By Taylor Jordan

Tenor saxophonist George Jones' first mellow notes echoing from the Garden Stage and wafting on the evening breeze indicated seriously sizzling music would be the weekend norm at the 51st annual Monterey Jazz Festival presented by Verizon.

By the time the former Doc Severinsen Tonight Show Orchestra instrumentalist rhythmically shifted and took the A train, the audience was groovin' as high as Jones and his musically matched pianist Bobby Phillips, drummer Billy Jones and bassist Heath Proskin in the opening salute to compelling composer Billy Strayhorn. His sidekicks were also the festival's first notable sidemen.

Monterey retained its distinction as the leader of jazz fests in the Western Hemisphere and one of the best in the world. The three-day offering of the best artists, composers and collaborators performing and presenting America's original music has become synonymous with excellence. Although tastes may vary among fans and some folks may foolishly or wisely select different acts and artists as the festival's best, it is practically a guarantee that if it's on a MJF stage at the Monterey County Fairgrounds, it's good.

Singing sax mn Maceo Parker and the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra salute the late, great Ray Charles with a medley of the maestro’s hits at the 51st annual Monterey Jazz Festival.

It's doubtful, however, if many would disagree with this critic's conclusion that Grammy's Man of the Year Herbie Hancock was the most memorable Monterey man. His spectacular closing on Sunday night left everyone spellbound and satisfied, lingering and reluctant to leave in the hope that Hancock just might come back for another encore.

His peerless presentation of the very different and updated version of "Watermelon Man" was still recognizable, but funkier and more electronically challenging than the original. Hancock literally walked with the music, a portable keyboard strapped around his neck as he proudly pranced to the beat of one of his most famous tunes and challenged guitarist Lionel Loueke to a musical duel.

Hancock then indulged in another electrifying exchange with sexy, hard-driving bassist Nathan East. They echoed notes, then improvised patterns that couldn't be replicated or repeated. It seems impossible for a piano and electric bass to whisper, but in the hands of two master musicians anything is possible. And as soon as you thought it couldn't get any better, Hancock called on the magical powers of singer Amy Keys.

She lulled everyone into a heavenly place of expectation with "River," then rhythmically jerked them into a gospel saloon, fusing funk, rhythm and blues, soul, grit and gospel into a riveting "When Love Comes To Town" rendition. Keys completed her musical tour of stylistic wonder with Leon Russell's classic composition, "A Song For You," demonstrating incredible vocal versatility and range. Her dramatic and prolonged holding of the final notes on this ballad left fans' gaping in awe and Hancock declaring "I think she put a hurting on that song."

Hancock proved that a true artist never plays the same song the same way with his adventurous treatment of "Maiden Voyage." And, like a true master, he left the audience wanting more.

Vocalist Kurt Elling, left, and saxophonist Ernie Watts assume the personas of suave ballad baritone Johnny Hartman and trendsetter John Coltrane in a masterful “Dedicated To You” set at Monterey Jazz Festival

The Sunday night finale show on the Jimmy Lyons Stage was the most consistent for sustained pleasure.

Vocalist Kurt Elling, a past MJF artist-in-residence, was the perfect voice for the opening "Dedicated To You" salute to quintessential balladeer Johnny Hartman. Master tenor saxophonist Ernie Watts expertly handled the melodic mood of trend-setter John Coltrane.

"Everything's right on target with him," KSPC Latin jazz disc jockey Brett Taylor said about Elling. "He understands that total imitation is mimicry and that one best salutes an artist by making one's own statement and being inspired to excellence by that artist's example.."

Hartman and Coltrane probably smiled in heaven, pleased and proud of how Elling, Watts, pianist Laurence Hobgood, drummer Ulysses Owens, bassist Robert Amster, violinists Cornelius Dufallo and Mary Rowell, viola player Ralph Farris and cellist Dorothy Lawson handled their work.

Legendary saxophonist Wayne Shorter is a man held in high regard, personally and professionally, by fans, peers and critics. And for good reason. This man constantly amazes people with the longevity, range and talent driving his instrumental work and compositions for several decades. He is always on the cutting edge of creativity. His Sunday set with Danilo Perez on piano, Brian Blades on drums and John Patitucci on acoustic bass was "sheets of sound 2," their tone, speed and chord changes reminiscent of Coltrane, Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner and Jimmy Garrison's origins of that intense sound.

Topping the autumn weekend's popularity polls and musical mastery were also singing sax man Maceo Parker, sultry songstress Cassandra Wilson, British singing sensation Jamie Cullum, the dynamic duo of Tuck and Patti, heavy on the soul/gospel vocalist Ryan Shaw and bassist/MJF artist-in-residence Christian McBride.

Cassandra Wilson was the hands-down winner of feminity magically unleashed. Her band was the most connected to its leader, so tight there wasn't a fraction of a musical inch between her and pianist Jonathan Batiste, drummer Herlin Riley, percussionist Lekan Babalola, bassist Reginald Veal and guitarist Marvin Sewell.

Tuck and Patti make melodic music in an appealing standing-room-only session on the Garden Stage and prompt a rush on their CDs at the Best Buy booth.

Cassandra doesn't sing songs. She makes lyrical statements, distinctively different, psychologically pleasing and intellectually challenging. Her voice is like warm oil dripping sensuously over every inch of your body, heart and spirit, enticing you, moving you, making you act.

Riley put the rhythm in his sticks and his own skin, his body snappin' with the music. He and Babalola fed off each other's energy and created new dimensions in timekeeping. This was particularly evidenced on the group's unique presentation of "Caravan."

Wilson's sultry voice forced visions of camels looping slowly across vast sands, women undulating as they danced to the sounds of cymbals and their own heart beats, evening fires casting exotic shadows.

Batiste's piano shined and called with her on "When Love Comes Calling." Sewell's accompaniment on "St. James Infirmary" took the tune from the blues meter to uptempo jazz. "Them There Eyes" wasn't Billie Holiday's torch song. It was flirtatious funk between Wilson and Veal. The most amazing moment came in the final song with folks looking around as though expecting to see the ghost of blues pioneer Robert Johnson on stage when Sewell stood at the crossroads of time, his fingers and heart perfectly intertwined with Johnson's distinctive style.

Parker proved he's not stuck in time. He and the talented teens in the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra conducted by Paul Contos saluted the late, great Ray Charles with a serious Saturday afternoon set before Parker and his rhythm makers demonstrated how he put the funk in James Brown and Parliament's acts.

"This is the stuff my father listened to when I was growing up. Maceo and these kids are doing more than playing the notes. They've captured the spiritual essence of the music, the funk," a young woman succinctly said. "I think I'll bring my father to Monterey next year. He's going to love this."

The musical and marital partnership of Tuck Andress and Patti Cathcart  show what can happen when you put a guitar in the right hands and an incredible voice in the right throat. The couple shared harmonious and melodic space and captivated fans rushing from the Garden Stage to the Best Buy booth to buy their CDs and get them autographed by the warm and modest duo with off-the-hook talent.

Speaking of off-the-hook, Cullum certainly qualified as the most exhilarating entertainer.

Whether he was leaping off the piano, standing motionless at the mike or playfully teasing the audience, Cullum's heart-wrenching talents vocally and instrumentally kept the audience transfixed. At times, it seemed he went to the University of (Otis) Redding, then one thinks he dipped down to New Orleans to find Harry Connick Jr.'s style. Or maybe he visited Satchmo and Ella to figure out the nuances of scatting.

Wherever he went musically, he learned impeccable timing, phrasing, selection and stage presence while there. "He's shaking up the old standards and giving them a new twist," one new fan declared.

McBride's mother must have had a crystal ball when she picked her son's first name. Listening to this bass monster is a spiritual experience. He most definitely has transitioned from being a young lion to full-fledged master musician. And he assures the future by role modeling musical greatness and personal discipline for teen artists learning from his example.

Music lovers best get their tennis shoes and comfortable boots together and go to Monterey Jazz Festival next year.