More St. Louis musicians added to US Bank jazz fest lineup

Sandy Weltman's New Harmonica Jazz is one of seven St. Louis-based
acts added to the festival lineup since it was first announced.

The press kits sent to local media last week by the US Bank St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival reveal a near-final version of the festival lineup that includes two St. Louis-based acts that have been added since StLJN's last post on the subject, with the added possibility of one more.

The latest performance schedule distributed by festival organizers shows Rick Haydon and the SIUE Jazz Ensemble performing on the "Soul School" stage at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 24, and Sandy Weltman's New World Harmonica Jazz playing on the same stage later that same day at 7:00 p.m. In addition, the schedule shows as "not confirmed" a set by Carol Schmidt and Friends on the "Soul School" stage at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.

Assuming that Schmidt's appearance is confirmed, or she's replaced by another St. Louis-based group, that makes a total of seven local and regional acts that have been added to the Festival's bill since the 2006 lineup was first announced with just one St. Louis based performer, vocalist Denise Thimes. So, in the interest of fairness, I must retract my earlier criticism of the festival organizers for not including enough St. Louis groups and musicians. I don't know if they intended all along to add more local acts, or have revised their plans along the way, but it doesn't really make any difference. The facts have changed, and to continue to excoriate them for ignoring St. Louis musicians would be unfair.

That said, there are still valid criticisms to be made about which acts were booked, and the absence of any headliners playing adventurous or even straight-ahead jazz. But looking at some of the other materials in the press kit, it would appear that organizers are indeed laying the groundwork to change the festival from a jazz-oriented event to one that includes a number of musical genres. The addition of the word "Heritage" to the fest's name was an initial clue that things may be headed in the same direction as the New Orleans JazzFest, which these days contains precious little actual jazz music when compared to other major jazz festivals.

A second clue is contained in the boilerplate language used to describe the event in the various items in the press packet: "Jazz Fest is a family-oriented two day cultural event with multiple stages that feature top local and nation performers in jazz, blues, roots, rhythm and blue (sic) and much more!" (Emphasis added.).

This sure sounds to me as if the organizers are coveting the same audience that attends the Big Muddy Blues Festival, which, despite fairly strong attendance, has had financial troubles for the last couple of years. While this year's lineup for Shaw Park doesn't include anyone you'd expect to see play the Big Muddy fest, this statement, in combination with the other changes this year, would seem to position the US Bank festival as either a potential competitor or, if the Big Muddy goes under, an inheritor.

StLJN will have plenty more about this, as well as lots of other related coverage, during the coming weeks leading up to the US Bank St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival.