34th Annual Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland
Cleveland, OH
April 19-April 27, 2013
There was a determined effort by Tri-C JazzFest Managing Director Terri Pontremoli to give this year's event more of a festival atmosphere than it has perhaps enjoyed in years past. For starters, many of the outlying venues, such as the East Cleveland library, a regular festival haunt, were scrapped in order to concentrate events downtown, with most concerts staged either in the grand theaters of Playhouse Square or on the Tri-C campus. Additionally, the first and second Saturday schedules (a third, one-show Saturday on May 4 was oddly set off from the rest of the festival by a week) were programmed to allow festival goers the opportunity to attend three shows in succession without leaving the confines of the Playhouse Square theater complex. Filler events—Q&As with artists, concerts by local bands —were also set up in a theater lobby to keep attendees engaged in between shows. These changes did add something of a new atmosphere, and certainly added convenience for those attending multiple shows, but it still seemed like people were coming out for individual shows and leaving. But maybe ticket sales will refute that observation.

Something that didn't change was the diversity of acts; the eclectic mix, as always, tried to cater to every niche of the jazz and jazz-like listening community of Greater Cleveland. Kicking off with a broadly appealing Friday night show by New Orleanians (and, apparently then, de facto jazzmen) singer