KYW1060 has a little piece about the first event ever held at the Spectrum, the 2nd Annual Quaker City Jazz Festival in 1967. As you no doubt know by now, the Spectrum is slated for demolition at the end of this year, and as such, a double wave of nostalgia and last-ever-performances have been booked. But we did a little digging, and it just may be that the Quaker City Jazz Festival could be a great illustrator of the differences between Philadelphians’ going-out habits then and now, and maybe, just maybe, why Comcast-Spectacor ultimately decided the Spectrum had to go. In 1967, Philadelphians lived in a city where a two-day jazz festival — featuring the likes of Richard Groove Holmes, Hugh Masakella, Astrud Gilberto, Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, Herbie Mann, Ramsey Lewis, Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughn –could fill up an arena. Which is not to say that jazz doesn’t still draw big crowds in Philly — just ask the folks at Ars Nova or the attendees of last week’s Sonny Rollins show at the Kimmel — it’s just that, well, this was the Spectrum. Jazz archivist Ben Johnson (who’s also quoted in the KYW piece) has the entire 1967 Quaker City Jazz Festival program posted online, and it’s a wonder to behold (and not just for those boss Sidney Arnold ads).

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 11:13 am.