The St. Louis Jazz Festival! AND HOW BIG OF A SELL OUT IT IS!

[T~AndrewB~Bone]

So i thought to myself one day at Border's, "you know, I'd like to check out that jazz festival comin up soon." Some big names are gonna be there like Wynton Marsalis and John Scofield. It oughta be neat. What do my eyes see when I'm at a gas station the other day. In the St. Louis Post Dispatch, front page, it clearly states: Jazz Festival adds R&B and Pop stars to gain wider appeal. WHAT KIND OF CRAAAAAAP IS THIS!? It's a friggin jazz festival, people! C'mon.... Should i be feeling this angry about this...yes.

Your thoughts?

Andy

By the way, check out www.saintlouisjazzfest.com to see all the ways theyre trying to make money off of this instead of about having a good time.

Unfortunately, this is the way many "Jazz" festivals have gone over the years.

[Jazzooo]

Who are the pop stars, just out of curiousity?

I do't like the trend--actually, having been happening for so long I don't consider it a trend anymore but rather the way things are. On the other hand, everyone needs to get paid. If putting a non-jazz artist on the bill brings in an additional 1,000 paying listeners, I'd probably give him the stage for 45 minutes too. I used to love concerts in the '60s, when you could hear Miles, Santana and Miriam Makeba.

[bluenoter]

Originally Posted by T~AndrewB~Bone

Your thoughts?

1. Have you noticed that JazzCorner has a forum called 2004 Festivals? That would have been a good place to start this thread.

2. Have you bothered to look at the list of performers on the St. Louis Jazz Fest's website? (Click on "Who's gonna be there?") According to the website, "Aaron Neville will be singing jazz standards from his 2004 Grammy nominated album 'Nature Boy.'" Oleta Adams presumably won't be doing jazz. (Whoops! Dennis just posted that she does do some jazz.) Everybody else appears to be a jazz artist. Exactly whose presence are you objecting to?

I certainly share your displeasure at seeing jazz festivals watered down by the inclusion of nonjazz acts, but despite what you read in the newspaper, that doesn't seem to be the case this time.

3. Festival hours are
Friday, June 25th
5:30 pm - 10:00 pm
Gates open at 4:30 pm

Saturday, June 26th
3:30 pm - 10:00 pm
Gates open at 2:30

Tickets are $20 per person per day.

Where's the big ripoff?

[Dennis Gonzalez]

I was gonna say go see the Cardinals, but they'll be across the state in KC!

Jazzooo, the pop stars are Oleta Adams (sings some jazz) and The Neville Brothers (Nawlins soul/voodoo/ + a bit of jazz). I think the rest, though not well known, are jazz acts.

Originally Posted by Dennis Gonzalez

I was gonna say go see the Cardinals, but they'll be across the state in KC!

Yeah, and there's no good tickets left.

[Dennis Gonzalez]

Oh man...I'd almost thought about driving Carol to KC for the Saturday game. She's crazy about the Cards. We went to see them when they played the Rangers here in Arlington. The stadium was filled with more Cards fans than Ranger fans!

[Jimmy Cantiello]

One of the headliners at this year's New Haven Jazz Festival is Isaac Hayes. I think we got the shaft..............

Originally Posted by Dennis Gonzalez

Oh man...I'd almost thought about driving Carol to KC for the Saturday game. She's crazy about the Cards. We went to see them when they played the Rangers here in Arlington. The stadium was filled with more Cards fans than Ranger fans!

Yeah, Kauffman is without question my favorite venue. Thats where both of my avatar pics are from(couple weeks ago vs. Twins). The parking is dirt cheap(by any stadiums standard), the stadium itself is incredibly easy to access, and even easier to get out of, the tickets are relatively cheap, the food is great, and the view is perfect from any seat. And of course, my son and I love all the fountains and waterfalls around the outfield.

Very unique.

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

Why not just have pop music festivals instead of trying to pass off pop musicians at a jazz festival?

[Dennis Gonzalez]

Originally Posted by Nathaniel Catchpole

Why not just have pop music festivals instead of trying to pass off pop musicians at a jazz festival?

What's wrong with good ol' American pop...oh, I forgot you're British!

Last time I played a jazz festival in Britain, young man, I'll have you know that, that, that...geee...it was all jazz groups!

[bluenoter]

Dennis--

Surely you won't deny that you consort publicly and privately with known punks!

[Boris Badenov]

This really is an outrage! It's almost as bad as if Chuck Berry had appeared at Newport but luckily George Wein would never have let that happen!

[frankiepop]

as part of a trend...to include pop or blues into a jazz fest...the few jazz fests that i attended which integrated pop and blues just seem to destroy the jazz in a couple yrs.... it becomes a blues and jazz fest...soon after --- not a saxophone in hearing range.....so it's not necessarily that the pop guys pay the jazz guy..they eliminate him...

[Sergio Zamora]