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Cool jazz requires hard work
By MAUREEN BYRNE © St. Petersburg Times, published October 22, 2000 CLEARWATER -- Kim Taylor spins and looks at Darcey Phillips. "Would you do me a favor?" she asks the 48-year-old Tampa resident. "Would you work a Coke truck?" "Sure," Phillips answers. With a headset on, Taylor listens as another request comes in. "We need somebody in beer and wine," she tells Madeline Seus, 50, a resident of Clearwater. "Would you do that?" Seus says yes and heads to the beer truck. Taylor, 41, is a wife and a mother of two daughters. She also works as a senior administrator for Verizon. But this week she is a general in charge of an army of volunteers. As volunteer coordinator for the 21st annual Clearwater Jazz Holiday, Taylor has the job of filling 900 slots for the free festival, which is run by hundreds of volunteers and one full-time employee. "This wouldn't happen without the volunteers," said Karen Vann, executive director of the Clearwater Jazz Holiday and its only paid employee. "These people are invaluable. One person can't do this. It's teamwork." It is this volunteer work force, along with sponsors' donations, that has kept the festival free since its humble beginnings in 1980. The four-day festival at Coachman Park attracts tens of thousands of spectators each year and boasts of top-notch musicians. This year's event ends today with performances by vocalist Oleta Adams, pianist Monty Alexander and trumpeter Terence Blanchard. Admission is free. Since January, Taylor has been attending monthly meetings with 26 other coordinators who make up the Jazz Force, a group of volunteers who organize the annual festival. For the past three weeks, she has been spending eight hours a day planning for the event and making sure she has enough volunteers. Taylor said during the early part of last week she answered 150 phone calls from people either canceling their shifts or wanting to change them. Why does she do it, especially considering she's not much of a jazz fan? "For me, to do this three years in a row, it's addictive," she said Thursday as pianist Eric Reed performed on stage. "You just have a good time." Standing for three hours (sometimes longer) pouring beer out of a tap or wine out of a bottle; monitoring the festival's four entrances; working security backstage and in the park; ferrying musicians to and from the airport; checking in sponsors and volunteers; and selling beer and wine tickets, sodas, water and event merchandise doesn't exactly sound like a fun time. Yet all but 100 of the 650 people volunteering at this year's Jazz Holiday have done it before. For many, it's a tradition to spend the third weekend in October at Coachman Park. Al Tingley, an accountant who lives in Clearwater, has been attending the festival every year since 1989. Yet three years ago, he decided to do more than listen to the music. He signed up to volunteer. But not just for one three-hour shift. Since 1997, Tingley, 70, has worked every single hour of every single Jazz Holiday. "I love jazz," he said Thursday while working at the volunteer check-in tent. "And I like dealing with people." For Phillips, the Tampa resident, volunteering at the festival is a payback. The administrative assistant has been a regular at the Jazz Holiday since 1983. "I started volunteering because I felt guilty," she said. "I don't spend much money on things that bring money into the event." So since 1996 she has volunteered at the festival. Like Tingley, she too works the entire event. This year, she's a floater, helping out wherever needed. Martha Felipes, 47, is volunteering at thefestival for the first time. The Clearwater resident said she attended her first Jazz Holiday last year and told organizers she wanted to help this year. "I love music," she said Friday while separating a clump of wrist badges given to beer and wine drinkers at the festival. "I'm hearing (the music) and working." While every year brings new faces and walk-in help, there are many longtime volunteers. Glenda LaFaye, 52, a claims representative for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, began volunteering at the festival in 1985. She never stopped. "It just seemed like (my husband and I) kept getting more and more involved," said LaFaye, who has served on the Jazz Force for the past six years. "We don't even live in the community. We live in Tampa." Volunteer coordinator Taylor said all types of people help at the festival from professionals, including lawyers and advertising executives, to unemployed people networking for their next job. Taylor said she doesn't conduct background checks on applicants, but anyone younger than 18 must work with a parent or guardian. Taylor said she started recruiting for volunteers at the beginning of September. She sent a letter to the more than 500 people listed on a data base. The festival also runs advertisements in the St. Petersburg Times, which is a sponsor of the event, and requests help on its Web site. "People love doing this so much a lot of them will do two shifts, even three shifts," Taylor said. Then there are the ones who don't show up for their shifts, she said. In years past, some volunteers got frustrated trying to find a parking space and would end up leaving, she said. This year, volunteers can park their cars at the IMRglobal lot at Missouri Boulevard and Cleveland Street and take a shuttle to the park. Also, instead of attending an appreciation party weeks after the festival, for the first time volunteers can relax before or after their shifts in a Volunteer Appreciation Area, where free drinks and sandwiches are available. "It's a lot of work," LaFaye said of the volunteers' efforts. "It takes a lot of people and a lot of time to put this on. It doesn't just happen." ScheduleNu Soul Company: 1 to 2 p.m. Oleta Adams: 2:30 to 3:45 p.m. Fred Johnson: 4:15 to 5:30 p.m. Monty Alexander: 6 to 7:15 p.m. Terence Blanchard: 7:45 to 9 p.m.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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