April 17 & 18, 2004: Destin, Florida USA
Review and Photos by Sandy Shore

The 6th Annual Seabreeze Jazz Festival at the Gulf Place Outdoor Amphitheater in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, was simply the best gathering for jazz that I've ever attended. There are so many ingredients that go into making an ultimate jazz festival. First, you start with the people behind it... Mark and Renee Carter, owners of the Emerald Coast’s Smooth Jazz FM outlet, WSBZ  (“The Seabreeze”) are the creators of the Seabreeze Jazz Festival. A family operated affair, their festival is a labor of love. All six of the Carter kids get involved one way or another... The college-aged ones come home for the long weekend each April, while the youngest helps his mom at Will Call. The integrity and ingenuity of the Carter family is the backbone of the Seabreeze Jazz Festival. Mark and Renee are part of every planning and production element of the event — From booking the artists to selling the tickets.

Next important ingredient in creating a fantastic jazz event is location. And the Gulf Place Outdoor Amphitheater in Santa Rosa Beach fits all three rules of setting: location, location, location. What a fantastic spot for live music.

Before I dial in on the resort itself, allow me to briefly gush over the beauty of the “Emerald Coast”.  If you’ve never been, it’s located on the “pan handle” of  the state of Florida, in between Panama City and Pensacola. So it’s not far from other major Southern cities like Mobile, AL or Atlanta, GA or New Orleans, LA for that matter. I have spent a good amount of my adult life seeking out beach communities around the world that offer casual luxury like fine wines and gourmet food along with a relaxed vibe that would dictate that you must wear a T-shirt and shorts most days of the week. I was so blown away by the color of the water (it is indeed emerald) and the fine, sugar-white sand that I threw myself into. Cheerful, Bahamian-pastel homes dot the region with bright white, wrap-around southern porches for sittin’ a spell. The area is quickly becoming a popular destination for travelers near and far... The locals tell me that the secret’s out of the bag as interest in local real estate accelerates.

Back to Gulf Place.... A super cool resort spot.  And while it has every amenity you would want, it’s the comfortable, laid back vibe that will make you feel at home. Maybe fifty steps to the beach, the Gulf Place is home to Miss Lucille’s Gossip Parlor, which became Smoothjazz.com Headquarters for about 4 days during the jazz festival. Miss Lucille’s offers a free wireless connection to the Net along with divine coffee specialties, teas, cool drinks, ice cream (even margaritas if you want) and the best chocolate chip cookies east of the Mississippi. Beware, the staff members do gossip; we heard ‘em. But they wear T-shirts that suggest to “Gossip Responsibly” and they sell postcards that include postage. The sign reads, “We’ll even mail it for you (so that we can see what you wrote).”  Be sure to visit Miss Lucille’s when you get to Santa Rosa Beach or visit them right now on-line by clicking here.

The festival was held on the outdoor lawn amphitheater grounds at Gulf Place. Proving that you don’t need to spend a million dollars on a stage, the venue offers a 3-foot high, stepped, cement platform that perfectly accommodated the weekend’s bands and all of their gear and was visible to a crowd of 3,000.  

My favorite part of the weekend was the fun, casual seating of the festival. You had a choice to purchase VIP tickets, which included lovely, round tables and chairs under a tent near the stage with a catered lunch that offered wine, water and sweet tea. Or, you could bring your own beach chairs and coolers (or rent chairs on premise) and spread out on the lawn.  And spread out they did... 2500 people attended on Saturday and 3000 were in attendance on Sunday! Arts, crafts and food booths surrounded the lawn area giving the audience plenty of opportunity to stretch their legs during the weekend.

Another key ingredient in throwing a great jazz bash like the Seabreeze Jazz Festival is of course, the artists. We really enjoyed the line-up of Smooth Jazz stars that performed... On Saturday we saw Voodoo Village from Memphis, who kicked off the two day jazz soiree with some seriously thick and funky jazz. Next up was Special EFX featuring Chieli Minucci. Watching Chieli play is a delight, especially if you are a guitar enthusiast. Brian Culbertson with special guest Michael Lington shook the grounds on Saturday afternoon. Many audience members were talking about Brian’s performance long after the last note on Sunday evening! Rick Braun’s band wrapped up the first day of the Seabreeze Jazz Festival with his usual style and flair. On Sunday, we enjoyed the music of local favorites, Jones & Company. The band gently woke up the sleepy crowd and by the time they were done, we were all wide awake and feeling all grooved up for the day. Just in time for Joyce Cooling, who performed with her group and Jeff Kashiwa (a killer combo by the way). The festival finale was the powerful ensemble, Groovin’ for Grover, an all-star tribute to Grover Washington, Jr. featuring Richard Elliot, Gerald Albright, Paul Taylor and Jeff Lorber. The crowd was unbelievably enthusiastic with all of these performers. Joyce Cooling was so well received that she ended up signing autographs for three hours after her set. Jeff Kashiwa hung around on Monday and conducted a workshop for kids at a local school.

The event sponsors were treated like VIPs and made highly visibly throughout the weekend…  The local Mercedes dealer had cars on display moved at least two vehicles during the two day festival!
 
While the event had the usual live event tension at times – No one noticed and the over all feeling of the weekend was familial. I can attribute that to the South to a certain degree (southern folks are very hospitable) and to the Carter’s thoughtfulness. They made sure the artists, audience and sponsors were properly taken care of and if anything was lacking for all you had to was ask.
 
Can’t wait ‘til next year for the 7th Annual Seabreeze Jazz Festival, in April 2005.