Thirty-seven years of
the Rehoboth Beach Jazz Festival,
and two first-time artists on the 2026 bill.

Exhibit A

The rotation rate, ten editions

Each bar is one festival. The dark portion is artists who had played Rehoboth before. The brass sliver is everyone appearing for the first time in thirty years of recoverable records. The sliver has been getting smaller. In 2026 it is two people.

Ten editions, 309 artist-slots, 116 distinct artists, 2.66 bookings per artist. Because lineups before 1996 could not be recovered, some "first appearances" may be returns — which means 15.5% is the ceiling on newness, not the floor.

Exhibit B

The streak board

Consecutive editions, no gaps. The record is held jointly by the man who decides who plays and a party band from the Delaware bar circuit.

Exhibit C

Who actually plays Rehoboth

Share of the last ten editions. Two artists are undefeated. Ten artists took 26.2% of every slot on the schedule.

Full-history leaders across all twenty-eight recovered editions: Rick Braun 15 · Peter White 15 · Brian Simpson 15 · Gerald Veasley 14 · Gerald Albright 14 · Eric Darius 13 · Matt Marshak 13 · Boney James 12 · Art Sherrod Jr 12 · Club Phred 12.

Exhibit C · continued

All twenty-eight festivals: who comes back

The same count, run across every recovered festival rather than the last ten. Of 211 artists ever booked, 102 came back at least once — and those 102 hold 530 of the 639 artist-slots. Counting every festival from 1996, 428 slots — 67.0% — went to an artist who had already played Rehoboth.

Depth of return: 75 artists have played three or more Rehoboth festivals, 40 have played five or more, 16 have played ten or more; 109 played exactly once. Roster names are the fourteen this study attributes to Mighty Music — the same set used for the three-agent share in Exhibit D — including four whose representation rests on the agency’s own claim (Kim Waters, Najee, Jessy J, Althea Rene); the roster is applied to every year. Mighty Music artists filled 10 of 29 slots in 2025 and 9 of 30 in 2026. A run counts consecutive festivals held; 2020 was rolled into 2021, and 1998 and 2006 are never bridged. Every figure is a floor.

Exhibit D

Five names

Five agency and management entries, across which the artists who recur on this bill are concentrated. Each is a legitimate business doing its own job; no arrangement between any of them is alleged, and the point is the narrowness of the supply, not the conduct of the suppliers. Each was invited to respond before publication.

Two desks, one festival

Of the forty artists who cycle through Rehoboth, nineteen are booked by one of two desks on the strict standard used throughout this study — the agency’s own roster page, or the artist’s own booking page, and nothing inferred. Add a third desk and it is 55% of the roster. Six artists’ representation was not established on that standard and they are counted separately rather than assigned. One of them, Rick Braun, was named in Reliant’s September 2021 jazz-division announcement, but no current roster page confirming it was located; counting him with Reliant would make the two-desk share 50% (20 of 40).

Exhibit D · continued

Three agents' share of each year's bill

Butler, Hansen and Talbert supplied 131 of the 309 artist-slots across the last ten editions — 42.4% of the paid stages. The share was 59% in 2025 and 53% in 2026, the two highest readings in the series.

Counts only artists whose booking representation could be verified from the artist's own site or the agency's own roster. Artists with unverifiable representation are counted against the three agents' share, not for it — so 42.4% is a floor. Rick Braun (six of these editions), named by Reliant in 2021, is not included; including him gives 137 of 309, 44.3%.

The rebooking rate since debut

The right-hand column is the number that matters. It is not "how often did this artist play" — it is how often the festival rebooked them in every edition after their first one.

Exhibit E

Few bought-in touring packages; most multi-artist shows are assembled by the festival

Of eleven smooth-jazz touring packages checked, one was found on a current agency roster. For Jazz Attack, West Coast Jam, BWB, RnR, the Sax Pack, Guitars & Saxes and Summer Horns, no current agency listing was found. Rehoboth assembles its own multi-artist shows.

Pre-arranged artist pairings offered by one management firm

Major Scale Management's public "Artist Packages" page lists six pre-arranged combinations:

Thirteen clients, six pre-arranged duos and trios, a promoted 2026 jazz cruise, and a banner reading "NOW BOOKING FOR THE 2027 | 2028 FESTIVAL SEASON."

In 2025 the only bought-in touring package on the entire schedule was Jazz Attack. In 2026 there is none.

Exhibit F

What these numbers do and do not support

An earlier version of this page argued the same case in ten sarcastic restatements. The arithmetic did not need them and they are gone. What follows is the claim the record actually carries, stated once.

Everyone named on this page was sent the passages concerning them before publication and invited to correct or respond. Responses received are published in full at Corrections & Right of Reply, alongside a standing invitation to anyone who believes a figure here is wrong.

Exhibit · The Carousel

Ingala, Lington and Koz here

Three careers tracked across every festival in this study. A filled dot is an appearance; the number at the right is the total at this festival. 28 recoverable editions, 1996–2026. Vincent Ingala is the genre's permanent newcomer, Michael Lington its most evenly distributed working artist, and Dave Koz the one who stopped waiting for the phone and built an event of his own.

Ingala has played five of the last six Rehoboth editions — he missed only 2024. Dave Koz has played four editions spread across twenty-three years, roughly once every six. That is the difference between a fixture and a visit. Full cross-festival treatment in Festival Stats and Studies · Volume V — The Carousel.

Where the seller and the buyer are the same person. The roster map explains how that works.