Vail Jazz Festival enjoys record attendance, best season ever

The Vail Jazz Foundation recently wrapped up its most successful summer festival in its 18-year history. The Vail Jazz Festival, produced by the Vail Jazz Foundation, boasted record attendance and ticket sales at its 40 performances, contributing positively to Vail’s summer economy for a full 12 weeks of the summer.

The 2012 season included 9 weekly free concerts at Vail Square, 10 free weekly concerts at the Vail Farmers’ Market, and 7 shows, including two free, as part of the Labor Day Weekend Jazz Party and a number of new performances.

Debuting this year were Jazz @ Kelly Liken, featuring jazz each of 10 Sunday nights at Restaurant Kelly Liken, the three-part Jazz After series in conjunction with Bravo! and Larkspur Restaurant, and a joint performance at the Ford Amphitheater featuring Curtis Stigers and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Niki Haris sings during the Gospel Prayer Meetin’ with Wycliffe Gordon on trombone.
Photo courtesy of Drew Winners

The Vail Jazz Festival is now the longest summer festival in Vail – spanning from late June to early September. Attendance grew at all of the Vail Jazz Festival’s performances, with a 15% increase in year over year attendance at the Labor Day Weekend Jazz Party.

“This summer’s festival proved that the Vail Jazz Festival is gaining wide recognition not only in the community, but around the state and the country as the premier jazz festival in the mountains,” says Robin Litt, Executive Director. “We continue to innovate with the types of performances we present to attract a broader audience for jazz, working toward our mission to perpetuate jazz through live performances and education with special focus on young artists and young audiences.”

The Vail Jazz Festival included a variety of different styles of jazz in multiple, unique locations, all in an effort to widen the audience and appreciation for jazz. The outdoor free concerts every Sunday at the Vail Farmers’ Market featured regional and national acts performing in a tented venue at Solaris with 3 shows throughout the afternoon continued to be a popular gathering for visitors and locals alike, seating 75 in the tent and an equal number around the plaza area.

Jazz@ Vail Square, the weekly Thursday night concert series in Lionshead continued to grow in popularity this summer, hosting 350 under the tent as well as hundreds of guests who enjoyed the performances from surrounding restaurant patios and as they walked by.

The inaugural season of Jazz @ Kelly Liken featured local jazz artist, Tony Gulizia with different guests each week. The combination of Kelly Liken’s Harvest Menu and the swinging sounds of jazz filled the restaurant each Sunday night.

Larkspur and Bravo! partnered with the Vail Jazz Foundation to host the first year of Jazz After, a series that featured members of each of Bravo’s resident orchestras (Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra and New York Philharmonic) in a jam session style performance in the Great Room at Larkspur.

These tremendously successful events experienced overflow crowds at each performance. Changes are in the works to further enhance the experience for Jazz After guests in 2013. The joint performance at the Ford Amphitheater with Bravo! presented Curtis Stigers and the Dallas Symphony proved to be an overwhelming success, while the two organizations are currently working on another joint performance for the 2013 season.

And lastly, the five-day Labor Day Weekend Jazz Party, which presented today’s top jazz artists in an intimate and engaging series of round-the-clock performances at the Jazz Tent at Vail Square and the Marriott’s Grand Ballroom, boasted record attendance.

The Vail Jazz Festival fueled the Vail economy and made an especially large impact at times when business is slower. The Thursday night Jazz @ Vail Square series attracted locals, down valley residents as well as part time homeowners and visitors, many of whom dined and shopped in Vail before and after the performances. The Vail Jazz Party over Labor Day Weekend brought hundreds of destination guests to Vail.

There was not only record attendance this year but attendees extended the length of their visits considerably, many coming a day before and/or staying a day after the Jazz Party thereby substantially benefiting the local economy. “In addition to the large number of destination guests who attend, we see more and more part time residents extending their summer stay in Vail through Labor Day so they can attend the Jazz Festival,” noted Litt.

On the heels of the tremendously successful summer Jazz Festival, the Vail Jazz Foundation will once again present its annual Winter Jazz Series and the exciting line-up will be announced in November.

The Vail Jazz Foundation is particularly pleased to announce that it was recently awarded a grant from Colorado Creative Industries, a division of the Office for Economic Development. The grant is made possible through an annual appropriation from the State of Colorado and a federal grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

“We are pleased to make this investment in creative organizations and activities that drive economic growth, support jobs, and improve quality of life throughout Colorado,” said Elaine Mariner, Director of Colorado Creative Industries. The Vail Jazz Foundation is one of just three Eagle County organizations to receive funding for 2013.

The festival is truly a collaboration between the Vail Jazz Foundation and its sponsors, including the Town of Vail, Alpine Bank, Alpine Party Rentals, The Arrabelle, Colorado Creative Industries, Colorado Mountain Express, Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation, Hertz, The Jazz Cruise, Lionshead Summer, National Endowment for the Arts, New Amsterdam Vodka, Ravenscroft Pianos, United Way Eagle River Valley, Vail Daily, Vail Resorts Echo, William Hill Estate Winery, Woods and Son Piano Company, Yamaha as well as Alpin Aire, FlyVail, Rocky Mountain Reprographics, KZYR The Zephyr, Jazz 89 KUVO, Vail Mountain Marriott Resort & Spa, Mighty Fine Productions, The Luxury Shops and Kelly Liken.