March 5, 2008; Monterey, CA; The Monterey Jazz Festival, a leader in jazz education since 1958 and a three-time winner of the JazzTimes Readers Poll for best festival, is pleased to present MJF's 2008 Artist-In-Residence, Christian McBride, in a special concert with his no-holds-barred A Christian McBride Situation with Jason Lindner, Dave Ellis and DJ Jahi Sundance at the historic Golden State Theatre in downtown Monterey on Thursday, April 3 at 8 PM.

Tickets go on sale on Monday, March 3 at 10 AM and are available through the MJF website, or by calling the MJF Ticket Office at 925-275-9255 from 10 AM to 2 PM on weekdays.

Tickets are priced at $25 for General Admission, $50 Gold Circle. Gold Circle tickets include an after-concert reception with the Grammy-winning artist.

The concert is a special prelude to the 4th Annual Next Generation Festival, sponsored by MJF. The weekend-long event includes the Festival’s longest-running educational event, the Annual National High School Jazz Competition, now in its 38th year. Featuring over fifty groups from nine states across the United States as well special groups from as Japan, Australia and the Czech Republic, the top big bands, combos and vocal ensembles will win cash awards and an invitation to perform at the 51st Annual Monterey Jazz Festival presented by Verizon, September 19-21, 2008.

A Christian McBride Situation, one of the bassist’s more free-wheeling groups, can feature a divergent array of talent from McBride’s wide circle of musical cohorts. Designed as a loose and changing palate of sounds, Christian describes “A Situation” as being a stand-in for his regular quartet, but with the agreement that an anything-goes ethos would prevail, deeply rooted in the spontaneous element--and not the repertory--of jazz. Included in the Situation will be saxophonist Dave Ellis, keyboardist Jason Lindner and DJ Jahi Sundance.

Christian McBride was named as the 2008 MJF Artist-In-Residence last November. His involvement with the Festival during the year will include Mr. McBride acting as a clinician and performer during the Next Generation Festival, mentoring students at the MJF Summer Jazz Camp in June 2008 and performing with his own groups and with the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra at the Monterey Jazz Festival presented by Verizon, September 19-21, 2008.

Christian McBride is a devoted jazz educator and mentor. He is the Artistic Director at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass summer program, the Co-Director of The Jazz Museum in Harlem, and is Creative Chair for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Past artistic director and residency positions include stints at the Henry Mancini and Brubeck Institutes, Berklee College of Music, and Stanford Jazz Workshop.

Tickets go on sale on Monday, March 3 at 10 AM and are available through the MJF website, or by calling the MJF Ticket Office at 925-275-9255 from 10 AM to 2 PM on weekdays.

The Golden State Theatre is located at 417 Alvarado Street in downtown Monterey, California, and has been recently restored to its stately and opulent 1926 glory, with beautiful frescos, gilded details and stained glass lighting. For more information on the Golden State Theatre, please visit www.goldenstatetheatre.com.

ABOUT THE NEXT GENERATION FESTIVAL
The genesis of the Next Generation Festival started in 1971 when Jimmy Lyons, founder and General Manager of the Monterey Jazz Festival, began presenting the winners of the California High School Jazz Band Competition at MJF. Over the years, some of the young musicians who have participated in what tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman describes as “the Superbowl of California high school jazz competitions” have gone on to become stars of their generation their own right: saxophonists Joshua Redman, Dave Koz and Dave Ellis, pianists Benny Green and Patrice Rushen, multi-instrumentalist Peter Apfelbaum, bassist Larry Grenadier and many more. In 2005, the competition was expanded to add more educational components and renamed the Next Generation Festival, and the High School All-Star Band morphed into the Next Generation Orchestra. Now in its fourth year, the NGF draws upon 38 years of educational experience, history and innovation to its expanding lineup and scope.

Starting with a modest $35,000 scholarship fund in 1970, the Monterey Jazz Festival now invests over $800,000 annually in jazz education through a variety of different programs which are a model of arts education for the entire nation. These hands-on, cutting-edge educational components include the Traveling Clinician and Latin Jazz Programs, with professional musicians visiting Monterey County schools to teach students how to play and improvise in jazz and Latin styles; the Artist-In-Residence Program, which brings a leading jazz performer to work with students throughout the year; the MJF Summer Jazz Camp, the MJF Instrument and Sheet Music Library, The Digital Music Education Project, the Next Generation Festival, the Monterey County High School All-Star-Band, the MJF Middle School Honor Band and MJF Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra.

ABOUT CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE
The Grammy Award winning bassist has been at the forefront of jazz since he emerged as part of the talented generation of players that took the genre by storm in the early 1990s. Born in 1972 in Philadelphia, Christian began playing electric bass at age 9, mentored by his father and great uncle. After studying both jazz and classical music at Philadelphia’s High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Christian attended the Juilliard School in New York City in 1989. Almost immediately upon his arrival in New York, McBride began working with saxophonist Bobby Watson's Horizon and started working in clubs with John Hicks, Kenny Barron, Larry Willis and Gary Bartz. After one year at Juilliard, McBride decided to leave school to tour with trumpeter Roy Hargrove. From that moment, McBride began a remarkable ascent to the top ranks of the music industry; many top jazz artists recognized his virtuoso status, such as trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, Superbass (with Ray Brown and John Clayton), Pat Metheny, Joshua Redman and

many others. During the 1990s, Christian recorded close to 150 albums as a sideman for such artists as Joe Henderson, Betty Carter, Roy Haynes, Benny Green, Kathleen Battle, Diana Krall, Dave Brubeck, Jimmy Smith, Joe Lovano, McCoy Tyner and George Duke, as well as appearing onscreen in Robert Altman's 1940s period film, Kansas City.

In the new century, McBride continued to expand his scope of live and recorded performances with Sting, George Duke, Chick Corea, Chris Botti, John Scofield, Jim Hall, and dozens more. In 2004, he won a Grammy Award for his participation on McCoy Tyner’s Illuminations, and undertook his first pop Musical Directorship for Carly Simon’s Christmas show featuring gospel royalty BeBe Winans. In 2006, McBride performed with the Godfather of Soul, James Brown at the Hollywood Bowl, and in 2007, he recorded with and acted as Musical Director for Queen Latifah; presented Charles Mingus’ “Epitaph” in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York; and performed with Sonny Rollins and Roy Haynes at a 50th Anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall.

Confounding the purists by embracing the funky and electrified sounds of his youth, McBride has also pushed the boundaries of jazz with the Philadelphia Experiment (with The Roots’ drummer and high school classmate ?uestlove, Uri Caine and Pat Martino) and A Christian McBride Situation. He has released two recordings, Vertical Vision and Live at Tonic with his most recent group, the Christian McBride Band.

Beginning in 1994, Christian has performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival five times: with Ray Brown, Pat Metheny, the Brubeck Institute, A Christian McBride Situation, the Christian McBride Quintet and with Dave Brubeck in 2002, celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the “Real Ambassadors.”

For more MJF information, please contact:

Timothy Orr, Monterey Jazz Festival
Direct Line: 510-652-1122 / MJF Phone: 831-373-3366 X252
timorr@montereyjazzfestival.org
www.montereyjazzfestival.org