Jazz Fest Could Lead to More Convention Center Shows

This weekend’s “FM98 KiFM Anniversary Jazz Festival” could have long-range implications for the San Diego music scene. It will test the viability of the San Diego Convention Center as a draw for pop-jazz audiences, which could lead to more concerts there and competition for other venues.

KIFM’s festival is an outgrowth of annual anniversary parties that began in 1990. But, instead of a free party, this year’s celebration is a full-fledged festival with $20 tickets, of which 5,500 of 6,000 already have been sold.

The event has also expanded to two days. On Saturday, Simply Red and Joe Sample share the bill for a 7 p.m. concert at the San Diego Convention Center’s rooftop, open-air, 8,000-capacity pavilion. Known primarily as a rock band, Simply Red has crossed over to other radio formats and audiences, including KIFM’s.

Sunday, from noon to 7 p.m., Ottmar Liebert, Marilyn Scott, Dave Koz, Bobby Caldwell, Keiko Matsui, Nelson Rangell, Tuck & Patti, and many others will play the main ballroom, restaurants, and outdoor stages set up in the courtyard and on tennis courts at the Hyatt Regency on La Jolla Village Drive.

Promoter Rob Hagey is producing the show, although he is not hiring the bands. It’s his first concert under the fabric tent at the Convention Center, and a success might prompt him to book shows of his own there.

“We’ve been considering the space as a venue for a festival, or in years to come, for Street Scene,” said Hagey, referring to the downtown music festival he presents every September.

Eventually, light jazz events under the tent could compete with promoter Kenny Weissberg’s Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay summer series.

Some of the artists playing KIFM’s party--Caldwell, Kilauea, and Dave Koz--are part of Humphrey’s lineup this year, but Weissberg doesn’t see KIFM’s event as competition. Not surprising, since the relationship between Humphrey’s and KIFM has always been tight. Humphrey’s advertises on the station and advances the cause of light jazz through concerts, KIFM plays the music on the radio and plugs the concerts on-air.

“We work very cooperatively,” Weissberg said. “They let me know who they’re interested in bringing, and, if it’s someone I’ve booked, they guarantee they’ll go to bat (i.e. give extra on-air promotion) for people who have played their party when they come to Humphrey’s.”

Anyway, Weissberg explained, acts playing both KIFM’s party and Humphrey’s are doing different things at each event. Koz and Caldwell, for example, will share the stage with singer Scott, instead of fronting their own groups, as they will at Humphrey’s.

Long range, Weissberg claims he doesn’t see the Convention Center’s large capacity outdoor space (it holds more than 8,000, Humphrey’s seats 1,200) as competition.

“All I can say is what I’ve been saying for nine years. There have been people who have tried to compete with Humphrey’s, but Humphrey’s is still here,” he said. “I’m sure others will continue to come along and present concerts at an assortment of venues, but I’ve always maintained that the difference between Humphrey’s and an 8,000- or 5,000-seat venue is that we can afford people intimacy that the others can’t.”

The KIFM festival will double as a gigantic music industry mixer. In addition to 6,000 fans expected to attend, 2,000 comp tickets are going to industry types, including representatives from major labels and trade publications.

Tickets for the KIFM party can be purchased at the station’s Golden Triangle office (3655 Nobel Drive, Suite 470).

San Diego multi-instrumentalist Turiya, a bright light on the local jazz scene in recent years with her Immediate Freedom Band and other groups, will move from San Diego in September to further her music career. She plans to shift her home base either to Austin, Texas, where she was raised and where she hopes to sell some country songs through old country music connections there, or to New York City, a hot spot for jazz, where she’ll spend September.

B Natural, the women-led jazz band she is a part of, will continue to be a high priority, she says. The group has been writing original material, recording demo songs and making contact with labels. B Natural formed earlier this year and debuted at KSDS-FM’s “Jazz Live” concert series in March. The group has been busy with an increasing number of local dates, including last weekend’s “Celebrating the Americas” festival downtown. Turiya plans to keep an apartment in Tijuana and visit San Diego regularly, so B Natural will continue to play local dates.

RIFFS: Tickets for Kenny G’s six Humphrey’s shows on Aug. 2, 3 and 4 went on sale May 2, and 5,000 of 7,200 are gone. . . .

Rob Hagey is working on entertainment for his September Street Scene, the huge outdoor music orgy downtown. Among the entertainers he is considering are jazz saxophonist Bobby Watson and trumpeter Roy Hargrove. As a businessman concerned with the bottom line, he was worried when he picked up his mail last week to find Watson on the cover of Jazz Times and Hargrove on the cover of Downbeat. He wondered if their prices might go up, but so far, their managers assure him the numbers quoted still stand. . . .

KSDS-FM (88.3) jock Gerald Cirrincione has lined up a troika of live interviews for his show this Friday afternoon. At 12:30, he’ll talk with Mike Smith, alto saxophonist with Frank Sinatra; at 1, organist Jimmy Smith; and at 2, trumpeter Randy Brecker.

CRITIC’S CHOICE: CHICAGO SIX PUTS TRADITIONAL JAZZ ON CD

The Chicago Six, one of San Diego’s top traditional jazz bands, has succumbed to the high-tech age. The group’s new self-produced release, “Family Affair,” is a CD.

“Our albums have been selling pretty good at festivals, and we thought it would be worth the investment,” says the band’s bassist and leader Bob Finch. A thousand CDs cost the band twice as much as cassettes would have, but the sound quality is worth it.

All 17 songs were recorded during a 10-hour marathon session at Studio West in Rancho Bernardo. “We’ll never try that again,” says Finch, who chose the cover photo, a circa-1892 shot that includes his great grandfather.

Finch’s ancestor wasn’t a musician, but he appears holding a trombone on the album, courtesy of computerized image enhancement. The material is a cross section of great traditional jazz--Benny Moten, Duke Ellington, Sidney Bechet, Fats Waller, Django Reinhardt--played with hard-driving swing and finesse.

The Chicago Six is no mere weekend nostalgia trip. The band is serious, and the music sounds like it. Now in its 12th year, the group will play 22 jazz festivals in 1992, including this weekend’s 127-band Memorial Day bash in Sacramento. Every Friday evening, from 5:30 to 8, you can hear the Chicago Six at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach. Copies of the new CD are available for $18.