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JAZZBEAT
South Park Jazz Festival expands
Hot Topics
By Matt Warner,
Contributing Writer
5:31 PM Friday, September 18, 2009
The South Park Jazz Festival will be held Saturday, Sept. 26, in Dayton’s Historic South Park neighborhood. This marks the third consecutive year for the festival, and also the final year in its current form. Festival planners say they are seeking to expand the annual event to include other Dayton neighborhoods in the coming years.
This year’s event features musicians from Louisville, Ky. (Ron Jones Quartet), Cincinnati (April Aloisio) and Dayton (Dave Greer’s Classic Jazz Stompers, Deron Bell Band, Dayton Jazz Orchestra). There also will be a performance by the SMAG Dance Collective of Dayton and demonstrations and displays by local visual artists and artisans.
According to Ron Gable, founder of the nonprofit organization Jazz Advocate, a South Park resident approached him with the idea for the festival in 2007. Gable went about lining up sponsors for the event, and the first South Park Jazz Festival was held Sept. 29, 2007.
“We had six acts — all local — and it was strictly a jazz festival,” Gable said of the inaugural event. “It came off real nice. There were lots of volunteers from HSP, and we had 1,500 people come out.”
The success of the first event led Gable and the Jazz Advocate board to expand the second-year offerings. The 2008 festival included some out-of-town musicians, as well as an area for artists to display their works. The music also showed a greater spectrum of jazz styles than the previous year’s lineup.
“The next year we decided to do a jazz and art festival, because we wanted to broaden the scope,” Gable said. “We wanted it to be more of a community event, so we invited people from other communities.”
The aftermath of Hurricane Ike slowed last year’s festival a little, but overall Gable said it was a success. He said he’s hoping for good weather this year and a strong showing, because Jazz Advocate has even bigger plans for the festival.
“(Jazz Advocate) started out just to support local musicians in Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus, but it’s developed into more of a community thing over the years, because we think if you want jazz to do well, you have to work with the community,” Gable said.
What is now the South Park Jazz Festival will become the Annual Jazz Advocate Community Festival. Gable envisions this as a chance to use jazz as a tool for community building. The festival will blend jazz and other arts and activities to connect people to their neighborhoods and create relationships between different areas of town. Gable has not ruled out South Park as a future location, but he said Jazz Advocate will be taking what started there to a different neighborhood each year.
How to go
What: South Park Jazz Festival
When: Saturday, Sept. 26
Where: At the gazebo on Park Drive, west of Wayne Avenue and north of Wyoming Street
Cost: Free
Parking: Free parking is available at Rite-Aid at Wayne Avenue and Wyoming Street, at Hope Lutheran Church and at Emerson Academy on Hickory Street
More information: Maps and information are available online at www.jazzadvocate.com or by calling (937) 648-0627. In case of rain, the event will not be canceled, but will be moved into the Emerson Academy Auditorium at 500 Hickory St.
Music schedule
Noon to 1:20 p.m.: “Cat in the Hat” with the SMAG Dance Collective
1:30 to 2:50 p.m.: Dave Greer’s Classic Jazz Stompers
3 to 4:20 p.m.: The Dayton Jazz Orchestra
4:30 to 5:50 p.m.: Ron Jones Quartet
6 to 7:20 p.m.: April Aloisio Quartet
7:30 to 9:30 p.m.: Deron Bell Band
Matt Warner is a contributing music writer for the Dayton Daily News. He can be reached by e-mail at warner.matt@me.com. Jazzbeat appears every Sunday.
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