If the audience at the launch function is indicative of the outcome of the actual show, then Turnkey Productions should have little concern for the success of the 2007 edition of the Air Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival, the 10th staging of the event since its inception.

A cross-section of music industry interests gathered in the Gardens of the Jamaica Pegasus on Friday evening to view presentations and testimonials form the 2005 event, to see and be seen with Australian stars Air Supply (who were on hand ahead of Saturday night's big show at the National Indoor Arena) and to hear Walter Elmore announce that r&b supergroup Earth Wind and Fire had been included in the line-up. Other adds include vibraphonist Roy Ayers and trumpeter Chuck Mangione.
A special Art of Reggae segment will feature, among others, Freddie McGregor, Richie Stephens and Shaggy. Pop stars Michael Bolton and Cyndi Lauper, a returning Kenny Rogers and soul/r&b balladeers The Stylistics featuring Eugene Record, will also be performing during the week-long festival.

(From left) Air Jamaica's Paul Pennicook, Graham Russell of Air Supply, Air Jamaica's Sandrea Falconer, Walter Elmore of Turnkey Productions and Russell Hitchcock of Air Supply at the launch of the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival 2007 at the Jamaica Pegasus Gardens on Friday.

The extended festival also moves to a new venue, the Aqueduct, on land adjacent to the Wyndham Rose Hall resort, a property which, according to Elmore, is five times the size of the festival's last venue, the nearby Cinnamon Hill Golf course. The move was done in response to complaints from patrons of a too large crowd last year, particularly on the final night.

The organisers also said that the festival will honour former Air Jamaica chairman Gordon 'Butch' Stewart who spearheaded the development of the festival in its early years, as well as Rose Hall development principal Michelle Rollins.

They also announced that the popular 'skyboxes' introduced last year had already been sold out and oversubscribed, even though their number had been doubled, from 12 to 24 units.
The launch audience also heard endorsements from title sponsors Air Jamaica as well as the Jamaica Tourist Board, platinum sponsor Digicel, Caribbean Producers, Ocean Spray and others.

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