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Friday, August 17, 2001 By Doug Pullen
Joe Freyre vowed last year that he'd attend this weekend's 20th annual Flint Jazz Festival, which opens tonight in the Riverbank Park Amphitheater, even "if they have to wheelchair me in." Of course, the man who nurtured the festival through its tunefully bumpy 19-year-existence also vowed to put together a festival "they won't believe," but that was before the severe stroke that crippled him earlier this year. But Flint's 68-year-old jazz ambassador will make good on his pledge to be there - in a wheelchair. "I'm planning on attending the festival, all of it or at least as much as I can," says Freyre, who is the subject of a tribute at Sunday night's finale. "All I have to worry about," he adds with a chuckle, "is if I have to go to the john." He won't have to worry about that, either, since he handed over the festival's reigns to Clyde Lee of Lebo Productions and the Greater Flint Arts Council, which is producing this year's festival. The new regime is taking care of that and every other aspect of this year's festival, which features 25 performances tonight through Sunday at the Riverbank Park Amphitheater behind the Character Inn. Lee and the arts council stepped in last year after Freyre announced his intention to cancel the festival two weeks before it was scheduled to take place. They learned a lot from that experience and are putting those lessons to use this year as the festival's producers. They've lined up a lot of the same artists, particularly local and regional regulars, and, thanks to a beefed up budget of nearly $80,000, signed on some big names, including tonight's headliner, saxophonist Ronnie Laws and Saturday's headliner, Kenny Garrett, the highly regarded young saxophonist from Detroit. Sunday's finale starts at noon, includes a show on the Garland Street bridge by the Loco Motion low riders at 5 p.m., a performance by Freyre's old People's Jazz Band, who played the first festival in 1982, at 5:30 p.m., and a series of performances and proclamations (from the city of Flint, the state Legislature and others) starting at 7 p.m. The night will close with a 9 p.m. performance by New Orleans' Los Hombres Calientes, whose musical, Latino-flavored gumbo is fitting for a guy like Freyre, who grew up listening to his Puerto Rican father's Latin jazz collection as a kid in Saginaw. Other than the tribute, this year's festival is pretty much in keeping with the 19 that came before it. That was by design, says Lee, who called on musician Dave Huber, who has played every festival, to help out. "It's important to me," says Lee, "to maintain the integrity of the program. I've added some nuances, but nothing you can tell outwardly. It's been more from a marketing aspect, trying to make sure that was done, make sure the park ... was cleaned up ... little bitty things." There is one big difference. The traditional Thursday opening was lopped off this year, something Freyre calls a "bummer." "I'm going to put it back on (in the future), but with the money I had and the groups I had, I wanted to make a real definitive impression," Lee says. "I'd rather have a good three days, not a mediocre four." Lee has brought in a few different vendors, who'll sell everything from barbecue to tamales. Souvenir hats, T-shirts and programs will be available. Lee hopes to donate a portion of the proceeds to Freyre, who was faced with considerable medical expenses after his stroke last February (last June's "Jazz for Joe" benefit raised $21,000). While the festival will look and sound the same to regulars, it's been a different situation behind the scenes. After its board gave the arts council permission to produce this year's festival, Lee rounded up a committee of seven people, including musicians and marketing executives, to piece together this year's event. The $78,000 budget came from various sources, including the Mott Foundation, the Ruth Mott Foundation, the Downtown Development Authority (which launched the festival in 1982), the Kay Huber Trust and Comcast Cablevision, which will tape the festival for future broadcast. The money was used to secure big names, like Laws, and put together the most aggressive marketing campaign in the festival's history, including television commercials and promotional packets that have been mailed out all over the Midwest. "We've been able to put together one hell of a marketing package," Lee says. "We've had people call from as far away as Indiana, Ohio, Traverse City and Port Huron." Huber's job was to keep the music consistent with past festivals. "I wanted to make sure the artistic integrity was maintained," Huber says. "I didn't want to turn it into a cool jazz festival." Greg Fiedler, the arts council's director, says the jazz festival is important to downtown and its future. "Jazz is an art form that's appreciated by so many diverse segments of our community. This is one festival where everybody comes and celebrates. It doesn't seem to have any racial boundaries, age boundaries, and it does seem to have any social boundaries," Fiedler says. "Everybody enjoys jazz. That makes it an art form the Flint community really needs." He plans to ask the GFAC board to produce the festival for at least the next few years. "We'll take it a few years at a time and show them a track record," Fiedler says. "I think they all see the benefit of having a wonderful festival like this." Lee admits it's a lot of hard work, but he thinks the benefits will be etched on the smiling faces of the thousands of people expected to attend this weekend. He wants to build on what Freyre worked so hard to establish and envisions a time when performances take place on several stages. He says it should live well into the future. "The jazz festival will continue on way past me," he says. "It's something that has to be an institution here." It's already got one thing going for it: Freyre's seal of approval. "I think," Freyre says, "they've done a good job." Doug Pullen covers music and media. He may be reached at (810) 766-6140 or dpullen@flintjournal.com. |
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