The Who, What, When & Where of our Concerts
Item
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Title
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The Who, What, When & Where of our Concerts
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Description
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Account of priorities and processes to solicit and secure concert appearances by artists.
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Creator
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Eclipse Jazz
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Date
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Autumn 1977
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License
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Copyright holder does not require license.
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Rights Holder
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Regents of the University of Michigan
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Format
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.pdf
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Source
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Winter Newsletter 1977, folder 6, box 2, Eclipse Jazz (University of Michigan) records, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan
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extracted text
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I
•••
How do we at Eclipse Jazz schedule performers
for our concerts?1 The answer is not simple. First,
the artists we present must meet one of our primary goals: educating the comn,unity to the rich
musical tradition of jazz in America. Second, and
equally important, is the availability of artists and
the artists' demands for the proper concert environment.
And third, is the age old problem of
price.
Jazz is a rnusical form which covers many types
of sound. At one extreme is the mild, harmonic,
straight-rhythmed jazz. At the other extreme there
is the discordant, varied rhythm, more pungent
Jazz.
At Eclipse we began this season with the popular fusion-oriented jazz of Jean-Luc Ponty and
blended our way through the mainstream artists
like Sonny Rollins and lesser known traditional
artists I ike Dexter Gordon. Near the end of the
season, we felt more confortable introducing the
new jazz of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Each
artist is worthwhile in their own right but can best
be appreciated if the Iistener is given the proper
background.
We are wrapping up our season with Oscar Peterson, who is a return to the easy jazz for students
already in discord over upcoming final exams and
the non-student fol lowers of Oscar Peterson.
Now, you may ask, how do we get these artists
to come to Ann Arbor?
Our initial question concerns artist availability.
Thelonius Monk is a good example of someone
we would love to have, however his health and
other unknown factors prevents his appearance.
A related problem is the timing of an artist's
tour. For example, Sam Rivers and other New
Music performers rely on European concert dates
as an important source of income. We sometimes
encounter conflicts with these trips.
Finally, certain artists will only play large concert halls. This restriction sometimes makes the
concert too expensive, therefore too risky for
Eclipse to undertake. Stanley Turrentine and JeanLuc Ponty, for instance, will not play smaller halls
like the Union Ballroorn.
Matching our available hall dates with artist availability is a never-ending job. We must also consider
timing of the concert in relation to holidays, final
exams and major events like the Ohio State ga111e.
Eclipse has extablished healthy working relationships with other similarly directed jazz promotion
groups including Showcase Jazz in East Lansing,
Jade Productions at Eastern Michigan University in
Ypsilanti and the Clarenceville High series out of
Schoolcraft Community College. Part of these relationships is a mutual agreement not to produce
concerts on the same dates if at all possible. Also,
Eel i pse is part of the Off ice of Major Events which
produces concerts by the Eagles, Elvis, Averaqe
White Band, Frank Zappa, etc. Eclipse has a similar understanding with that office.
All of this amounts to approximately 15 concerts in addition to the nine Eclipse concerts planned, for example, for the fal I season. There are
about 16 weeks offal I classes. Take out one for the
first week back from summer, one for Thanksgiving and three for finals and the last week of classes.
We are left with about 11 usable concert weekends.
Molding these 11 weeks into a meaningful concert series is our objective at Eclipse. We help artists coming to Ann Arbor by finding other adjacent
concert dates if possible. But most of all, Eclipse
attracts artists to Ann Arbor because the community has shown tremendous support for jazz and this
has given Eclipse and Ann Arbor a valued reputation among jazz artists.
ECLIPSE
JAZZ SEASONTICKETS
MAKEFINE
CHRISTMAS
GIFTS
APOLLO MUSIC
CENTER
323 S. MAIN
ANN ARBOR
MARTIN
EARTH
769-1400
GIBSON
ROAD
FENDER
FOR ALLYOURNEEDS
LUDWIG
SEE:
Jerry Piku
Don Ford
(musically)
ROLAND
SELMER
Pat Sonse
Cindy Mikesell
