Smooth Jazz News - October-November-Decemeber - 2024

1 2 | S M O O T H J A Z Z N E W S CATALINA ISLAND JAZZTRAX FESTIVAL The 37th By Melanie Maxwell A vision of a quaint seaside village chiseled into island hillsides emerges on the horizon as jazz pilgrims abandon their daily lives and complete a passage to otherworldly Avalon, California, the tiny seaport that is enchanted with a spell of music each year. The Catalina Island JazzTrax Festival is both a celebration and an island destination. Avalon’s main thoroughfare is a crescent fringe hugging the harbor, so it is easy to join the community of festivalgoers exploring the attractions afoot or by golf cart (the main mode of transport). This short scenic route is dotted with unique stops and shops and eateries. Fresh fish, hooked and reeled in locally in the morning, can be sizzling on the grill by dinnertime. Other than visitor delights, it’s the festival lineup—always an eclectic mix of up-and-comers, emerging artists and established headliners—that sends genre enthusiasts sailing 26 miles across the Pacific Ocean from Southern California’s coastline to Avalon, where for two weeks each fall it is the center of the smooth jazz universe. For 37 years, Art Good, the festival’s producer, has masterminded a formula that thrills the crowd—and produced a few acts that he admits flopped—and brings a third of his audience as returning guests each year. “I start with the four major headliners for Saturday and Sunday closers. They are always the hardest to nail down, and most expensive. There are a number of artists like Boney James, Gerald Albright, Dave Koz, who I like to try and get every other year, no matter what. Get those conquered, next step is loads easier,” Good explained over the phone from his cabin in Big Bear Lake, California, where he was escaping the triple-digit August heat of his Palm Springs, California, home base. “Then I look for a couple of blasts from the past, one for each weekend. Dan Siegel is one of those this year. And, I’m always looking Avalon, California Oct. 10-13 and Oct. 17-20 P h o t o : L o r i S t o l l Descanso Beach Blake Aaron Booker T. Jones Richard Elliot & Rick Braun Marcus Anderson e Spinners P h o t o : M a r k M a r y a n o v i c h P h o t o : P a t B e n t e r P h o t o : T a n i s h a W a l k e r