Andrew Glazer
COSTA MESA -- The producers of a Big Band jazz festival, coming here in
August, told the City Council on Monday how much the event would make the
city swing.
"It's an honor to be coming here," said Connie Baker, who wore a festive
yellow suit to the council meeting. "This is family music. Grandparents
will be dancing with their grandchildren."
The inaugural Orange County Classic Jazz Festival, to be held at Costa
Mesa's Doubletree Hotel from Aug. 3-6, will draw jazz, ragtime and swing
bands from across the country. The two headliners are the Preservation
Hall Jazz Band, a New Orleans octet with members ranging in age from 35
to 91, and San Antonio's Jim Cullum Band.
Dan Fitzgerald, director of marketing at the Doubletree, said he expects
the festival to draw more than 3,000 people in each of its four days.
Baker said it was easy to convince her and co-producer John A. Dieball to
bring the festival here.
"There's a lot of serendipity here," she said. "You have the airport just
10 minutes away. And nice hotels. South Coast Plaza's there for the off
hours and the weather will be warm enough for people from warm-weather
areas."
She said she expects the festival to draw visitors from as far as Europe
and Asia, where swing music is popular.
But Fitzgerald, who helped bring a similar classic jazz festival to a
Doubletree Hotel in Los Angeles, said it wasn't so easy. He said producer
John Dieball, who also produced the Los Angeles Classic Jazz Festival,
was tired of organizing the events.
"He was just so busy, so he was apprehensive at first," Fitzgerald said.
"And he had promised his wife that he wouldn't do it anymore."
But in August, just two days after Fitzgerald pitched the idea for the
festival, Dieball signed on. Soon afterward, the Costa Mesa Tourism
Council decided to sponsor the event, donating $20,000.
"We're very lucky to have landed the festival here," said Mayor Gary
Monahan. "There's a lot of prestige in having a world-renowned jazz
festival in Costa Mesa."
