest in this indigenous American music and somehow continuing to prosper.

NPR: Jazz, Alive and Well and Playing in Monterey

He played at Woodstock and the 1967 Monterey Pop festival, and also collaborated with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and jazz saxophonist John Coltrane.

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