December 31, 2006
Each Detroit International Jazz Festival in recent years has played like a cliff-hanger: Will the annual Labor Day weekend festival finally implode under the weight of financial troubles?
But the 2006 festival -- the 27th -- was angst-free, and at least for the foreseeable future the future of one of Detroit's signature cultural events appears secure. This key development was the result of production responsibilities shifting from Music Hall to a new $10-million nonprofit jazz festival foundation created by Detroit philanthropist and Mack Avenue Records owner Gretchen Valade.
Still, there was drama. Festival director Frank Malfitano, who had guided the event since 2001, resigned in September for personal and professional reasons. Malfitano was credited with saving the festival from extinction by launching a major expansion in 2005 and for upholding artistic standards during tough times -- though he was also criticized for ignoring progressive artists and styles and for not adequately showcasing the diversity of the local jazz scene.
He will be replaced by Terri Pontremoli, who joined the festival in 2004 and served as its executive director this year.
Elsewhere on the festival scene, Edgefest, Ann Arbor's celebration of avant-garde jazz and other cutting-edge music, passed its 10th anniversary in 2006 with one of its best lineups, including Myra Melford, Lars Hollmer, John Hollenbeck and Oliver Lake. No wonder producer Kerrytown Concert House won an award this year from Chamber Music America for creative programming.
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