Submitted photo The Blue Side jazz group, led by sax player Rob Dixon, performs Wednesday at the inaugural concert for the JazzIN Columbus series on Fourth Street in downtown Columbus.
Jan Banister’s heart was as full as the street early Wednesday evening at the inaugural and free JazzIN Columbus series street concert at at the Ovation Technology Group plaza along Fourth Street.
Banister is president of the Columbus Museum of Art and Design, one of the organizers with the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation, of the event — also done with support of the local Office of Downtown Development. The concert with the Indianapolis-based all-star blues/jazz ensemble The Blue Side attracted an estimated 350 people over its 90-minute span.
It was the first of a series of three such concerts. And the event survived a 30-minute steady rain just beforehand.
“We so looking forward to August and September,” Banister said, referring to the next shows in the series on Aug. 14th with Steve Allee and The Magic Hours and Pavel & Direct Contact on Sept. 18.
Allee, who has played concerts in Columbus since 1975, said the same thing hours before this first concert began. The success is significant for a couple of immediate reasons. Number one, the free, once-popular, monthly NeighborFEST concerts have disappeared.
And groups ranging from the Columbus Area Arts Council to Landmark Columbus Foundation have pushed in recent years to find other ways to activate the downtown. Further, top national consultants have told city leaders just in the past couple of years that a vibrant downtown is a particular key to everything from business and employee recruiting to overall quality of life.
Indianapolis tenor sax player Rob Dixon, who sold out one of the local Jazz at Helen’s concerts last year in downtown Columbus, said he was more than pleased Wednesday. He assembled The Blue Side as what he called “kind of a jazz super-group.”
“I felt like we hit a home run,” Dixon said of the crowd, adding that it was much stronger than their first appearances in other Hoosier cities. “We were thrilled with the turnout. So I thought this was a fantastic (series) start.”
He also added that he “definitely thinks these organizers are on the track.”
When the band, which includes drummer Kenny Phelps who recently also headlined and sold out Jazz at Helen’s, has played at noted Indianapolis establishments such as the Jazz Kitchen, it attracts about half the size of Wednesday’s attendance, Phelps said.
