Saskatchewan Jazz Festival founder returns for 30th anniversary

What started out asa wild idea by a handful of jazz buffs in Saskatoon three decades agois now Saskatchewan's most popular music festival of the summer.

In 1987, Jim Hill founded the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival as the first artistic director, and he told CBC Radio's Saskatchewan Weekend the first festival lineup featured a couple of performers who returned to the festival in 2016.

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"We started with four days and a mini festival, which, if you go into the background, was just two weekends in the Bassment, a jazz club we started for the society," Hill said. "It only had about 80 people."

The inaugural festival featured Canadian jazz pianist Oliver Jones and Latin jazz star Poncho Sanchez. Both are back in the lineup for the festival's 30th anniversary.It's also a bit of a homecoming for Hill, who now resides in Vancouver.

But starting up what's become one of the most anticipated festivals in the province wasn't a walk in the park. Hill said it meant volunteering a lot of time, figuring out the logistics of putting on a music festival, and attending other festivals to learn the dos and don'ts of music festival planning.

Hill said the biggest hurdleis money.

"A lot of people don't realize the extent to which classical music and jazz and those more distinct genres, how much they are subsidized," Hill said, adding that is why music lovers get such a mix of genresat the festival.

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"Most festivals you can't do it just on jazz.The challenge, economically, is to try and find the right balance from funding you get from government and sponsorship and the revenue from ticket sales," Hill explained.

Hill added securing SaskTel as a title sponsor back in 1995has allowed the festival to blossom, bringing in more and more musicians and offering a free stage.

Back in Saskatoon for the festival, Hill said he's excited to see how far the festival has come. He also has a full agenda reconnecting with other founding members.

"I'm excited about being here and re-experiencing what we established in the first place.It's still at the Bessborough, the best location we could possibly have.It's better than any jazz festival across Canada," Hill said

"Bottom line is I'm going to see a lot of friends who are involved in the beginning. It will be interesting to hear what they have to say about 30 years."

The festival continues Sunday night with theTedeschi Trucks Band at the TD mainstage at the Bessborough Gardens.

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