When you think of thriving smooth jazz scenes the first thing that comes to mind is major metropolitan areas - big cities with heritage radio stations, multiple concert venues, an active club scene, and a population large enough to support a niche music genre.  The last place you'd think of is a small city on the Florida coast that's as far from NY, Chicago, or LA as you can get, but Melbourne, Florida is a paradise for smooth jazz fans with more smooth jazz, both live and on the air, than most major markets.  Melbourne is located on Florida's east coast about halfway between Jacksonville and Miami, in an area known as the Space Coast because of its proximity to the Kennedy Space Center.  The area is comprised of a cluster of smaller cities, mostly in Brevard County, that have a combined population of approximately 550,000.  They have a fulltime radio station that plays only smooth jazz without any pop and oldie crossover vocals, a longstanding Sunday morning brunch show that also plays only smooth jazz, a public station with blocks of straight-ahead jazz and world music programming, a festival, a concert series that brings major artists into town, and a series of free beachside concerts during the summer with both established and emerging artists. 

This summer Norman Brown's Summer Storm Tour just passed through and Spyro Gyra and Mindi Abair are doing a double bill in August.  Ken Navarro, Dan Siegel and Michael Paulo did a benefit concert at a smaller venue last month and last weekend was the first Space Coast Jazz Festival with Joyce Cooling, Chieli Minucci and Pamela Williams.  Jeff Kashiwa is doing a CD release party this Wednesday night.  Blake Aaron, Greg Adams, and Will Donato have already played and Lao Tizer and Andre Delano are coming up.  The music on both the brunch show and the full time station is programmed by people who live in town, know the music and actually meet and hang out with the listeners.  Same with the concerts - the promoters are local and independent.  When you go to a concert in Brevard County you are treated well.  The whole process of getting tickets and attending the shows is personalized and user-friendly.  Ticket prices rarely go over $50 for priority seating and there are usually tickets available in the $20 - $30 range.  Attendees never feel like they are being processed or herded, and even artists who don't usually do post-concert signings do them there.

The first seeds were planted almost 20 years ago at a local record store.  The proprietor, Roland Guliarte, heard a Rippingtons album and got hooked.  He started stocking more contemporary jazz releases and fans started to gather there.  Roland started doing a jazz brunch show on one of the local radio stations.  His customers and listeners talked about how great it would be if they didn't have to drive to Orlando or Miami for concerts and he started exploring the idea of bringing some musicians to smaller venues in the area.  It took a while for a plan to gel but in 1993 he heard that Ken Navarro was doing a concert in Orlando and called his manager to see if they would be willing to do another concert an hour's drive away.  That's how the Brevard Jazz Series was born.  Subsequently they brought artists like Kirk Whalum, Acoustic Alchemy, Norman Brown, Warren Hill, Larry Carlton, Steve Reid's Bamboo Forest, Marion Meadows and Craig Chaquico into smaller clubs or hotel ballrooms.  He also began working with a larger theatre, the Maxwell C King Center for the Performing Arts, and bringing in bigger shows, starting with the Rippingtons in 1994.  BJS continued to grow, bringing artists to the King Center and a variety of more intimate settings. 

The brunch show was one of the highest rated radio dayparts in the area.  A few years ago a corporate station decided to put the format on full time but they jumped ship after about a year.  While all that was going on Randy Bennett, a radio veteran who lived in the area, and some other local supporters had filed an application for a low power FM radio station, intending to put on a fulltime Smooth Jazz station.  The process was intimidating and not many people were trying it but they persevered.  An application was filed in 2000 and then in 2003 they applied for an additional signal to boost the coverage area.  By the time the permit was finally granted four years later the full time station and gone on the air.  They put another format on the signal and when the corporate station flipped to rock they jumped in to fill the gap with The Groove, a noncommercial listener supported fulltime smooth jazz station.  Since then the station has added three additional signals and now covers the most populated areas in the Space Coast.  They also started bringing artists in, mostly for the midweek summer concerts. 

The cadre of fans that attended those early Brevard Jazz Series shows was the nucleus of a community that has grown exponentially.  They shared their love for this music, they saw each other at all the concerts and they became friends.  As more people showed up they also got to know each other.  Now they have a history with the series and with each other.  You always see people waving across the lobby and sharing hugs and conversation at BJS concerts.  No matter how busy they are they know that when a concert comes up they'll get to catch up.  They show up, they bring their friends, and now their kids are older and they show up and bring their friends.  Roland has built an extensive mailing list and sends out monthly updates and on-sale alerts that are chatty and personal.  He answers the phone and he answers his e-mails.  If you have a problem you can pick up the phone and talk to him personally.  If you want to hear a song you can call one of the stations.  If it's not really "out-there" chances are they will play it.  They don't have to wait for the home office and several consultants to approve it. 

Could they be onto something?  We analyze the possible reasons why concert attendance lags and people turn their radios off in droves.  Could it be as simple as the fact that people give loyalty when they get it back?  That they like being a part of something instead of being on the outside looking in or just passing through.  It is all about the music but the music as it is played live is as captivating as it ever was.  Could the extra draw be that these people are sharing an experience and listening among friends?  It might be easier to draw people when there is a larger pool to draw them from, but it's easier to create community when a city is small enough for people to actually get to know each other.  When the person who is promoting the concerts or playing the music on the radio could be standing in front of you in the checkout line at the grocery store and will answer back when you say hi.  It takes a few people who are willing to take those leaps and become the catalysts.  Promoting concerts and keeping volunteer staffed radio stations running are not work for the faint of heart.  Then you have to find and nurture your supporters, which takes time and effort too.  We've lost that in these increasingly corporate and quickly processed settings.  If you haven't experienced it you don't even know what you're missing.  I've done the long drive down the coast several times to see artists who are also playing five miles from my house because I can go see them here in my big growing city and get herded like cattle, glared at by surly security guys, and probably find a parking ticket on my window when I leave.  Or I can drive down the interstate and get hellos and hugs and an autographed CD.  The choice is obvious.  How would it affect the popularity of the genre if it was available more often?


Check out the Brevard Jazz Series at www.jazzseries.com
The Groove's website is www.thegroove.org
Go to http://www.thegroove.org/logs/archive1.html and put in a date and you can see a whole day's playlist 
The Lite Jazz brunch celebrated its 15th anniversary recently: www.literock993.com/pages/ericyoung.html
Ready to come visit? www.space-coast.com

-Shannon West