2012 JazzTrax Festival Program

Producer’s Notes by Art GoodJazzTrax.com25 years of doing something. Must be ac a reer and somehow it became that for me.I'm guessing you've got your own thing thatyou've been doing for 25 years. Else youcouldn't aff o rd to be here.....this weekend.As one of the individuals first involved in creatingthe genre of Smooth Jazz. First to putit on Radio. The West Coast version. 1982in San Diego. First to syndicate it. LaborDay Weekend 1985. First to create an allc o n t e m p o r a ry jazz festival. October 1987.I've commented many times in this space onthe current 'State of Smooth Jazz.'Smooth Jazz is totally ALIVE. It's just DIF-FERENT now. There are still some faithfullong abiding Smooth Jazz Radio Stations,but in most major markets where SmoothJazz Radio RULED for 2 decades it's gone,cept by Internet. I think 'the bosses' whoflipped those stations kind of knee jerk re a c t-ed. As recently as 5 years ago this form a tin key markets was No. 1 adult rated andg rossing great advertising dollars. As ourdemographic got into their 50's the advertiserswho are famous for desiring“YOUNG” got 'those bosses' into believingit was over for smooth jazz radio.”Not sure what they were thinking.Considering the younger generation hadabandoned traditional radio long ago fortheir I Pods and I Tunes I'm not sure whothey thought they were deserting us middleagers for. Nonetheless Smooth Jazz Radio,long dominant, went away in places likeMilwaukee, Los Angeles, New Yo r k ,Chicago, Denver, Sacramento and finallyeven where it began on the West Coast, inSan Diego. Without even a phone call or e-mail, San Diego took me off the air last fallafter 31 years, as even they too flipped.I was first heard on San Diego radio,Summer 1979, doing overnights as aSummer Relief disc jockey on what wasthen a Mellow Rock station patterningafter KNX-FM. The station, in LosAngeles, that inspired me into radio.Listening during my early 70's collegedays. September 1979 came my bigb reak as KIFM's new Morning DriveAnnouncer. My 1st big market big gig.In 1981 I became their Program Director.March 8, 1982 was the evening my creation,'Lites Out San Diego' began takingthe city by storm, even leading to one ofthe most successful concert series,Humphrey's Concerts by the Bay. Therewas hardly a concert on that stage I didn'thost through the 80's and into the 90's.I departed San Diego to “try” marriage inLos Angeles in 1998, later relocating toPalm Springs, but the syndicated JazzTraxRadio Show continued to air everySunday Night in San Diego, until last fall.I'm also not making any phone calls norsending any e-mails, but in this spacewould like to thank all who ran KIFM fromthat June night in 1979 until October2011. For three decades plus, you gavemy voice on San Diego's airwaves. Atone point in the 80's I was ranked the 4thmost recognizable name and voice onSan Diego Television and Radio. 32years. That's a Damn 'Good' run.But hey, it ain't over yet. Remember I saidthe State of Smooth Jazz is ALIVE. Just DIF-F E R E N T. I used to get asked by anys t r a n g e r, “what do you do for a living?”For 35 years I'd answer, “ I'm in Radio.”And whereas I still produce the 5 hourJ a z z Trax Showcase of the Absolute Newestand Classic Old, each week. Now producingit on computer. This radio showused to dominate my time, taking half theweek. Now I accomplish a show in am o rning's time. The entire musical catalogof contemporary jazz 1974 to 2012 nowresiding in my I Tunes library. Whiles it stillgoes out to about 15 radio stations byupload then download across America andS t reams 24/7 at www. J a z z Tr a x . c o m .Now my answer to that question of what Ido has become. “I produce Jazz Festivals.”Maybe just like you, as I've gotten up intomy 50's and tried to evaluate my life, mywork and what the hell I'm doing withmyself. The interesting thing about thro w-ing festivals is that a vast majority of thework happens long BEFORE the event itself.My job as a festival pro d u c e r, and it's takenme 26 years to understand this, is to cre a t esomething, before it occurs, that gets YOUto come. Like it was yesterday I re m e m b e ra moment in divorce court 4 years ago.The judge was “trying” to understand whatI did and how I spent my time, even thoughit was clear I was simply making a livinglike everyone else. The opposing attorn e yof course painting me as close as he couldto being everything bad it seemed except am u rd e re r. But the relevant line here was.' M r. Good. You show up on an Island onthe Friday (or Thursday) the day the festivalbegins and you throw a 3 weekend festivalover the next 2 weeks and then you're doneuntil the next October. I can still feel myjaw dropping. That was the gist of it.....forHis Honor.With all due respect your Honor that's notquite how it goes. There are 30 diff e re n tbands to carefully select, according toWho's Hot, Who's Not, Who will SellTickets, Who can I Discover. And Can Ieven Get Them......at a fair price. Andagents and artist managers to negotiatewith and ain't THAT FUN. Never mind allthe eff o rt the past few years to get a KennyG, a George Benson, a Dave Koz, a BoneyJames, a Herb Alpert, a Chris Botti, that fellt h rough after great eff o rt or a Basia youfinal got, contract and all, only to have hers i m p l y....cancel her tour 5 months later.Hope this isn't too complicated for the courtbut then you spend every day all year marketingwhat you've created. The hard e s twork, and it takes all year, is getting peopleto COME. To spend money on what is notan inexpensive weekend because this is anIsland you have to get to. Fact is as youwell know, the cheapest part of the weekendis the actual JazzTrax Tickets. And youhave continued to spend and come, for aq u a rter century, even through the worstrecession and economy of our lifetimes.I say this in part to explain that I have justifiedto myself fully, what I do. My parentsare both gone so I don't have thatend of the justification to worry about. Ifeel pretty good about it in fact. I feelcontinued on page 225 Years, a Qu a rter Ce n t u ry of Ja z z Trax on Catalina Island 1987-2012 www. Ja z z Tra x . c o m 1