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The Salt Lake City Jazz Festival has had a rough few years.

Sponsors have come and gone. Venues have changed. And crowds have waned. But founder Jerry Floor has not given up.

Floor is candid, but upbeat, about the event and his last-ditch efforts to keep it going. This year's festival opens with an invitation-only artist reception and jam session July 27 and runs two evenings through July 29 at the Gallivan Center.

This year, he says, is about showcasing the talents of local jazz performers and dedicated festival veterans. There will be other years (he hopes) to bring back the acts of the festival's peak years — Spyro Gyra, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, the Brubeck Brothers.

"The future of the jazz festival is always difficult to talk about," Floor said. "But things are looking very good. I'm excited to get the event back on."

Launched in 2001 with the enthusiastic support of then-Mayor Rocky Anderson, the jazz festival drew "A acts," as Floor calls them, and crowds of nearly 20,000 people to Washington Square. But in 2008, the Great Recession (and a change in the mayor's office) intervened, and the festival dwindled. The event's debts grew as sponsors, including Devine Racing, the onetime organizer of the Salt Lake City Marathon, dropped.

But now, Floor says, the festival is ready to roar back. He's been quietly paying off the debt and trying to rebuild the audience, taking acts on the road around the Wasatch Front, including the Salt Lake City Jazz Orchestra, the Black Tie Band and a group of interpretive ballroom dancers. He's hoping the audience will bear with him and his core group of performers.

So is Mayor Jackie Biskupski, according to Lia Summers, her senior adviser for arts and culture. Biskupski directed $35,000 to the Gallivan Center's budget to offset rental costs for the festival. Next year, Summers says, the mayor has encouraged Floor to write a proposal for ACE, or special events, funding.

"We're lucky enough to have excellent, free community concerts at Gallivan Center almost every week in the summertime," Summers says. "A yearly celebration of jazz music would be special for a lot of reasons. It's a uniquely American genre. It brings people of all backgrounds and socioeconomic levels together.

"Mayor Biskupski recognizes the unique nature of jazz, and it's something she's missed having in the city," she adds. "Her intention is to give this the push it needs to get it started again."

The festival opens to the public next Friday night at 7 p.m. with singer Katrina Cannon's tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, followed by clarinetist Eddie Daniels and Sinatra tribute singer/emcee Bob Anderson. On Saturday, Floor's own children — jazz saxophonist Greg Floor and singer-pianist Emilee Floor, along with vocalist Jack Wood — will perform with the jazz orchestra. Pianist Lee Musiker, who played with Tony Bennett and Maureen McGovern, will follow. There will be dancing on the ice rink between acts at 7 and 8 p.m. featuring the Black Tie Band. And then Anderson, a seasoned Las Vegas act and festival regular, wraps up the show at 10 p.m.

"We've got so many wonderful performers and artists here in Utah. To not show them off would be a mistake," Floor says. —

SLC Jazz Festival

Where • Gallivan Center, 239 Main St., Salt Lake City

Tickets • $10-$50; http://www.slcjazzfestival.com

Friday, July 28

7 p.m. • Katrina Cannon

8 p.m. • Dancing on the ice rink

8:40 p.m. • Eddie Daniels

9:40 p.m. • Dancing on the ice rink

10:10 p.m. • Bob Anderson

Saturday, July 29

6 p.m. • Salt Lake City Jazz Orchestra

6:50 p.m. • Dancing on the ice rink

7:20 p.m. • Lee Musiker Quartet

8 p.m. • Dancing on the ice rink

8:40 p.m. • Emilee Floor

9:40 p.m. • Bob Anderson