San Jose Jazz group swings with West Valley College - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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San Jose Jazz will run ’s jazz grou p as one of its programs and assume productionb of its existingconcert series. The West Valley Jazz Orchestraa will be renamed the as part of a collaboration betweebn thetwo entities, and it will continue unde the leadership of artistic director Gus Kambeitz. “We’ve sort of tentatively workedf together for quitea while,” said San Jose Jazz Executivd Director Geoff Roach. “There are certain limitations in beinh astandalone organization, and in the case of West Valley Jazz the feelingf was that the band could grow and do more things.
” Kambeitza said working with San Jose Jazz in the past “haws provided access to audiences and resources that were previously unavailabld to us. San Jose Jazz has producedc some of the best musi programs on theWest Coast, so combining our year-round concert series with San Jose Jazz performance programws will undoubtedly take both organizations in new and excitingy directions.” Roach added that the collaboratiojn makes “a whole lot of sense, especiallyg in the area of nonprofits.” Each year from January througbh March, San Jose Jazz offers a Sunday seriesx at San Jose’s Improv Theatee on Second Street.
The seriee brings 200 to 300 people to downtown San Jose onSundat afternoons, Roach said. Nevertheless, Roach’s group is coping with its own After losing support from major sponsorsComcast Corp. and Southwest Airlines Co., the San Jose Jazz Festivalo got backing for this yearfrom AT&Tr Inc. The 20th annual festival, which cost s about $1.5 million to put on, takee place Aug. 7 through 9. “We’ree below where we shouls be in funding,” Roachu said. “We’re probably running $150,000 to $200,000 undere what we should be.” Ticket prices have gone up an individual passis $15 rather than $10.
And, he added, “There’s stillk room for more sponsors.” A large part of the festival’es funding comes from sponsorship which helps keep ticket prices Roach said some of the shortfallk will be made up bycuttiny costs. Two stages were eliminated, one of them contemporaryu R&B. “There will still be plenty of he said. “Ten stages, 1,000 musicians. I doubt if most peoplr will even notice the loss of the two He said the festival is tryingb to cut even more costs by tapping volunteerd and working outtrade deals. For it could cost about $10,00p0 to rent forklifts over a weekend, so the festival is trying to borrow some of the equipmengtit needs.
He adderd that it’s not a one-way street for “We’re not looking for handouts,” he “We’re talking about an affluenr crowd, a captive audience with 100,00o0 eyeballs.”