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Saugatuck Music Festivals PDF

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19-page PDF document researched and created by Mike Sweeney about the 1959, 1960 and 1961 Jazz and 1968 and 1969 Rock/Pop concerts in Saugatuck. Contains text and images. Draft text file on CD in Jazz box
Saugatuck Music Festivals PDF picture number 1
Draft 1. Saugatuck Jazz Festival copy.doc 24MB; Extracted text from the word doc: On the 4th of July 1959, the First Annual Saugatuck Jazz Festival was held at Saugatuck’s famous Big Pavilion. Headlining was the king of Be-Bop, hard-swinging Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie; the cool trombonist Kai Winding, with his unique band with 4 trombones, and one of the great female jazz piano and vocalist, Barbara Carroll. 2,000 chairs extended out from the stage covering the gigantic, 6,600 square-foot, dance-floor. From 7:00 until after one in the morning, the best jazz 1959 had to offer surrounded the great hall and wafted through the vented towers framing the majestic arched roof. With little time and money for promotion, attendance and enthusiasm was encouraging. The Saugatuck council and the promoters went forward with plans to increase the festival two days for next year in 1960 and three days in 1961. On May 6, 1960, the venerable and beloved Big Pavilion surrendered its 340,000 board feet of Michigan pine, and 51 years of frolic, to spontaneous combusting. The loss was devastating to the community and yearly visitors, drawing tears in reminiscence to this very day. Promoter Jim Belcher, along with national jazz agent Associated Booking, had been busy all year assembling one of the best jazz line-ups in the country for the next Festival. Advanced ticket sales indicated that the Jazz Festival’s attendance would far exceed the previous year. The Festival was too far advanced in planning to cancel. Toad Davis of the Blue Tempo, and Tom Johnson of The Saugatuck Hotel (now Choral Gables) had already set up jam-sessions for the weekend but no venue in Saugatuck was remotely large enough to handle the Festival crowd, estimated to surpass 10,000. The Big Pavilion was the largest dance hall in Michigan when it was built at 66,000 square feet. An outdoor site was the only possibility of continuing the Festival. Just one piece of land existed with public access and room for parking; an area to construct a large stage and room to accommodate thousands of people. It was the site of the old airport, located 2 miles south on Blue Star Highway and I-196, now the Horse Shoe Farm. Two local pilots set up the airport after World War II for lessons and charter trips. In 1952 a stock-car racetrack was built called the Airpark Speedway. It was a 3/8-mile oval dirt track, equipped with lights for night racing. Arrangements were made with the owners, Lucille and Chester Downer, and the 1960 Saugatuck Jazz Festival was re-scheduled at the Airpark Speedway, August 12 and 13. Apprehension stirred the citizenry leading up to the 1960 Festival. On July 2, a riot broke out at America’s most famous Jazz Festival in Newport. Why thousands of college students flocked to the beaches of Newport that weekend in stead the usual Cape Cod is still a puzzle. The 16,000-seat capacity was sold out as hordes of inebriated and rowdy students, with no interest in jazz, broke down the fences of the Festival, forcing police to use tear-gas and fire truck hoses to restrain them. The Rhode Island National Guard was called to herd the students back to the beaches. The unpatrolled disturbance to the serene and historic town, receiving full national coverage, caused the city council to cancel the rest of the festival. “NO JAZZ RIOTS POSSIBLE DURING SAUGATUCK SHOWS,” the Commercial Record headline read two days later on the 6th of July. “We have no fear of any disturbances during our performances,” said promoter Jim Belcher. “It is regrettable that Newport had such an experience, and that the jazz lovers put an end to the outstanding show of the country. Our shows will be staged at the Airpark Speedway in the midst of a broad expanse of open fields. We will have seating capacity of several thousands and if we should have an influx of other thousands there will be plenty of room for them.” On Friday and Saturday, August 12 and 13, 1960, the normal sound of screaming racecars on a summer weekend evening, lit by 50 thousand watts of track lights, was transformed into the blaring saxophones and trumpets of the world famous Duke Ellington Orchestra. The Second Annual Saugatuck Jazz Festival presented, along with headliner Duke Ellington, who featured Jimmy Rushing and special guest vocalists, Della Reese, and the top vocal jazz group in the business, Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, with Ramsay Lewis trio, the Chico Hamilton Quartet, Buddy Greco, and The Four Freshman. The Commercial Record reported, “Exceeding the fondest expectations from its supporters and cutting the ground from beneath its detractors, the Saugatuck Jazz Festival, was both a financial and artistic success last Friday and Saturday nights at the Airpark Speedway grounds on US-31. Because of fracases at jazz concerts around the country, the State Police were out in numbers (reportedly with riot equipment) augmented by the sheriff’s office.” However things were swinging and cool, and authorities spent most of the time directing backed-up traffic on US 31. Promise and confidence accompanied anticipation as the 1961 Saugatuck Jazz Festival neared its second year at the Airpark Speedway. Along with the return of the incomparable Duke Ellington from last year, the hottest jazz band in the world, the Dave Brubeck Quartet, shared the headline. Brubeck was riding an almost “cult” status by the unprecedented fame of “Take Five” which charted #5 on Billboard; the largest selling jazz-single in history! Along with the Quartet, Brubeck featured the spectacular young singer Carman McRae, who would become one best female jazz singers of all time. Music began at 8:00 Friday night with the Dixieland Kings, followed by the Bob Pearson Quartet, and then a two-hour concert with the Dave Brubeck Quartet. He brought the house to a standing ovation and then introduced the charming, voice of an angel, Carmen McRae. Al Beutler and Bob Pierson bands, which had just won first place at the Notre Dame collegiate festival, started the Saturday show at 8:00. Saxophonist Al Belletto, a New Orleans musician recently with Louis Prima and Woody Herman followed. The Kirby Stone Four, a popular vocal group with their big hit, “Baubles, Bangles and Beads,” did about 45 minutes and the show closed with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. “Duke Ellington sounded better than ever,” reported in Duke's Diary: The life of Duke Ellington, 1950-1974, “but the weather turned quite chilly and the audience started going home. The band stayed on too long and when Ellington got off the stand, about half the crowd had left.” Hundreds of people headed for Saugatuck for food, drinks and shelter from the inclement weather. Large summertime crowds of young people were normal for Saugatuck in the late 1950’s and 60’s. On the same weekend of the Jazz Festival, thousands were drawn to Saugatuck with a sports car rally, yacht race, street and water parades, an art show, canoe and peddle boat races, jazz jam sessions, and a dance at the Hotel Saugatuck. On Saturday night, August 12, 1961 the town of Saugatuck was packed with teenagers, young adults and college students that were not at the Jazz Festival. The chilly weather was irritating and youth stupidity took over. Police had a difficult time keeping things from getting unruly and dangerous. Bars and restaurants started locking doors fearing riotous crowds. Reinforcements were called from the surrounding area. When people moved into town from the Festival, there were few places to go. Things got out of hand and it took a force of local police; sheriffs and state police to bring things to order after 150 arrests. Cooler heads did not prevail and as the town council decided it was the fault of the Jazz Festival. It was argued that nothing happened at the festival site, and to blame raucous youth on a jazz gathering they never attended seemed unreasonable. However Al Masters and Dick Hoffman, sponsors of the event, apparently felt the same and choose to throw in the towel. The Commercial Record quoted their press release, “The sponsors attempted to provide a cultural and entertaining weekend, hoping it would not interest the by-product crowds. The experience has brought the decision to withdraw from any similar projects.” The 1961 Saugatuck Jazz Festival was written up in every major music publication in the country, and well on it’s way to becoming an important jazz event in the United States. It was clear that the scope of the 1961 event became diluted and confused because its purpose became far too broad. Saugatuck would continue Venetian nights; art and antique shows, and the Film Festival, but it would be 30 years before another Jazz Festival took place. It is difficult to foresee the future, and easy to predict the past. The Saugatuck Jazz Festival’s demise, with plenty of hindsight censure to go around, was a product of careless excess, and the lost lesson was relearned in 2012 when the Saugatuck Film Festival suffered the same fate.

2022.03.18

Music: JazzMusic: concerts, festivals, performances

Winthers, Sally

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