[Dixielandjazz] The demise of jazz festivals - perhaps the REAL reason...

[tyleman]

As a musician who has played many jazz festivals, I can state that
what I see with the demise of festivals really has more to do with the
people who are running the festivals - not the festivals themselves,
or the type of music being played.

A large number of festivals are run by people who are retired, and
after many years of dealing with the headaches of the festival, have
decided to call it quits. I know for a fact that several of the
festivals I used to play have decided to throw in the towel only
partly because of diminishing audiences. The major reason is the
person in charge wants to retire and there is no one to take over the
leadership.

I think the decision by Sacramento to make changes is a reasonable
one. For one thing, IMO the festival has always been too big and
had too many bands and venues. Even in the 1970s, there was no way one
could hear all that was being offered, and patrons had to go all over
the place to hear the bands. The concept was "bigger is better." And
it was always difficult for the musicians, trying to get from one
venue to another in a short amount of time. After 30 years, change is
inevitable and likely a good thing

So if "Mr. Moldy Fig" isn't happy, maybe he needs to find a festival
that caters more to what he wants to hear. I've found that some
festivals have done an excellent job in either offering a wide
spectrum of trad jazz, or offering more of, for lack of a better term,
"hard-core" trad that SHOULD make Mr. Moldy Fig happy. To diss the
whole Sacramento festival because the band or bands you like are not
there is ridiculous. If people are unhappy about the festival scene,
why don't they take the initiative and start their OWN festival. Many
of the festivals that have been going successfully for years were
started by one person or a handful of dedicated people. It's my
understanding that Sacramento was started by one person - Bill
Borcher, and there was nothing like that going on in the US up until
he started the ball rolling in the early 1970s..

-- 
Chris Tyle
www.tyleman.com
www.silverleafjazzband.com