Bill Meredith

There are changes in the air for the JVC Jazz Festival's May 16-17 event in Miami. In the fresh air, to be exact.
The regular leadoff city of JVC's annual worldwide tour has changed its previous eight-year format -- in which artists performed at different indoor concert halls and clubs -- to a central outdoor location, the Bayfront Park Ampitheater.
The 2008 headliner at the Miami waterfront venue is veteran Brazilian star Sergio Mendes. The bandleading pianist, composer, arranger and producer rose to fame in the United States while leading his Brasil '66 band, and wrote the theme to the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Mendes' 2006 comeback CD #Timeless# was his first release in eight years, and it drew younger listeners by featuring guests like John Legend, India Arie, Erykah Badu, Justin Timberlake, and members of the Black Eyed Peas and Jurassic 5. Mendes has a 2008 Concord release, #Encanto#, to add to the new-look theme in Miami.
"We have a relatively new company," says John Phillips, president of the Live Events division of The Festival Network, which took over in presenting the JVC Jazz Festival from Festival Productions last year. "So the event in Miami will look a little different than in years past, including going outdoors. Last year, we had a three-day festival, but we've always jumped around, going from two days to as many as five. It's variable year-to-year. But we're upping the ante this year to make it bigger and better."
Phillips had already been with George Wein's Festival Productions for several years before that festival guru's 25-year-old JVC tour debuted in 1984. A former Festival Productions president who's now worked for the company for 30 years, Phillips has watched the Miami festival evolve since it was added to the list of participating cities in 2000.
"An outdoor event near the water in Miami really captures the flavor of the local environment," Phillips says. "It'll be nice to do something outdoors and have a festive atmosphere, rather than doing it indoors like we have in the past. Bayfront is right on the water, and Miami is an outdoor town. There's a synergy with the beach and the water that indoor concerts can't necessarily touch upon. But we'll also work with some of the hotels on Miami Beach, notably the Raleigh Hotel, to do some late-night stuff inside. We want to tap into that late-night Miami scene as well, which we haven't in the past."
The 82-year-old Wein (still an executive for The Festival Network) remains a vital component to the entire JVC Jazz Festival map. His initial outdoor jazz masterpiece, the 1954 Newport Jazz Festival, continues in the annual series as the JVC Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island. With the master still on board, perhaps Miami's new-look outdoor JVC Jazz Festival can also have a lasting imprint.
"George is still our mentor and guide," Phillips says.
In its previous eight years, the JVC Jazz Festival in Miami had a roster of performers that included Wayne Shorter, Tony Bennett, George Benson, Arturo Sandoval, Bebel Gilberto, Gato Barbieri, Etta James, Chris Botti, Hilton Ruiz, Randy Brecker, and Medeski, Martin & Wood.
"That shows the high caliber of our artists," Phillips says "This year, the new company also has a new approach with green initiatives, because we're very environmentally conscious. We're going for a younger audience as well as our established audience."
Images of Miami include not only its famed beaches and after-hours nightlife, but its predominant Latin American culture. Phillips sees the outdoor format, participation of the Raleigh Hotel, and the Mendes signing as ways of reaching out.
"We're trying to be more true to the destination," he says, "and build an experience for our audience that really rings true in conjunction with the Miami market. We want to incorporate some of the distinctive characteristics of Miami as a destination for the festival-goer, which include being outdoors and near the water, plus the late-night scene. There are also so many different populations represented from Central and South America, and we've always had a Latin jazz element. It's a very diverse city, and it's been an interesting journey figuring out who our audience is, and what the perfect combination of musicians, venues and dates are. We're still on the road, but we're getting closer all the time."