TOP TEN REASONS
THE SACRAMENTO JAZZ JUBILEE IS A COOL THING TO DO
ON MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND
by Joyce Krieg

10. It gives you a perfect excuse not to have to show up at your second-cousin’s wedding, re-seed the lawn, clean the barbecue, chaperone your next-door neighbor’s kid’s high school grad night party, or whatever else you’d normally be doing on a Memorial Day weekend.

9. If you live in Sacramento, you’ll avoid a holiday weekend traffic nightmare. If you’re driving in from out-of-town, you’ll be going opposite the flow of all those folks heading up to Lake Tahoe or over to the Coast.

8. It’s a bargain. Where else can you enjoy four days and three nights of pure entertainment for less than a hundred bucks? Just try pricing Broadway show tickets and you’ll see what we mean.

7. If you hole up at a downtown or Cal Expo area hotel for the weekend, there’s no worry about DUI thanks to the efficient Jubilee bus system. Even better yet, park an RV at Cal Expo and let the party begin!

6. The Jubilee bartenders. Need we say more?

5. You get to choose the experience that works for you, whether it’s bopping around on the oil slicks under the I-5 freeway or luxuriating in the cool comfort of Sacramento’s finest hotels.

4. Where else can you see kids raised on MTV grooving to the tunes from musicians old enough to have gigged at the Cotton Club?

3. You get to boogie at one big street party without the usual hassles such events entail. Trad jazz fans are the nicest, friendliest people in the world!

2. It’s so incredibly square that it transcends the boundaries and becomes hip and, yes, the very essence of cool.

1. And the Number One reason the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee is a cool thing to do on a Memorial Day weekend is: The Music! You’re part of a celebration of a national treasure, everything from the New Orleans roots of jazz to swing and beyond. It’s the music that brings us together every Memorial Day weekend and keeps us coming back year after year.

Joyce Krieg’s first novel, “Murder Off Mike” will be published in April 2003 by St. Martin’s Press and features action set at the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee.

 

JAZZ JUBILEE DOS AND DON'TS
By Joyce Krieg

Going to the Jubilee for the first time? Here are 12 "Dos and Don'ts" from a veteran fan to help you survive and thrive.

DO stay in one place. "Let's see. According to the program, we can catch that cowboy band at Cal Expo, we'll hear the Brazilian guys at the Radisson...." Forget about it. Though the Jubilee shuttle system is a marvel of efficiency, with a schedule like that you'll spend most of your time either getting to or sitting on a bus. It's fine to bop around from site to site within a jazz center, but don't plan on making many major changes of location--say, Old Sacramento to the Radisson--within a 24 hour period.

DO bring a jacket. The Jubilee dress code is decidedly casual. But still, that shorts and tank top ensemble that looks so fetching under the midday sun will be somewhat less attractive next to blue skin and goosebumps when those Delta breezes kick in at sundown. And, if you opt to spend your evening in one of the upscale hotel ballrooms, you may wish for a slightly less outdoorsy look. Like mom said, bring a sweater.

DO plan ahead. Why waste precious minutes away from the music running back to the car or hotel because you didn't come prepared in the first place? Essentials: a sun hat or baseball cap, industrial strength sunscreen, cash. You can pay for your admission with plastic, but once inside a jazz venue, it's strictly a cash operation for food and beverage tickets. Also handy: those pre-moistened towelettes in the foil wrapper, for cleaning up after indulging in a slice of pizza or ice cream cone on the run, a small folding fan (available at gadget stores and import shops). Also a stadium cushion, if you don't mind toting it around.

DON'T bring sports bottles, camcorders or tape recorders. The sound may be New Orleans, but unlike the Big Easy, you're not allowed to wander around the streets of Sacramento with alcoholic beverages in your hand. This means no beverage--not even designer water bottles--may be carried out of Jubilee performance sites. Camcorders are outlawed by the Musicians Union.  They do allow small, personal tape recorders for personal use. But think about it. How great are those tunes going to sound coming from that small tinny recorder? And what kind of message are you sending the musicians? "Gee, I dig your music, but not enough to actually pay for it." Almost all of the bands will be selling tapes and CDs. Look for a sales table in the back of the venue.

DON'T forget your street smarts. The Jubilee is known for its friendly, mellow fans, but that doesn't mean you should let down your guard. Use the same common sense you'd employ in an urban crowd setting. Don't flash large wads of cash. Keep and eye on your belongings and be aware of your surroundings. Don't pin your admission badge to your jacket and drape it over the back of your chair--too much temptation for the sticky-fingered.

DO pace yourself. Maybe it's because much of this music originated in the Prohibition era, but Jubilee bartenders have been known to pour with a "somewhat liberal" hand. Tapping your toes through a pleasant afternoon is part of the quarter-century tradition. On the other hand, it's considered uncool to become hammered, spring break-style drunk. So pace yourself. It goes without saying if you do plan to indulge, you'll designate a driver or rely on the Jubilee shuttle bus system.

DO observe Jubilee etiquette. If an evening at the opera represents one end of the decorum spectrum and Burning Man the other extreme, then the Jubilee falls square in the middle. The mood is casual, fun and friendly.

• Tapping your toes and bouncing around in your seat in time to the music is not only OK, you'll look weird if you sit still. Just make sure your flailing limbs aren't inflicting bodily injury on your neighbors.

• Its fine to bring food and drink to your seat, and you're welcome to move about during a set. Just show some basic consideration to your neighbors and musicians and don't get up in the middle of a number.

• Saving seats is against official Jubilee rules. Please don't be a jerk and hassle someone whose companion is obviously away for a short time. However, if you are fortunate enough to get seats please don't save seats for people not inside the venue.

• Don't even think of using an empty seat in a crowded venue for storing backpacks, jackets, food or drinks.

DO consider those in your party with special needs. Aunt Velma wilts in the heat? Your kids think porta-potties are gross? Old Sacramento, though long on ambiance, can come up a bit short in the creature comforts department. If members of your party have climate control or mobility issues, the Convention Center or a hotel may be a better choice.

DON'T stay home just because you don't have a date. The Jubilee is a terrific place for singles of any age or gender to hang out. You'll become part of the big family in the block party atmosphere of the outdoor venues, Old Sacramento and Cal Expo. Gals who are flying solo may find Old Sacramento a bit, shall we say, intense during the late evening hours and may feel more comfortable at a hotel or the Convention Center when the evening winds down. On the reverse side, don't travel with an entourage suitable for a head of state. You'll never find good seats together for a party of five or more, and you'll spend your time in endless discussions along the lines "What do you want to do?"... "I dunno. What do you want to do?"

DO think strategically to get a primo seat for the hot bands. Like the Jubilee says, your badge is admission to all events at the festival. It does not guarantee a seat at a particular performance. If there's a band you're dying to see, show up at least one set ahead of their scheduled performance time. Once inside, pick a seat on the aisle, then keep your antenna tuned for people with good seats who look like they're getting ready to leave. This is where it does come in handy to have a partner. While one holds the current seats, the other is poised to pounce the instant the other people really do leave. You may have to play leapfrog several times before you hit front row center. Be prepared to move quickly and act somewhat ruthlessly. Just remember, it's rude to your fellow fans and the musicians to play this game in the middle of a number.

DO study the program."Help! I don't know Fats Waller from Fats Domino. I don't even know if I like this music." Buy a program and study the band descriptions. Good choices for beginners are those whose repertoire has strayed beyond pure Dixieland (or "trad") to include elements of blues, country and Cajun. The roots of--dare I speak it's name?--rock'n'roll. Check out the "festivals within the festival",the blues, Western swing and Zydeco parties on Friday night.

DO say thanks. If you've enjoyed a performance, the sincerest way to say thanks to the musicians is to purchase one of their tapes or CDs. Think about it--there's big money to be made playing Traditional jazz, right? Seriously, many of the bands are counting on recording sales to help pay some of the Jubilee expenses. Your purchase will send the performers home with fond memories of the warm, generous fans in Sacramento. Meanwhile, you have the music to remind you of the terrific time you had over Memorial Day weekend, until it's time to do it all again next year!

NOTE: Joyce Krieg was a regular at the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee the many years she lived in Sacramento -- going back to the start of the Jubilee in 1974. She has continued to join us annually at the Jubilee since moving to the Monterey area several years ago.)

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When musicians talk about “gettin’ down,” it’s really shorthand for “gettin’ down and dirty”— exploring the power of their music all the way out to its rhythmic, harmonic, expressionistic limit.

And that’s why the 2004 Sacramento Jazz Jubilee invites you to get down with us. Come down to Sacramento; don’t just sit and watch the boys and girls at work, but get up off your rusty dusty and get down with us.

This is the 31st annual running of Sacramento’s—and jazz’s—biggest show, more than three dozen venues that sprawl from the big muddy river that delimits our town, all the way out to the leafy environs of Cal Expo, connected by Sacramento’s buses and trains and by melodies that float over our city the way smog floats over Los Angeles.

This year’s show brings to the fore, for the first time here, Sam Butera and The Wildest, an aptly named aggregation from Las Vegas whose advance publicity indicates that they have every possibility of peeling the mustardy paint off the Tower Bridge. Flanking Butera and his outlandish gang will be several returnees—the newly many-faceted Jack Daniel’s Silver Cornet Band, the magnificently talented Classic Jazz Band led by John Allred and B.E.D, a group that, contrary to its name, is likely to keep your eyes wide open.

It is the diversity of this festival that regularly brings more than 100,000 people out of their early-summer doldrums to get down with us. We present lots of traditional jazz, but in addition, you can hear swing, blues, zydeco, barbershop, ragtime and western swing music, along with a number of specialty acts that defy description.

But if it were just the music, it is likely that this wouldn’t be the most successful jazz festival on earth.

It’s the party atmosphere that does it.

This is old folks and young together, folks of every description, partying and hanging out, dancing, grooving, and lettin’ it happen under the jovial suzerainty of a grand jubilatin’ Emperor, this year, the fastidious Howard Alden, guitarist extraordinaire.

Five bands come to the Jubilee this year from outside the United States: the Big Band Trio and Jumpin’ Jive Orchestra from Victoria, the Climax Jazz Band from Toronto, Fat Sam’s Band from Edinburgh, the Hot Jazz Band from Budapest, and the Jazzin’ Jacks, from Sweden.

The Jubilee features a vast array of almost 1,000 performers in our concert venues as well as dozens of special performances, including the big opening parade, Sunday jazz gospel services, specialty concerts for pianists, banjoists and washboardists, and programs to honor America’s men and women in uniform.

Favorite American bands include Cornet Chop Suey from St. Louis, Big Tiny Little’s Show band from the Nevada circuit, the Chicago Six and Nightblooming Jazzmen from Southern California, the Royal Society Orchestra from the San Francisco Bay Area, Reynolds Brothers’ Rhythm Rascals (now based in California) and Sacramento’s own Mick Martin and the Blues Rockers.

The Jubilee presents three guest artists of tremendous caliber who float around and sit in with established bands – this year, reedmen Bob Draga and George Probert and John Sheridan, — and one band made up of the very best from the Midwest and another all-star group from the east coast.

We have kids galore – almost 20 bands from around the US – who represent the future of jazz.

And while we’re not one to promise, we’ll do our best to wrap it all in Sacramento’s beguiling late-spring weather – the very best for gettin’ down.

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I was dragged kicking and screaming (well, whining and kvetching) to my first Jazz Jubilee back in 1979. I mean, wasn’t I supposed to be boogying to Donna Summer and Le Freak with the rest of my Baby Boomer generation? What was up with this corny old music festival?

By my second or third drink at Freeway Gardens, I was hooked. Something about the friendly Jubilee crowds, the let-it-all-hang-out atmosphere, made that corny old music just sparkle and shine like it was hot off the charts. Disco was never this much fun! Or maybe it was some magic worked by those Jubilee bartenders ….

Now, I do have a dirty little secret. Unlike most of my contemporaries, I grew up with that corny old music, in a house that featured not only a wind-up Edison record player and a collection of thick disks, but also a tinkly player piano, complete with dozens of rolls. While my friends’ parents filled their homes with those syrupy sounds from the 50s—you know, Vaughn Monroe, Henry Mancini, Mitch Miller—my childhood soundtrack consisted of 1920s fox trots, Nola, and the Tiger Rag.

During my first Jubilees, I hid the fact that I could sing along to “Redwing” or that I knew verses to “Don’t Bring Lulu” that even the Royal Society Jazz Orchestra doesn’t include in their rendition. Like, what if someone actually found out? My hip and happenin’ credentials would be forever destroyed. Shoot, I felt like I had to put a paper bag over my head in case someone my age actually spotted me bopping down the streets of Old Sacramento.

How pathetic was that? One thing about getting older, you just stop caring about how “cool” you may look, or don’t look. You begin to realize that what counts is being true to yourself, and to honoring your unique heritage and tastes, even if that consists of preferring Jelly Roll Morton over Sir Mix-A-Lot.

Twenty-some years after that first Jubilee, I wrote a book in which the heroine is dragged kicking and screaming to her first Jazz Jubilee. “Rinky-tink, razzamatazz music that should have been given a decent burial at least fifty years ago,” Shauna J. Bogart initially whines in Murder Off Mike. She finally sees the light Friday afternoon in Freeway Gardens. “I could almost smell the whiskey and cigarette smoke and hear the clink of glasses raised in a toast over the notes of a sultry torch singer….Or maybe it was just all that gin,” she tells us.

They say that life imitates art, but in my case, I’d have to say that art imitates life. Especially at the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee. Especially after a hot band and a cold drink at Freeway Gardens.

 

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