Fans Fuming Over Jazz Fest Cancellation

The Arizona Jazz Festival was scheduled to feature artists including Babyface, Keith Sweat, Jodeci, Mint Condition, and more.

But in the week leading up to the event, the festival website was changed to feature a brief statement: “With great regret, the Arizona Jazz Festival has been cancelled. Details regarding refunds will be available shortly. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Management – BTWconcerts.com.”

The festival’s social media accounts also appear to be down but perhaps the most troubling thing for fans is the fact that BTW has yet to send out emails confirming the cancelation and offering refund information.

“A lot of people I’ve talked to are traveling from all over the country. They spent a lot of money on hotels, plane flights,” ticketholder Tremaine Jasper told the local KPHO-TV. “You owe it to the people who are buying tickets, you owe it to the vendors and anyone else who made an investment in this show to explain what happened and when they’re going to get their money back,” Jasper said.

An attorney for BTW responded to the station via email Oct. 21, writing the event was canceled because the promoter was the victim of financial fraud and was left without sufficient funds to pay festival expenses.

He added that the fraud is being investigated and every effort is being made to return money to customers and vendors. This isn’t the first time BTW has abruptly canceled a concert.

In February, an event organized by BTW At Sea dubbed the “Maxwell & the Seven Seas” concert cruise was also called off. The Royal Caribbean cruise was supposed to feature Maxwell, Chef Garvin, Boney James, and Brian Culbertson during a May outing.

Instead, ticketholders who reportedly paid upwards of $12,000 were given the runaround while attempting to secure refunds after the event was called off. At the time, BTW issued a statement to KNBC-TV, writing, “BTWCruises LLC is committed to doing all that it can to arrange refunds for customers due to the unfortunate cancellation of the Maxwell and the Seven Seas cruise. A number of events led to the cancellation and we continue to try to work with the parties involved to resolve the situation.

“We will be working with the travel insurance company in an effort to arrange payment for those who purchased insurance. Part of the delay of the refunds relates to the credit card processing company for BTWCruises withholding funds due to BTWCruises. Because there may be litigation involved we are advised by our counsel not to provide further comment at this time.”