Scott M. Santangelo - The Ohio Valley Jazz Festival

Images of Modern America

THE OHIO VALLEY
JAZZ FESTIVAL

FRONT COVER: View of audience from stage of the festival in Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati (SAA)

UPPER BACK COVER: Tour group in the stands of Riverfront Stadium (SAA)

LOWER BACK COVER (from left to right): Heritage Fair on Cincinnatis riverfront, 1988 (SAA), Luther Vandross performs at the Cincinnati festival (SAA), Front of house production at Riverfront Stadium, 1976 (SAA)

Images of Modern America

THE OHIO VALLEY
JAZZ FESTIVAL

SCOTT M. SANTANGELO

Copyright 2017 by Scott M. Santangelo
ISBN 978-1-4671-2462-1
Ebook ISBN 9781439661475

Published by Arcadia Publishing
Charleston, South Carolina

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016944693

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In memory of Dino Santangelos unique place in Cincinnatis entertainment industry and of his parents, Corradino and Jildaan American success story.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks to the wonderful file keeping of the festivals Cincinnati office staff, a unique record of the history of the jazz festival has been preserved, from which much of the material presented in this book has been drawn. By arrangement with the Cincinnati Historical Library and Archives, the original files will be preserved as the Santangelo Agency Archive (SAA), enabling future research into this interesting and little-known chapter of the citys history. Unless otherwise attributed, all of the images within this publication were drawn from the agencys files.

Thanks are also due to those whose photographs so powerfully tell the festival story. A few special attributions are due, notably to Cincinnati photographers Mel Grier and Mike Mitchell, who had the foresight to capture many moments (big and small) that prove the maxim that a picture is worth a thousand words. Good fortune and persistence led to the discovery of rare photographs from the French Lick and Carthage Fairground events, making it possible for these early concerts to be seen in context of the more advanced productions that would develop in later years.

An apology is in order to countless people who are not mentioned within this publication. Immediate family and many extended family members are given little recognition within these pages, and the list of others who should be mentioned could easily have filled another volume. Their contributions also deserve to be shared and appreciated. This apology must also extend to the necessarily incomplete (and occasionally erratic) timeline format, which imperfectly relates a complex history for which a caption format is simply inadequate.

The people of the Greater Cincinnati area also deserve recognition for their early enthusiasm and support for the jazz festival, which provided the spark that fueled its success. To those who live here, it will come as no surprise that the Midwest proved the most fertile ground for such a seed to take root. And finally, thanks to Dino Santangelo himself, whose irrepressible optimism, character, and talents were reflections of the best traits of the community he called home. Cincinnati is a better place for his contributions to it.

INTRODUCTION

To the delight of fans from across the country, the Ohio Valley Jazz Festival (OVJF) is a chapter of Cincinnatis entertainment history that is still celebrated every year. Known by many names over the decades, the festival is an annual fixture on the citys summer calendar, showcasing the nations top R&B acts to diverse audiences. It is now held at the Paul Brown Stadium. Memories of the earliest concerts now belong to an older generation, themselves a reflection of a Cincinnati that has changed dramatically since the transformational 1960s, when black and white television and rotary phones were the norm, seat belts were optional, and many establishments were still segregated.

The first 25 years of the festival are the legacy of Cincinnati promoter Dino Santangelo (19331986), who brought the event to his hometown through the partnership he developed with Newport Jazz Festival founder George Wein. The two had a lot in common (both had been high school band leaders, composers, and musicians), and Weins festival concept would find international acceptance through Santangelos organizational genius. The event in Cincinnati quickly grew roots of its own, though at the beginning the concept of a jazz festival was a bit unsettling to the squares in the citys administration, who expressed their concerns for public safety.

On the whole, Cincinnati seemed an unlikely choice to host such an event in the early 1960s, but jazz music was wildly popular in the Midwest, and the Queen City was no exception. Many small but dedicated radio stations supported the format, and Cincinnatis WNOP, broadcasting from its floating jazz ark studio, was a beacon of nonconformity in an otherwise conservative media scene (Santangelo was a big fan of WNOP DJ Leo Underhill). The timing was perfect for an event that would reflect the shifting cultural landscape, and the jazz festival in 1962 was clearly that event. As the talent lineups evolved over the years toward mainstream R&B, the festivals bridged cultural divides and eased racial tensions through the common denominators of popular music and an undeniably positive economic impact.

Founded on such pillars, the jazz festivals quickly became a national (and international) success. At the time of his death in 1986, Santangelo was among the nations leading specialists in the presentation of music festivals, pioneering techniques of multi-act stadium and coliseum production that became industry standards. While Santangelos contributions to the Cincinnati entertainment scene are not confined to the festival, it is undoubtedly the event for which he will be best remembered.

One

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THE EARLY YEARS

On August 4, 1913, Dino Santangelos father, Corradino, at age 16, boarded the freighter Hamburg, bound from Naples, Italy, to New York City in the United States of America. Like thousands of other immigrants, he passed through Ellis Island on his way to stay with relatives in Cincinnati, Ohio. He became a skilled tailor, married Jilda Santoro, and raised a family of four in the blue-collar neighborhood of Hyde Park. Dino was the oldest, born on December 9, 1933.

Dino Santangelo (standing) was musically talented, taking piano and trumpet lessons while a student at Purcell High School. During the summer, he studied composing/arranging at the University of Cincinnatis College-Conservatory of Music. By the time he enrolled at the University of Cincinnati (UC) in 1952, he was already a blossoming impresario, leading a big band, booking multiple weekend engagements at high school dances, and writing theater and film reviews for the UC News-Record.