Jazz time

This March the Dubai Jazz Festival is back with its 4th edition. Anthony Younes of Chillout Productions expects to draw over 20,000 people. Which, he freely admits, is a heck of a lot for a rather esoteric musical form.

"It's niche, very niche, music," he says. "Therefore we have a secret."

A 'dream'

Younes describes the festival as "a dream I had that lasted 15 years". The Lebanese entrepreneur's vision for its growth is also of an appropriately Dubai-sized grandeur.

"The festival is not yet what I want it to be," he says. "My plan from 2007 is to have the whole city rocking with the jazz festival."

The dream began with a formative experience in Canada, where he studied after leaving war-torn Beirut in 1984 and spending two years in Nigeria playing too much squash and tennis.

"I was studying production in Canada and worked as a volunteer on the Montreal Jazz Festival," he says. "Then I produced two shows every night at one of the 20 stages. I liked the business."

Much more

Less inspiring for Younes was the jazz itself - at least in an absolutely pure form. "I am not really a fan of jazz so much as a fan of good music," he says.

As this year's slogan reveals, part of the secret of the festival's success is that it is "much more than jazz".

The closing acts for the final two days of the event are Kool and the Gang, the funk band famous for Ladies Night, and Roger Hodgson, ex-singer/songwriter of rock group Supertramp.

But Younes insists this is still a jazz event. "A lot of people said, 'where's the jazz?'," he says. "We have enough jazz for the jazz lover. There are just two non-jazz acts. We have seven jazz acts, each a different genre."

Research done

He also claims his line-up reflects plenty of careful consideration. "I do my research every year," he says. "I've done research for the next 10 years."

"For some of the people the music may be incidental, but at the same time we introduce people to music they would not have encountered. We brought out David Reinhardt - whoever saw him play was nuts about him. We brought out Stanley Jordan - I saw people crying," he says.

Yet pulling in a broad spectrum of music fan is also about the ambience.

"We take care of everything at the venue. It's very different from any other event. You can sit on the grass and relax. You have to wait a maximum of 5 minutes for a drink or something to eat," he says.

Hit formula

Given that he claims to have 85 sponsors, he has also clearly hit on a formula with corporate appeal. "It's the best ground for any product," he says.

Rival promoters, though, are advised to steer clear of such attractive terrain. "I have my own world," he says. "Don't step on my toes and I won't step on yours. Step on mine and I will be very nasty."