[Dixielandjazz] More on the Jubilee

[Steve barbone]

Also picked up by "All About Jazz".

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

 
Jazz festival steals home with new venue
Sacramento Business Journal -  by Mark Anderson Staff writer

The Sacramento Jazz Jubilee will get a big new venue this year; officials
Friday said that Raley Field in West Sacramento will be the home for some
performances at the popular Memorial Day weekend event.

The 33rd annual festival, expected to draw 100,000 people, will be more
compact this time around, giving up stages in Point West and adding three
West Sacramento sites to the downtown and Old Sacramento venues. The
addition of the ballpark not only adds a stage, but also a vast parking lot
that can accommodate the recreational vehicles that will lose their old
parking spots in Point West. All the events at this year's festival are
concentrated in the downtown, Old Sacramento and now three venues in West
Sacramento. 

For years, the event sprawled from Old Sacramento to Point West hotels to
Cal Expo, requiring extensive shuttle services running a continuous 20-mile
loop during the four-day festival. Shuttles still will run, but the loop has
been trimmed to 3 miles, from Raley Field to the Sacramento Convention
Center. 

The new venue also will allow the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society to
book larger acts for future festivals. Raley Field, home of the Sacramento
River Cats minor league baseball team, seats 15,000 for baseball and even
more for concerts. 

Raley Field also has extensive parking, both for cars and this year during
the festival for RVs. In past years, hundreds of RV enthusiasts attended the
festival and parked at Cal Expo. Cal Expo now hosts the Sacramento County
Fair over that weekend.

The jazz festival is a $20 million economic boost to the region, said Steve
Hammond, president of the Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau. "Its
economic impact is huge, and this will allow it to grow," Hammond said.
Raley Field wasn't being used that weekend, said Alan Ledford, president of
the Sacramento River Cats. The owners have been seeking ways to offer more
concerts at Raley Field, and this is part of that plan. "We are looking
forward to being part of this for the future," he said.

"One of the things we are about is affordable entertainment," Ledford said,
adding that the jazz fest might introduce more people to what is available
at Raley Field. 

The festival this year had added two outdoor music venues on West
Sacramento's Riverfront Park, but because of high water on the Sacramento
River, those venues are under water, said Jill Harper, executive director of
the festival. "I believe things happen for a reason, and this has opened up
to us a great new venue."

This year's festival features two New Orleans acts -- brass-funk-rock band
Bonerama, and the torchy Banu Gibson and the New Orleans Hot Jazz -- as
headliners and hundreds of performances by bands from all over the world.