Sample the sounds of jazz

Shane Gammon

Friday, April 24, 1998 | 9:27 a.m.

"Rock 'n' roll has a way of shouting at you and jazz has a way of speaking to you softly," Michael Schivo, a Las Vegas jazz concert coordinator, explains.

"The jazz fan is a whole other breed of person. For the jazz fan, it's just a part of their life because they like how the music makes them feel."

At Saturday's fifth annual Las Vegas City of Light Jazz Festival at the Hill Park in Summerlin, Schivo will present some new additions, including television coverage by Denver-based Jazz Alley TV.

"It just shows the festival has (come) of age," he says, explaining how the television coverage "will really help (boost) the awareness of the festival in future years."

The Information Superhighway has also increased its exposure: According to Schivo, the festival's Internet site receives about 70,000 hits a month. The event, he says, should attract a larger tourist market this year.

He hopes eventually for the festival to expand into a two- to three-day "city-wide" event. Should it max-out the park's capacity this year, Schivo says Las Vegas tourism executives and resorts will have to decide how to help "this festival take on a new life form on the Strip."

Opening this year's festival is the Chicago band Color Coated Brown. Other musicians on the performance roster include jazz keyboardists Joe Sample and Jeff Lorber, trumpeter Rick Braun, saxophonist Everett Harp and the San Diego-based Yavaz Latin Band.

But, unlike Schivo, Sample figures that locals will comprise the majority of the audience. "When there is an occasion where there is quality music, I think it's something very positive that the music lovers who live in Vegas will come out and support."

Sample, whose stylings will be the culmination of Saturday's show, performs regularly at other jazz festivals. The mood of the event, he says, usually changes as the day progresses.

"In the afternoon, people are serious about hearing their music. "As the day goes on, and people have been drinking, it turns into more of a party scene," he says. "I might get caught in a party atmosphere, which is what happens when you come on late or last."

Gates open at 11 a.m. for the festival, which begins at noon and runs through 10 p.m. Advanced tickets for adults cost $40, plus service charges; tickets for children ages 13-18 (available only at the box office on Saturday) are $10; children 12 and under are admitted free. Tickets can also be purchased at Mr. Bill's Pipe and Tobacco shops, Vesely Music, UNLV's Artemus Ham Concert Hall box office, Nellis Air Force Base's ticket office and The Upper Ear. For more information, call 228-3780, or visit the festival's web site, www.lasvegasjazz.michaelschivopresents.com.