The Seabreeze Jazz Festival Will Present The 2011 Oasis Contemporary Jazz Awards
April 9, 2011
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The
2011 Oasis Contemporary Jazz Awards will be presented after all! The
Seabreeze Jazz Festival in Panama City Beach, Florida, has come to the
rescue.
Mark
and Renee Carter, who produce the Seabreeze Festival, are coordinating
exactly when and how winners will be announced and the Oasis Awards will
be presented. The Festival runs April 13th through the 17th.
The
custom-made statuettes have logged some miles. “The actual Oasis Award
trophies were already engraved and on a UPS truck headed to San Diego
when we had to cancel the event. We retrieved the Awards and began
looking for an appropriate way to present them. When Jeffrey Wolfe
contacted us on behalf of the Seabreeze Festival, we were elated.
Seabreeze is a premiere event deserving of the Awards”, said Oasis
co-producer Larry Seacat.
The
list of winners has been a carefully held secret. “We have had numerous
requests from media outlets and even a few artists asking about the
winners list”, said Oasis co-producer Bill Paddock, “but only my partner
and I and Mark and Renee have that information”.
Over 10,000 votes were cast for the 19 Oasis Award categories during the online voting throughout February.
The
2011 Oasis Awards were originally scheduled to be announced and
presented in San Diego on Saturday, March 12, as part of an extensive
four day event. Organizer Bill Paddock orinally launched the Oasis
Awards, then called Oasis Smooth Jazz Awards, in 2000 and continued in
2001 with a SOLD OUT show at the Chicago Theater in Chicago, Illinois.
Paddock sold his interest in the Awards after the 2001 show and the new
owners produced a successful show in San Diego in 2002. The Awards had
been on hiatus after 2002 until last year when Paddock and Seacat
decided to re-launch in 2011. Paddock explained “We had great interest
from all over the United States and around the world. That just didn’t
translate to ticket sales. We had great publicity and support. Our
mistake was planning too much and not getting the word out more clearly.
Our post-cancellation feedback showed us that our message was not
clearly understood”. “We do want to thank our friends in the industry
and especially the artists who have sent words of support in the past
month”, added Paddock. “And special thanks to Mark and Renee Carter and
Jeffrey Wolfe. Once again, the good people of jazz have come through!”.
Details will be forthcoming from the Seabreeze Jazz Festival.