Scullers Jazz Club - Dayla Arabella Santurri Interview Page 4

Smitty:  So you’re not only the General Manager and Publicity Director there at Scullers, you’re working with this great networking group and you are a fan as well because I know you travel to different events outside of Scullers, so you’re a fan, too.

DAS:  I’m a huge fan and I go to as many shows as I can, everywhere I can.  Whenever I’m on vacation or when I get a night off, I’ll check out what’s going on in the city.  I spent all of my summer vacation soaking in the sun and some of the best jazz on the planet. In July Scullers hosted our 2^nd annual trip to the Montreal Jazz Festival.  Fred and I took a bunch of people from Boston with us and we enjoyed 4 days/3 nights at arguably the best jazz festival in the world. I left Fred in Montreal and met Luba in Copenhagen to board the maiden voyage of North Sea Jazz Cruise with Marcus Miller. What a trip, 10 days and nights of pure jazz heaven with Dee Dee Bridgewater, James Carter, Herbie Hancock, McCoy  Tyner and Roy Hargrove on board.

The cruise disembarked at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, Holland. Once we got there we went backstage and got to say hi to some old friends. Luba and I caught up with Jamie Cullum and Terence Blanchard, who we hadn’t seen in a while, got some great photos and all that stuff. So the short answer to your question is yes, I am a big fan and I hope that spills out in everything I do here.

Smitty:  I think that’s a beautiful thing, yes, I love it.  Talk to me about what’s coming up for Scullers that you can tell me.

DAS:  Well, since we reopened from our Summer break it has been crazy around here. August was Smooth Jazz Month and in the course of three weeks we had  The Rippingtons, Acoustic Alchemy, Steve Cole, Richard Elliot and Mindi Abair. Moving forward, we’ve got such an unbelievable schedule.  Every year the Fall seems to be the highlight of the whole year. Just to name a few: in October we have Danilo Perez, Warren Hill, The Yellowjackets, Bobby Caldwell, Christian Scott, Average White Band and then into November we have Roy Ayers, Walter Beasley, The Subdudes, Eddie Palmieri, Chris Botti and Paul Taylor. There is a lot of excitement surrounding the schedule so we are bracing for some crazy nights.

We are also working on our next installment of our Travel series. This Spring we will be heading to New Orleans for the Jazz Festival and for the opening of the Boston House in the Musicians’ Village. All of this is up on our site www.scullersjazz.com

Smitty:  Wow, I’m excited just listening to you..

DAS:  We are also giving Scullers a make over, by mid to late October we’ll have all new club furniture,  the tables and chairs will be more comfy, and we’ll be able to offer a little more leg room.  Our new Yamaha C7 grand piano has arrived and the artists have been raving about it. Our Boathouse Grille will also be completely renovated in time for New Year’s Eve, and we are really looking forward to our reopening. So everywhere you look at Scullers on the stage, in the audience, in our restaurant or on our site you’ll see exciting things happening.

Smitty:  Oh, that’s fantastic.  Well, I certainly love what you’re doing and all of this information will be readily available at the appropriate time on your Web site too.

DAS:  Absolutely.  I update it right from my desktop, so as soon as I know what’s going on, it goes right on the site.

Smitty:  Yeah, and you’re quick with that thing too.  (Both laugh.)

DAS:  I try to be.

Smitty:  I know we’ve mentioned it before but give me your Web site again.

DAS:  Oh yeah, www.scullersjazz.com.  You’ll get everything there, all the coming attractions, all the programs, memberships, dinner show packages, you name it, we put everything up there.

Smitty:  Yeah, and you’ve got a really nice little blog that you’ve got working there as well.  I love that little blog.

DAS:  We just started that up.  I’m putting all the entries on, but soon enough we hope to get some guest bloggers on there, so that should be real fun, and hopefully more and more people will post comments.  People don’t mind e-mailing me directly from the Web site, but responding to the blog is a little slow, so hopefully we’ll be getting a little bit more back and forth conversation on there.  I’m sure it’ll happen.

Smitty:  Yeah, so all right all you great patrons of Scullers, let’s sound off, let us hear your comments on the blog!

DAS:  (Laughs.)  Let’s hear ya!

Smitty:  Yeah, absolutely.  Well, Dayla, I love what you’re doing, I love your entire staff, please give my love to Fred and everyone there.

DAS:  I will, of course.

Smitty:  And I would say keep doing what you’re doing and we certainly look forward to all of those great things that you have coming in the future.

DAS:  Oh, thank you.

Smitty:  All right, we’ve been talking with Dayla Arabella Santurri, General Manager and Publicity Director for the fantastic Scullers Jazz Club in Boston.  If you’re in the area, you won’t want to miss this legendary, fantastic experience.  Dayla, thanks again and all the best in 2007 and the coming year.

DAS:  Thanks a million.

Baldwin “Smitty” Smith

For More Information Visit www.scullersjazz.com