The first night of the historic three-day Monterey Jazz Festival is coming to a close as the late night air

Tammi Brown and fan.

chills the Monterey Fair Grounds, but the sounds of Eddie Palmieri's Salsa Orchestra are still blazing from the Jimmy Lyons Arena and jazz fans are still scooping up the deals on CDs, LPs, DVDs, and books at the Mini-Amoeba tent. Today's big seller was Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Melody Gardot, who performed on the Jimmy Lyons stage this evening.

It was a full first night for us at the 55th Monterey Jazz Fest as we

Pedrito Martinez and Araicne Trujillo

had two dynamic special guests by for signings. At 8pm, we hosted the sultry jazz singer Tammi Brown before she was whisked away for a VIP meet and greet, and at 9:30pm we had Afro-Cuban beat bandleader Pedrito Martinez and his keyboard player/vocalist Araicne Trujillo, fresh from an exhilarating set on the Night Club stage. 

For the second year in a row, we are live from the Mini-Amoeba tent at the 55th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival! We’ll be here everyday of the festival (September 21 - 23), offering rare and popular CDs and vinyl, special edition jazz t-shirts, books, AND up-close and personal signings with some amazing artists!

This year's line-up includes more than 500 artists performing on eight stages over the course of two days and three nights

The calm before the jazzy storm.

at the Monterey Fair Grounds! The Amoeba on-sight team is overjoyed to greet the stream of fans who streaming through the gates RIGHT NOW and listeining to Tammi Brown soundcheck at the Garden Stage, not 20 steps away from our Mini-Amoeba!

Tonight, Friday, is opening night of the festival and the shows start rolling at 6:30pm. We have two stellar signings at the Mini-Amoeba tent tonight, so stop on by and meet these jazz luinaries!