[Dixielandjazz] Sacramento Music Festival

[Stephen G Barbone]

Form The Sacramento Bee Newspaper.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband
Sacramento Music Festival aims for turnaround

By Edward Ortiz
eortiz at sacbee.com

Welcome the Sacramento Music Festival, and say goodbye to the  
Sacramento Jazz Festival and JubileeThis year a new name and a new  
talent-booking paradigm define the 39th annual incarnation of the  
music fest that runs Friday through next Monday.

The name was changed after last year's festival as an effort to  
broaden its appeal in the face of declining attendance.

Since the name change, festival organizers have tapped new procurers  
of talent to move the festival away from its traditional Dixieland and  
jazz beginnings. The move has been toward trademark jazz offerings  
along with wide-ranging music including reggae, rock 'n' roll, country  
and American roots. A total of 36 acts will be first-time performers  
this year.

"We're hoping to get people back to the festival who have not attended  
the last few years," said Tom Duff, president of the Sacramento  
Traditional Jazz Society, the nonprofit organization that runs the  
festival.

The issue of recapturing audiences and building on new ones is no  
small matter for the organization. Last year saw an 8 percent drop in  
attendance from 2010.

The festival, which brought in $1.3 million in revenue in 2010, has  
seen a steady decline since 2002, when revenue was $2.7 million.

The declining numbers at the festival dovetail with declines in jazz  
attendance nationwide and a rapid aging of the jazz audience. A 2008  
National Endowment for the Arts study on arts participation  
established that the median age of the jazz concertgoer was 46 – a 17- 
year increase from 1982's median.

For jazz, it is a troubling development because it means the median  
age of jazz festival-goers has grown faster than the median age of  
U.S. adults, and faster than for other types of performing arts events.

To turn the tide of plunging attendance, festival organizers brought  
in local talent booker Jerry Perry.

"I think this will attract a lot of diversity as far as age group  
goes," said Duff.

Perry is well-known in the region and has been responsible for booking  
nearly 20 of the acts that will appear at the Sacramento Music Festival.

"I had a little learning curve as to what was expected of me," said  
Perry, who has booked acts for Old Ironsides and until this year  
booked for the popular Concerts in the Park series.

The bands Perry has gotten include Fresno's Fierce Creatures – a band  
Perry described as having a sound reminiscent of Grammy-winners Arcade  
Fire. Other bands include the local pop-punk band Kepi Ghoulie, and  
Rick Estrin and the Nightcats, a Sacramento favorite.

Perry said festival organizers were pleased with the bookings.

"In some ways I had wished I had pushed the envelope more," said  
Perry. "I think I will be more daring next year."

One of the newcomers to the festival is the Rusty Zinn band, blues and  
reggae artists from Alameda. Its leader, a onetime Sacramento  
resident, said that when he was booked to perform he had to go to the  
festival's website (www.sacmusicfest.com) to confirm that he was,  
indeed, to perform at the former Jazz Jubilee.

Zinn said he believes the new focus is prudent.

"Live music is tough anywhere these days, so I think it's crucial to  
have variety," Zinn said. "It's great to go to an eclectic music  
festival and hear a whole cross-section of styles."

The new look of the festival does not mean it is moving away from its  
focus on jazz. The event's lineup is populated with jazz acts.  
Traditional jazz such as swing and ragtime will be offered at the  
Hyatt Regency and Sheraton Grand Hotel ballrooms, said Vivian Abraham,  
executive director of the festival.

Still, the new, broader musical focus continues to alienate some who  
were loyal to the festival's past incarnations.

"I hope they're successful," said Jerry Vorpahl, one of the festival's  
co-founders, who recalls presenting the festival as a semi-private  
event aboard the Delta King in Old Sacramento in the early 1970s.

"As narrow a focus as it was when it was just Dixieland … it's just as  
bad to be all things to all people," said Vorpahl. "They don't have  
any mainstream jazz. This is all opposed to the major festivals in the  
country, like the Newport and Monterey, which have had a straight- 
ahead jazz feel … and whose music seems to appeal to a lot of people."

Vorpahl also feels that this year's lineup includes a heavy dose of  
the usual subjects.

"Basically, many of the people you're going to see at the festival are  
really good musicians, are really nice people, and they are all local  
– and we've heard them all year long," said Vorpahl.

One focus that has not changed at the festival is the commitment to  
giving a new generation of jazz musicians a forum to perform, as will  
happen when the Syncopating Sea-Monkeys perform as one of 15 youth  
bands at the festival.

That group hails from River City High School in West Sacramento, which  
boasts one of the few traditional jazz bands in the state.

"For us the festival is the pinnacle of the school year," said band  
director Felicia Greenwood. "We work all year to prepare music for it  
– and not having that outlet would be devastating to our program."

IF YOU GO …

In its 39th year, the 2012 Sacramento Music Festival launches with a  
new name and new styles of music. Promoters call it a giant party in  
Old Sacramento and nearby hotels "pulsing with the rhythms of jazz,  
swing, blues, zydeco, rockabilly, bluegrass, Latin music and more."

Hundreds of musical sets will be performed by more than five dozen  
bands.

When: Friday-next Monday. The festival begins at 1 p.m. Friday and the  
final sets begin at 10 p.m. that day. The fest begins at 10 a.m.  
Saturday, Sunday and Monday. On Saturday and Sunday, the last sets  
begin at 10 p.m.; on Monday, the finale is set for 2:30 p.m.

Special events: The parade takes place at 10 a.m. Saturday in Old  
Sacramento

Where: Music will be performed at 24 sites on the streets from Old  
Sacramento to the Convention Center, including restaurants,  
courtyards, hotels and the Delta King.

Admission: Kids 12 and younger are free. Tickets cover a wide range,  
from $10 to $110, depending how many days you attend and if you are a  
senior. Go online to http://sacmusicfest.eventbrite.com or call (916)  
444-2004.

Home page: For more information about performers, ticket prices,  
special events, go to www.sacmusicfest.com.


Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/21/4504195/sacramento-music-festival-aims.html#storylink 
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