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Jazz
on the Water
Newport
Marina (541) 265-4074
Friday-Sunday, Aug. 27-29
$32-$52 daily admission; $100-$130 for 3 days
Jazz on the Water
features the Shirley Horn Trio, Charlie Haden's Quartet
West, Arturo Sandoval Hot House Big Band, and the Abbey
Lincoln Quartet. For a complete listing, visit www.jazzonthewater.com
In recent years, jazz festivals have gone the way of Taco
Bell. Conventional wisdom now holds that promoters can't make
money without loading their bills with commercial smooth jazz
and easy-going pop. The essential spice is gone, but Middle
America is buying.
This is the trend Geno Michaels lives to fight.
"The traditional jazz festival in America, and even in
Europe, has seen a watering-down of the jazz end of things,"
says Michaels, the ambitious co-promoter of Newport, Ore.'s
Jazz on the Water festival. "Including blues and pop acts--well,
that's fine for blues and pop artists, but it's at the expense
of the jazz artists. These have become 'music' festivals,
not 'jazz' fests."
Does it really have to be this way? After all, jazz is
America's sound, and beginning with the first Newport Jazz
Festival in 1957 in Newport, R.I.--the other Newport--fests
have served as fitting forums for the music's fireworks.
Michaels and his wife and co-conspirator, Jeanne, believe
they still can be but that serious fans have to confront
a question of scale.
In the big, bad world of concert promotion, coastal Oregon's
Newport festival is small potatoes. Maximum enclosed seating
is 2,500, with general-admission spill-over of about 1,000.
To Jazz on the Water's loyal fan base--85 percent of last
year's ticket holders ponied up again this year--this is
all part of the appeal.
"They love the size and intimacy and want things to stay
small," says Jeanne. "They want a jazz party, not a festival.
We're not trying to please everybody and appeal to a huge
audience. We've got our niche--an audience that really listens
and is incredibly appreciative. The musicians really love
that."
Promoters who actually care about the musicians? A rare
breed, to be sure. Jeanne and Geno moved to Newport from
Portland six years ago, drawn to the coast by the idea of
starting an annual jazz festival. Geno, a self-proclaimed
"jazz freak" and a professional player himself, had the
booking know-how, Jeanne the organizational and public-relations
skills. They found the Newport area close to ideal: a beautiful
coastal community just large enough to accommodate the crowds
they were hoping to attract. It took three years for their
dream to become a reality, but in 1997 they birthed the
fledgling Jazz on the Water. Though they admit to having
had freshman jitters, the initial show was well-received,
and the couple was hooked.
This year, their third, they seem to be on the cusp of
reaping what they struggled so hard to sow. A quick examination
of this year's roster reveals East Coast, West Coast, big
band, Latin, Cuban, young lions, old veterans, sax, trumpet,
piano and vocal jazz. Some of jazz's most respected names--Grammy-winning
vocalists and national treasures Shirley Horn and Abbey
Lincoln, master bassist and bandleader Charlie Haden--take
the stage with jazz leaders of tomorrow, like Jacky Terrasson
and Nicholas Payton.
"This is a jazz aficionado's festival, and we always keep
that in mind," Geno says. "We want to make a commitment
to present those artists who've made a lasting contribution
to the music. We're not looking at sales charts and things
like other festival promoters do. Our motto is: No lame
acts."
Geno's confidence in his own definition of "lame" could
be cocky or heartening, depending on how you look at it.
But such faith is essential to an entrepreneur starting
up a supposed loss-leader. "Certainly we'll present higher-profile
artists if they fit the definition we're looking for," he
says. "But we want to dig deep into the pool of jazz talent
as well and pull up the unexpected. Last year, a lot of
people came to the festival to hear Diana Krall, who's a
good young artist and very popular. But they left with the
artistry of Brad Mehldau or Terence Blanchard on their minds."
Geno is just as adamant about sampling draughts from the
regional talent reservoir as well. Like the Gresham-based
Mount Hood Festival of Jazz, which had its annual moment
in the sun Aug. 6-8, the Michaelses work hard to include
local acts. Yet unlike the 'Hood, which sticks local music
on a separate stage far from most of the audience, Newport
devotes main-stage time to many Portland acts. Last year,
local drummer Mel Brown earned a standing ovation for his
performance. A highlight of this year's festival will be
the "Key Players" piano showcase, a concert offering the
Northwest's finest piano trios--led by Randy Porter, Gordon
Lee, and Marc Seals--in friendly competition. The winner
goes on to New York, possibly gaining national exposure.
With a formidable artistic lineup and a small army of repeat
customers, the Michaelses' combination is obviously working.
"We've worked hard on building a loyal base, and it's good
to see them come back," says Jeanne, whose chief goal, believe
it or not, is to learn all the repeat festivalgoers' names.
With fans coming from New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C.,
and Texas, we can only wish her luck.
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Willamette Week | originally
published August 25,
1999
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