As the Jamaica Observer celebrates its 25th anniversary, the Entertainment Desk revisits some of the key events and personalities covered since 1993.

WHEN the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival launched in 1996, it did not just to cater to music fans. Organisers were reaching out to tourists in what was a slow period for the Jamaican leisure industry.

At the time, a jazz festival in Jamaica seemed natural. St Lucia and Barbados, other Caribbean countries with buoyant tourism models, benefited from similar events early in the year. Allen Chastanet, who is now prime minister of St Lucia, fashioned the St Lucia Jazz Festival; he was also the man behind the inaugural Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival which took place in October 22 years ago.

With family ties to tourism in his homeland, Chastanet was vice-president of marketing and sales at Air Jamaica. He said it took three months to organise the event which took place at scenic Rose Hall Great House in Montego Bay.

The first Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival had a stellar bill: Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, Toots and The Maytals, Ernie Ranglin, and guitarists George Benson and Buddy Guy.

In a 2013 interview with the Jamaica Observer, Chastanet said he worked tirelessly with Richard Lue of Air Jamaica, Paxton Baker of BET Jazz and veteran show producer Walter Elmore to make the show a reality.

Though it promised to lure foreigners and Jamaicans, Chastanet recalls the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues getting the cold shoulder from the most unlikely sector.

“We never got the full support of hoteliers in Montego Bay — that was a big problem,” he said.

Chastanet remembers it costing US$50,000 to produce the show. Air Jamaica, then owned by Jamaica Observer principal Gordon “Butch” Stewart, shelled out most of the funds. It was not a good first run.

“We ended up losing a fair amount of money,” he recalled.

It also rained over the three days, but Jamaican fans got an opportunity to see top-class acts.

Air Jamaica eventually faded from the Jazz and Blues Festival, which had several venue changes while attracting healthy crowds and a number of popular acts like Al Jarreau, Patti LaBelle, Diana Ross, Lionel Ritchie, Kenny Rogers, Air Supply, Maroon 5, Mariah Carey, Peter Cetera, The Pointer Sisters, Celine Dion and Babyface.

The festival was last held in 2015 in Trelawny.