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Back Roads Beat
Juneau Jazz And Classics
Mark Sabbatini
A professional transient wandering Earth's extreme regions.Last year's festival's attendance was about 6,000 (fewer actual people since many attend multiple events) and Artistic Director Linda Rosenthal said this year's appears comparable. She said this year's festival also tried to provide more separation of genres on different days - devoting certain evenings to jazz, for instance - and perform more in club-like settings - including a room at the Alaska Native Brotherhood hall where weekly bingo games are a community staple - so people could move about, even if acoustics suffered somewhat.
Getting performers to come to Alaska can be a challenge because many see it as a long, out-of-the-way trip, organizers said. But Coryell said Juneau's population is about the same as his hometown in Washington, and he's gained the same appreciation for Juneau that he discovered there.
"Even in the middle of nowhere there's still culture," he said, adding that when it comes to his Pacific Northwest ties "now I can really be proud of Alaska because I can see it's all connected."
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