Monterey Jazz Festival 50th Anniversary Tour to be held in Center for the Arts

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo will present the Monterey Jazz Festival 50th Anniversary Tour at 8 p.m. on March 11 in the Mainstage Theatre in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus. The performance is sponsored by Jeffrey M. Goldfarb & Associates.

Heralded as a meeting of three generations of jazz masters, the Monterey Jazz Festival (MJF) 50th Anniversary Band feature the leaders of the past, present and future with Terence Blanchard on trumpet, James Moody on saxophone, musical director Benny Green on piano, Derrick Hodge on bass and Kendrick Scott on drums. Vocalist Nnenna Freelon will also be a featured member of the group on its 54 date tour.

Each member of the 50th Anniversary Band has a special relationship with the Monterey Jazz Festival, and has a commitment to the festival and the cultivation of jazz audiences worldwide. Saxophonist James Moody made his first appearance at MJF in the early 1960s with Dizzy Gillespie; Benny Green participated in MJF's educational programs as a teenager in the 1970s; Terence Blanchard was MJF's artist-in-residence in 2007; Nnenna Freelon has been performing at MJF since the mid-1990s; Kendrick Scott was a three-time member of the Berklee-Monterey Quartet from 1999-2002 and Derrick Hodge has been a member of Terence Blanchard's bands that have performed at Monterey.

"We wanted to create a lasting legacy for our 50th anniversary," says Monterey Jazz Festival General Manager Tim Jackson. "To kick it off, we've assembled some of the masters of jazz who have a close relationship with the festival to carry the MJF name across America. We've had all-star groups who have performed at Monterey in the past, but they've never gone on a multiple-week tour in the U.S., so this is an historic occasion for us. All the members represent the spirit and educational enthusiasm of the Monterey Jazz Festival that we'd like to present to the country...plus they're an incredible band, they were mesmerizing at the 50th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival in September 2007. They embody the past, present and future of jazz history."

Each of the shows will feature a selection of standards and favorites from all periods of jazz, including the Tin-Pan Alley, bebop and modern eras. For more details on the band and tour visit http://www.montereyjazzfestival.org/MJF50-band.

Tickets for Monterey Jazz Festival 50th Anniversary Tour are $30, students $15. Tickets are available from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday in the Center for the Arts Box Office and all Ticketmaster locations, including ticketmaster.com. To charge tickets, call 852-5000; in Canada, call 1-416-870-8000. For group sales, call 645-6771. For more information, call 645-ARTS. Students (of any school) must present valid student ID at the Center Box Office to receive discount.