[Dixielandjazz] The New Look of an OKOM Jazz Festival?

[Stephen G Barbone]

20th annual Redwood Coast Jazz Festival wraps up in Eureka

Bt Allison White / The Times-Standard  (Eureka & No. Coast California)

The 20th annual Redwood Coast Jazz Festival wrapped up Sunday evening  
with dancers young and old swinging to the beat after what organizers  
hope was a successful run.

The four-day event hosted more than 90 shows featuring all kinds of  
jazz at five Eureka venues. The weather held out for much of the  
event, although it was somewhat rainy Sunday, said assistant director  
of the event Lynne Owens, from the blues group Li'l Lynne and a Few  
Good Men.
”If it was too hot, the locals would have gone somewhere else for the  
weekend,” she said.
The festival has moved from its previous focus on Dixieland jazz to  
include a “mixed bag” of styles, including a Latin-fusion band she  
enjoyed Saturday called Incendio.
”They're phenomenal players, but that's a whole other scene than  
Dixieland,” she said.
But the inclusion of newer styles also helps bring in a younger  
audience, which has an appreciation for both old and new jazz sounds.  
Dancing is a healthy sport for any generation, especially with the  
younger crowd.
”It gets them off the Internet,” Owens said jokingly.
Owens came back to Humboldt County about a year ago after 28 years of  
singing and playing the blues across the country in her band. She grew  
up in Freshwater and said she became involved in the festival after  
helping with some bookkeeping at the Blues by the Bay event in  
September.
”It's really fun to mix both worlds -- my bookkeeping training and my  
passion for singing and making music,” Owens said.
The turnout for the festival looked to be about the same as last year,  
said Alan Smyth, a recently retired board member and current  
bookkeeper for the event. About 5,000 people attended the first three  
days of the event, and total numbers for the weekend are expected to  
be tallied today.
”The weather didn't help us, the economy didn't help us, but the  
people who came had a good time,” he said.
Generous sponsors make the festival possible every year, as ticket  
sales alone don't fund the event. Smyth said he is hopeful the  
festival breaks even, as it did not do so last year. Even if they  
don't, plans are in the making for the 2011 event, with a few bands  
already lined up.
First-time Jazz Fest attendees are hoping for the event to continue  
into future years. Brenna Kemper, 17, who just moved to Eureka from  
Idaho, said the event was “phenomenal.”
”I didn't know how to swing dance until last night,” she said. A few  
folks taught her some steps Saturday that she used at the event's last  
set of bands in the Eureka Municipal Auditorium on Sunday.
For the last two hours of the Jazz Fest, seven bands played in the  
Municipal Auditorium to a full dance floor.
Jesse Machin, 32, of McKinleyville, has been a long-time Humboldt  
County resident, but this was his first time attending the festival.  
In prior years, he didn't have the funds to purchase a ticket, but  
this year he volunteered 12 hours of his time to the festival. That  
earned him two free passes to the full event.
”This has opened a whole new door for me,” Machin said. “I want to  
start taking dance lessons, and I'm definitely coming back next year  
and volunteering.”