Jazz festival leaves the city

Cincinnati Post

Publication date: 02/07/2003

Staff and wire reports

The organizer of a long-standing Cincinnati tradition -- the summer jazz festival at the ballpark -- will move the event to Detroit this year because efforts by black activists to boycott downtown Cincinnati have hurt profits.
Boycott-related artist cancellations and a shrinking audience caused producer Joe Santangelo to cancel the soul and R&B extravaganza last year for the first time since his family started putting on the event in 1962.

It has previously been known by as the Kool Jazz Festival and the Coors Light Jazz Festival.

Santangelo put last year's festival on hiatus, citing the entertainment boycott and the lack of a corporate sponsor.

At the time, Santangelo was upbeat about finding a corporate sponsor and said he hoped to bring the festival back this year, staged at the new Great American Ballpark.

The festival has 40-year roots, first held in 1962 at the Carthage Fairgrounds as the Ohio Valley Jazz festival promoted by Santangelo's late brother, Dino, and George Wein, founder of the Newport Jazz Festival.

It moved to Riverfront Stadium in the early '70s as the Kool Jazz Festival, evolving into a soul and R&B event.

Santangelo's troubles began in 2001 when festival attendance was down by 40 percent in the wake of the April riots that followed a white Cincinnati police officer's fatal shooting of an unarmed, fleeing black teen. But the festival's problems the last two years ran deeper than the racial issues and city boycott.

After the 2001 festival, long-time sponsor Coors informed Santangelo that it was pulling out due to a change in corporate marketing policy. In the post-Sept 11 business retrenchment, Santangelo was unable to snag a corporate sponsor for the 2002 festival.

Santangelo also found himself at greater personal financial risk. Six years ago, he had sold the festival rights to Blue Chip Broadcasting, owner of WIZF and WDBZ. But when Blue Chip was bought by Radio One in 2001, the new owners had no desire to keep the festival, and it reverted to Santangelo.

Santangelo has said the festival is a $2 million commitment for talent and production costs before a ticket is sold.

The festival also was feeling strong competition from the popular eight- year-old Indianapolis Black Expo, a jazz and R&B event held at the same time in late July.

Cancellation of the annual festival is a significant blow to dozens of small businesses and entrepreneurs who cater to festival-goers such as street vendors, limousine companies, clothing and fashion stores and food caterers. It also filled downtown hotels.

But this summer, that business will go to Detroit, where the two-day event will be held at Comerica Park.


Copyright 2003 The Cincinnati Post, an E.W. Scripps newspaper.
Use of this site signifies agreement to terms of service updated 12/19/02.