Be connected!
Fan the BerkshiresJazz fire!
Category Archives: archives
Pittsfield, MA – 08/13/09 – Lichtenstein Center for the Arts – Miller, Amuso, Duff Jazz Trio
Posted in archives Leave a comment
Pittsfield, MA – 08/08/09 – Chapters Bookstore – Miller, Amuso, Duff Jazz Trio
Posted in archives Leave a comment
Miller, Amuso, and Duff trio in concert
Berkshires Jazz, Inc. will present an emerging jazz trio, Miller, Amuso, and Duff, in a concert of original compositions on Thursday, August 13, 2009 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The concert is the first in a series to present jazz performances and promote jazz education in Berkshire County. Admission is free and open to the public, will begin at 7:30pm at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, 28 Renne Avenue.
The compositions, which listeners have described as “sophisticated, introspective jazz chamber music,” are all by vibist Gary Miller, and will feature Art Amuso on bass and Emily Duff on soprano saxophone.
Miller, who heads the music department and is chairman of expressive arts at Miss Halls School in Pittsfield, worked professionally as a rock drummer before making the switch to vibraphone at Berklee College of Music, where he graduated in 1982. He also plays brass instruments as well as electric bass and keyboards.
Miller’s music can be previewed at www.jazz-vibraphone-gary-miller.com his recordings are available at CDBaby.com.
Art Amuso attended the Berklee College of Music in 1970. Since returning to the Berkshires he has played with many local bands. Rounding out the trio will be Emily Duff, a graduate of Miss Halls School. She will be entering her senior year in the jazz studies program at Westfield State College this year. Emily plays alto, tenor,and soprano saxophones.
The concert is the first in a series to be presented by Berkshires Jazz, Inc., a new non-profit organization that was established to present jazz performances and promote jazz education in Berkshire County. The group also sponsors the Pittsfield CityJazz Festival, which takes place this year from Oct. 7-17.
Miles Davis album Kind of Blue fete in Lenox
Lenox Library hosts 50th anniversary celebration of the Miles Davis album Kind of Blue
Among those appearing will be pianist Andy Jaffe, the Director of the Jazz Program at Williams College and former Artistic Director of the Williamstown Jazz Festival, who will play with his son, bassist Marty Jaffe. The Bob Shepherd Trio, featuring Bob Shepherd on piano, Steve Murray on bass and Dick DiNicola on drums, will perform, along with Don Mikkelsen on trombone and Robert Kelly on piano, as well as pianist Daniel Yudkin.
Also on the program will be guitarists Andy Kelly and Joe Finn. Jeremy Yudkin, Professor of Music at Boston University, will provide insights into the recording sessions for Kind of Blue while also addressing the assertion that the names of two of the album’s songs were erroneously switched. Tom Reney, host of the long-running and very popular jazz show, Jazz a la Mode, on WFCR in Amherst will offer reflections on “Kind of Blue and its Legacy.”
Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, released on August 17, 1959, is the bestselling jazz record of all time. The album brought together seven now-legendary musicians in the prime of their careers: tenor saxophonist John Coltrane, alto saxophonist Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, pianists Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Jimmy Cobb, and trumpeter Miles Davis. An innovative blend of Southern gospel, African finger music and influences from classical composers such as Bela Bartok and Maurice Ravel, the album was recorded with virtually no rehearsal and almost entirely from first takes.
Jazz critic Ashley Kahn has compared listening to Kind of Blue to reading James Joyce. “Every time you go to it” he observed, “you come back with something new – a favorite track, a new solo in that track. If that’s not a definition of a masterpiece, I don’t know what is.”
The program is free and open to the public.
Posted in archives 2 Comments
Lenox, MA – 08/17/09 – Lenox Library – Miles Davis\’ Kind of Blue fete