[Dixielandjazz] Jazz Jubilee News?

[Steve barbone]

Hey all you Sacramento Jubilee Movers & Shakers. Any comments on the news in
this blurb?

Cheers,
Steve Barbone 


>From The Internet edition of Sacramento Bee.
Sacbee: Metro & Regional News
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raley Field gets a gig with Jazz Festival

Jazz: Stadium selection allows organizers to bring in headliner

By Ed Fletcher -- Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 am PDT Saturday, May 6,
2006 Story appeared in Metro section, Page B1

Blame it on the rain or thank the heavens, either way the Sacramento Jazz
Festival is adding Raley Field to its list of venues.

The field's operators and event sponsors hope the one-year deal announced
Friday will lead to a lasting relationship taking full advantage of the
stadium by bringing in a headliner with "crossover appeal."

  "I think they are as excited as we are," said Jill Harper, executive
director of the Sacramento Jazz Festival.

Event organizers - citing costs - decided last year to stop using Cal Expo
and hotels near the Arden Fair mall as music sites for the Memorial Day
weekend music festival.

Seeking to consolidate festival operations, they added West Sacramento's
River Walk Park to the Sacramento Convention Center, downtown hotels and Old
Sacramento.

But rainfall on 13 of the first 16 days of April changed their plans.

The shift to Raley Field, which is adjacent to River Walk Park, keeps the
festival tight, but also adds much needed parking, including spots for the
recreational vehicles that used to park at Cal Expo for the four-day event.
The RV spots will not, however, include electrical hook-ups.

"We really have been scrambling, once we found out that we were not going to
be able to use River Walk Park," Harper said. "The ground is just so
saturated."

The rain prompted a hurried one-year deal with hopes of inking a longer-term
agreement to use the home of the Triple A baseball River Cats.

"It certainly adds a premier venue that, in the future, will give us an
opportunity to bring in some headliner acts," said Steve Hammond, president
and CEO of the Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The Jazz Festival, organized by the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society,
historically has featured early jazz also known as Dixieland. Over the
years, the festival has branched out. Harper said an eventual headliner
could perform blues, ragtime, zydeco, Latin jazz or other related music with
broader appeal.

"We're looking for a performer who would appeal to a crossover audience,"
Harper said.

Harper and Hammond said the event would benefit from the expertise that
River Cats' officials bring to the table.

Special events are a growing part of Raley Field's operations. The stadium
is expected to host about 16,000 Dave Matthews fans late this summer.

"We're a ballpark, but we are also a venue for all events imaginable," said
Alan Ledford, president of the Sacramento River Cats.

"We're very hopeful that we are going to be able put something in place for
the long term," Ledford said of the arrangement with the Jazz Festival.

Hammond said he was glad West Sacramento is once again serving as a co-host
after the event left years ago.

"Now with the addition of Raley Field, we have an event that really
celebrates both sides of the river," Hammond said. "It reunites the Jazz
Jubilee with West Sacramento."