Terri Pontremoli, longtime head of the Tri-C JazzFest, is in her final days working from the college Downtown. She officially retired Nov. 3.
“There's a magic that happens in jazz that I literally believe does not happen in any other art form,” she said. “So, I'm a nut for it.”
Pontremoli was executive director from 2002-2004, and, after a stint with Detroit’s jazz fest, returned in 2011 to lead the Tri-C event. The classical-violinist-turned-administrator began in 1990, working on education programs for the fest.
“I was playing and booking all the artists, the orchestras that played for Broadway shows and shows like Gladys Knight and Tony Bennett,” she said. “When I got involved with this jazz thing, it was like a turning point in my life. It was my venture into arts administration and working with a nonprofit. So, I came in making $7,500 for the year.”
From there, she counts numerous artistic highlights, from the citywide centennial celebration of Duke Ellington to a sold-out show at the State Theatre in 1992 featuring one of the final performances by Ella Fitzgerald.
“She walked backstage in her street clothes and she looked like an old, not very well woman,” Pontremoli said. “When she walked out on stage to perform, it was like she dropped 30 years. She sang several encores. The audience went nuts. When I think of it, I get goosebumps.”
She also looked back with pride on the 25th festival in 2004, which included a tribute concert to renowned producer and Cleveland native Tommy LiPuma.
“We celebrated Tommy with all of Tommy's artists: Diana Krall and Al Jarreau and George Benson and David Sanborn … Cleveland people like Joe Lovano, Little Jimmy Scott,” she said. “I had to pinch myself because those kind of shows get done in New York, they get done in L.A., but they don't get done in Cleveland.”
In retirement, Pontremoli will transition to working from here with the artistic team at San Francisco’s SFJazz. She’d hoped to step down sooner, but she first wanted to help the festival transition out of the pandemic. Accomplishing that, she felt the time was right to hand things over to Orlando Watson.
She called Watson “a lovely choice because he worked with us for a short stint before ... He was one of our students, years ago, when he was in high school.”
Watson, 34, becomes the youngest director in the history of the JazzFest.
“Terri … should probably teach a masterclass on the art of festival programming,” he said.
Watson was associate director of the festival from 2019-2022. Since then, he's been director of programming at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, which includes Pittsburgh's jazz festival. While there, he also established the hip-hop-centric Hooks & Phonics Festival.
“I have a huge heart and passion for Northeast Ohio arts and entertainment,” he said. “It just seemed like a perfect fit [to come home]. I want to lock in on the heritage of what Terri has built … while expanding the possibilities into other aspects of what jazz provides, especially as it pertains to students.”
Although he said it was too soon to reveal ideas for next year’s event, the 47th, Watson plans to reach out to schools – many of which lack music programs.
“I would love to sit with some of these band directors and principals to rebuild and kind of reorchestrate what Tri-C's rapport looks like in the community,” he said. “We have the space, we have the opportunity and we certainly have the equipment and world-class instructors. So, we would love to open our doors up to the community.”
