[Dixielandjazz] Re: "Jazz" Festivals

[WILLIAM HORTON]

Someone wrote:
> I do like the idea of having the bands stay in one place and letting
> the audience move from venue to venue. So many of the California one
> day "traditional" jazz festivals make the bands pack up and move from
> site to site, sometimes with as little as 30 minutes scheduled for the
> move!

This sounds real peachy for the bands, but it does not consider, at all,
either the festival sponsors or the audience!  If the festival had 12 bands
it would mean they would have to have 12 venues, an impossibility in many
towns and, even if that many were available, much greater expense which
would have to be reflected in ticket prices.  Typically, bands are scheduled
with one or two sets between their sets, giving them time to relax, rest
their chops, have a libation, schmooze with their fans and move to their
next venue.  With the "one site per band" suggestion, the venue would sit
idle for this period.

And consider the audience:  If they want to sample sets for, say, 8 of the
12 bands, all 100+ of them would have to give up their choice seats and walk
on ancient (probably) legs to the next venue if it's close enough, or go to
their cars, drive to another venue, find a parking place and try to find
seats in the other venue.

Try to pull off a "one site per band" festival and be prepared for
bankruptcy!  And if you plan one for the following year to recoup your
losses, don't bother printing up more than about 50 tickets.

I'm certainly sympathetic with the problems of bands and musicians, but it
should be remembered that it takes a big bunch of unpaid people about a year
of preparation to put on even a one-day festival.  And it takes several
thousand paying jazz fans to make one financially feasible.

Bill Horton