Jazz travelers:
Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour bringing spirit of storied festival to many locales
Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour brings rising stars of genre to Troy.
Bria Skonberg’s renown is growing in the jazz world as a trumpet player, singer, composer and educator on the international scene. She’s critically acclaimed, based on her clear and resonant voice and a warm, burning style on the horn that has echoes of the swing era. The British Columbia native, now based in New York City, has a very busy solo career.
But she bubbled with anticipation recently at her opportunity to join the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour, a group of young musicians featuring Cecile Mclorin Salvant, Melissa Aldana, Christian Sands, Yasushi Nakamura and Jamison Ross. The band makes a stop at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on Tuesday. The 31-day tour has 26 concerts in 16 states and Alberta, Canada, ending in the middle of April.
Skonberg got involved through Tim Jackson, who works with the Monterey festival, and Danny Melnick of Absolutely Live Entertainment, who produces this tour and also the Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival.
“I’ve worked for those guys in a couple different capacities,” she said. “They invited me to be a part of it. I knew a few people who were invited. Of course, I wanted to be a part of it. It’s an awesome musical opportunity.”
Skonberg is no stranger to the area, having performed at the Saratoga festival, as well as being featured last year at the Canfield Casino in the inaugural Jazz Fest Friday on the eve of the festival. (“I really enjoyed that. It’s such a beautiful, cool venue,” she said. “We had a blast there.”)
The entire Monterey band is outstanding. Salvant is one of the finest singers on the scene, having won best jazz vocal album Grammy Awards for her last three releases — “The Window” (2018), “Dreams and Daggers” (2017) and “For One to Love” (2015). Saxophonist Melissa Aldana of Santiago, Chile, in 2013 became the first female and the first South American ever to win the Thelonious Monk Competition for sax. She has four albums as a leader.
Sands started playing professionally at 10 and his reputation in the jazz world is soaring. He has performed with bassist Christian Mcbride, among others. Ross, the drummer, also sings. He was nominated for a best jazz vocal album Grammy in 2015 for his debut album, “Jamison.” And bassist Yasushi Nakamura has performed with Wynton Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Hank Jones, Dave Douglas and others.
“The first time we played was at the Monterey Jazz Festival (2018). We met there and made our debut at the festival,” said Skonberg. “This will be he first time we’ve met since then … Some places I’ll be returning to. Some places I’ll be discovering for the first time, which is always an exciting part of this lifestyle.”
She has known most of the band for some years now, from different encounters in her musical travels. Rehearsals were limited to a couple sessions held this week, but the musicians used modern technology to prepare. They shared charts online and recommended tunes one another to check out. “It’s very cool we can do this with technology these days. Everybody’s a busy touring musician and we live in different areas,” she said.
Skonberg will sing some, along with Salvant and Ross, but the tour is geared to showcasing all of their strengths.
“Everybody brings something to the table. So there is at least one composition by everybody in the group. Then we reimagine old songs. I did a song in September that was a tribute to a female trumpet player from the 1930s, Valaida Snow (“High Hat Trumpet & Rhythm”). Everybody in the group appreciates and understands the history of where the music came from, but also wants to bring it forward,” she said.
“I think we’ll tackle a few standards, but we’ll find a way to put our own spin on it. Based on our own influences. Jamison is from the South. Cecile has an international background. Melissa’s from Chile. I’m from Canada. All of us live in New York and came to New York to be students of jazz. But we have very different backgrounds, which is kind of a cool gumbo, if you will.”
As for the trumpeter herself, her own band will get back to touring later this year. A new album is anticipated for release in the fall. She conducts workshops across the country for people from kindergarten to university level and beyond. Her band does outreach for Jazz at Lincoln Center in inner city schools and she is developing programs for the Louis Armstrong House in Queens. “It’s developing a educational center as well. That’s been really neat.” She’ll run a band camp for adults in New York soon after the Monterey tour is done.
Meanwhile, her focus is making meaningful music with her new all-star mates.
“They’re established,” she said. “All those people are artists. It’s cool to celebrate those things as well . ... I’m excited to see what we come up with together. I’m practicing every day, I can tell you that.”