Paetec festival returns with a broader focus

By Sam Sessa | sun reporter

February 14, 2008

Baltimore will host a Paetec music festival again this summer, but jazz is noticeably absent from the name.

Featuring headliners Earth, Wind and Fire, last year's three-day Paetec Jazz Festival drew more than 25,000. But members of the local jazz community were quick to point out the small number of jazz acts in the lineup.

But this year, rather than add more jazz acts and keep the name, festival organizers opted to change the name to reflect a broader focus. The festival also will become a tour with stops in four more cities.

Festival producer Marc Iacona said if the right jazz acts are available, they will book them, but jazz will not be a primary focus of the festival. As such, calling it a jazz festival would be misleading, he said.

Organizers said last year that they were trying to make jazz more popular, and one way to expose people to jazz was to draw them to the festival with mainstream acts. Last year, organizers had hoped that future festivals could feature more jazz once the event was established.

"We're dropping it because we want to open up the flexibility of having all different genres and not be hypocritical about it," Iacona said. "If the city wants to drive toward more of a jazz festival, we'll be supportive," he said. "We're doing this all through the funding of Paetec."

But dropping "jazz" from the title makes more sense, said Henry Wong, the owner of the jazz and classical music venue An die Musik Live in Mount Vernon.

"I think it's good, because they understand when you use the word [jazz] and don't deliver it, you can get more criticism than positive response," Wong said. "It was wise. Hopefully someday we will have a Baltimore Jazz Festival."

In addition to stopping in Baltimore on Aug. 15 and 16, the Paetec Music Tour will also be held in Chicago, Charlotte, N.C., Dallas and Tampa, Fla. Headliners Al Green, Dr. John and Dickey Betts & Great Southern will start the tour in Tampa, but the lineup will change in each city.

"We always had planned that if Baltimore was successful last year, we'd try to grow it to as many cities as possible," said Paetec Chairman and CEO Arunas A. Chesonis. "There's a lot of potential there. There could be a lot more than just the five that are on the table this year."

The Baltimore lineup will be announced one to two months before the festival.

This year, the Pier Six Pavilion in the Inner Harbor will again be the anchor for the headliners, and at least one other open-air venue will host live music, Chesonis said.

Regional acts will again be recruited to round out the festival's roster, Chesonis said.

"Part of the excitement the local community feels each time is when you can bring some of the top regional artists and get them involved in the open-air venues," he said. "I think a combination works well."

sam.sessa@baltsun.com

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Paetec festival returns with a broader focus

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