Jarreau out, Neville Brothers in as headliners for Jazz St. Louis gala

Although the news is apparently several weeks old, Jazz St. Louis today sent out an announcement that their 2007 benefit gala scheduled for Friday, March 23 would be headlined by the New Orleans funk band The Neville Brothers. The name of Al Jarreau, previously announced as the main attraction for the event, was nowhere to be found.

I say "apparently several weeks old" because while this is the first notice StLJN has received of the change in headliners, a Google search reveals that Post-Dispatch gossip columnist Deb Peterson wrote about the switch in a brief item at the bottom of her February 9 column:

"Guests at "JAM-A-LOT," the gala benefit for Jazz St. Louis on March 23, will revel with the Nevilles — the Neville Brothers. The band, whose blend of blues, jazz, funk and New Orleans soul is legendary, will be the featured entertainers at the note-able event at Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark Hotel. Al Jarreau had originally been scheduled to headline but had to postpone his appearance."

Setting aside the rather curious wording of this item - how can one "postpone" an appearance at an event that's only held once a year? - a check of the JSL Web site shows that while a couple of references to Jarreau as headliner for the event that were there before are now gone, there's no mention of the Nevilles anywhere, either.

Meanwhile, a look at Jarreau's site, where the last update to his tour schedule was made on February 19, reveals that the singer is set to be in Cape Town, South Africa on March 22 and Perth, Australia on March 24 as part of a tour with George Benson that runs from March 18 to April 3. March 23 is shown as an open date.

With this information, one can surmise that Jarreau had agreed to do JSL's gala, then subsequently confirmed tour dates "down under" and pulled out of the St. Louis appearance. (I've seen some crazy tour routings before, but I think it's safe to assume that no management firm or booking agency would even consider trying to route a client from South Africa to Australia via St. Louis.)

So, given that the switch was made more than a month ago, why didn't JSL just send out a straightforward announcement to their media list at the time? It may be disappointing, perhaps even embarrassing, to lose a headliner in midstream, but these sorts of things happen all the time, and it's not necessarily the presenter's fault. Who knows, perhaps Jarreau has an escape clause built into his standard contract that allows him to get out of a show if it conflicts with a longer tour.

If the feeling was that switching headliners in midstream was somehow a potential liability for the event, giving the information to Deb Peterson doesn't seem like the way to play it down. But Peterson's column is a way to reach the sort of people who attend a lot of charity events in St. Louis, and since a search on Jarreau, the Nevilles and JSL suggests that she's the only one who's published anything about this, one may presume that was the intent.

That still doesn't explain why all mention of Jarreau has been expunged from subsequent communications, especially when things coule be cleared up simply by saying, "The Neville Brothers replace singer Al Jarreau, who was originally announced as headliner but had to cancel due to a scheduling conflict"?

As for the musical substance of the switch: Personally, I enjoy the Nevilles, and have paid my own money to see them more than once, but they're not a jazz group, even using a very broad interpretation of the term. And yes, all things being equal, it probably would be more appropriate for a jazz organization to present an actual jazz group at its biggest event of the year. However, JSL's benefit gala is aimed more at wealthy folks who can afford $300 to $500 a ticket than at hardcore jazz fans, and I'd guess that most of those who attend do so to show their support for the organization and not because of any particular headliner.

Finally, if this news really is more than a month old, why does the JSL Web site still have no updated information about the event? StLJN has made inquiries to Jazz St. Louis marketing coordinator Adam Roach, who's listed as the press contact on today's release. We'll let you know what he has to say.

UPDATE - 3/8/07, 1:25 p.m.: Roach has emailed back confirming that events transpired pretty much as described above, with Jarreau pulling out of his St. Louis appearance after the tour dates with George Benson came though. No word as to why it took so long to get the news out, though.