Berkshires Jazz
Jazz performance & education in the Berkshires since 2005
  • Home
  • About
    • Mission
    • Board of Directors
    • Our Story
  • News
  • Calendar
    • Berkshires Jazz Events
    • Regional Calendar
  • Contact
  • Donate

Jazz performance & education in the Berkshires since 2005

  • Alumni news
  • Community
  • Concerts, events
  • Feature
  • Home Page
  • Musician directory
  • News
  • Pittsfield CityJazz Festival
  • Press releases
  • Reviews
  • Uncategorized

Jazz Meets Classical: the Ted Rosenthal Trio with strings

A creative and insightful program that illustrates how many classical themes
have been incorporated into popular music and jazz

Saturday, April 27, at the Berkshire Museum, 39 South St., Pittsfield, Mass.

6:30pm: beverage service and winetasting
7:30pm concert
Post-concert meet and greet the artists

The Ted Rosenthal Trio returns to Pittsfield with a unique program that demonstrates the influence that classical music has had on the modern music scene. He performs a creative and insightful program that includes joint numbers with the Elayne P. Bernstein Octet, the advanced strings ensemble from Kids 4 Harmony. The program is presented in partnership with the Berkshire Museum, and is part of ArtWeek, a celebration of the rich cultural offerings found throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Ted Rosenthal is an iconic jazz pianist, and has performed worldwide, both as a leader and as a sideman with many jazz greats, including Gerry Mulligan, Art Farmer, Phil Woods, Bob Brookmeyer, and Jon Faddis. His classical/jazz crossover performances include solo and featured appearances with the Boston Pops, the Baltimore Symphony, the Kansas City Symphony, and many other orchestras. His work includes adapting themes by Brahms, Schumann, Tchaikovsky and others into a mainstream jazz idiom. Local audiences are still talking about his interpretation of “Rhapsody In Blue” at the Berkshire Museum last year.

The Elayne P. Bernstein Octet is a group of student musicians in elementary and middle schools. The octet is the most advanced ensemble in Kids 4 Harmony, which is operated by Berkshire Children and Families. Members have appeared in large and small events from Boston to Los Angeles, including the national Take A Stand Orchestra under the baton of maestro Gustavo Dudamel.

In addition to participating in ArtWeek, the program is our contribution to Jazz Appreciation Month, a nationwide initiative of the Smithsonian Institution, and recognized by Congress in 2003.

Come early, enjoy a beverage. Stay late, meet-and-greet the artists. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 on the day of the event. Click here for our online box office. Tickets are also on sale at the Berkshire Museum, 413-443-7171

World Music Concert and Workshops with Royal Hartigan and Nana Simopolous

Two of the Berkshires’ most noted musicians join forces back home this Saturday, Jan. 26, for a world music concert and a pair of master classes. In addition to their concert, Royal Hartigan and Nana Simopoulos will be conducting percussion and vocal workshops for musicians of all ages and capabilities.

Details below, or go straight to the ticket page for further descriptions:

Teaming up with master percussionist Royal Hartigan on drums, Nana plays sitar and guitar and sings in an exotic style that blends sounds and textures from around the world with jazz. Virtuoso saxophonist Charlie Tokarz and bassist Otto Garner accompany her along with Caryn Heilman on keyboard and vocals. The concert starts at 7:30pm (doors open at 6:30) in the wonderful performance space of The Stationery Factory, 63 Flansburg Ave., Dalton, Mass.

Workshops:
Royal Hartigan Hands on World Music: West African Drumming and Dance, (4:00-6:00pm) will focus on the traditions of Ghana, West Africa, including bell, rattle, and lead and support drumming. Participants experience the interactions of the drums and how these rhythms are expressed in dance movements. each attendee should bring a drum and dress comfortably to move. use of earplugs is strongly suggested.

Nana Simopoulos Vocal Circle Workshop (4:00-6:00pm)
Singing in a vocal circle can be one of the most gratifying group experiences. Open to singers of all levels, this vocal circle workshop will introduce you to and help you develop the various techniques used to create music on the spot in a circle of other vocalists. Nana studied with Bobby McFerrin who developed “Circlesongs”, a style of improvised singing that works for groups large and small. In the circle, singers will explore their own voices as they listen to the voices around them. We will begin with games and exercises that will open up the flow of creativity. You will learn how to create unique motifs, rhythms and melodies that will ultimately guide you toward making your own improvised vocal circles. More than anything we will have a wonderful time singing together.

 

Matt and Atla DeChamplain Return for Feb. 16 Performance

TONIGHT! Saturday, Feb. 16, 7:30pm.
The Matt and Atla DeChamplain Quartet
Whitney Center for the Arts, 42 Wendell Ave., Pittsfield, Mass.

We are pleased to announce “Ten Approaches to Love and Life,” a Valentine’s weekend performance by the Matt and Atla DeChamplain Quartet.

One of the Berkshires’ favorite vocalists, Atla returns with a wide-ranging repertoire that focuses on various avenues (perhaps “adventures” would say it better) of love. From fascinating to flirting, from courting to marriage to family and who-knows-what, Atla brings unique vocal stylings to our stage. She will be accompanied by her equally amazing pianist –her husband Matt– and their group. Rounding out the band are Matt Dwonszyk on bass and Tony Davis on guitar. A veritable who’s-who of next-generation jazz talent who call New England “home.”

When the calendar says February, many thoughts turn to Pittsfield’s popular “10×10 Upstreet Arts Festival,” which will take place Feb. 14-24. We know…that’s 11 days, but the first day is a bonus. This special program is our contribution to the festivities, and given the date, it’s logical to have a Valentine theme. The band’s setup –piano, bass, guitar and voice—is perfect for the warm acoustics of the Whitney Center for the Arts, the home of so many creative performance events.

Since their sold-out performance at Flavours two years ago, fans have been clamoring to bring Matt and Atla back, and we’re delighted to present them on Feb. 16 in this new setting.

Come, enjoy the adventure. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 on the day of the event. Light bar snacks and cash bar will be available. Seating is limited, don’t miss out.

The online box office is closed. Tickets will be available at the door starting at 7pm.

 

 

 

 

New Programs on the Horizon

We look forward to announcing our next activities shortly. Please return for updates on our 2019 programming.

Next up:

  • the second annual Berkshire Jazz Showcase, re-scheduled to Sept. 28
  • the 15th annual Pittsfield CityJazz Festival, October 11-20, presenting
    • Stephanie Nakasian and Veronica Swift, the dynamic duo of jazz vocalists;
    • Cuban pianist and jazz visionary Dayramir Gonzalez;
    • jazz prodigy concert;
    • our annual jazz crawl, and more.

Watch this space for details!
  

Jazz About Town: our annual “Jazz Crawl”

The 14th annual Pittsfield CityJazz Festival  kick off on Columbus Day weekend, Oct. 5-7, with Jazz About Town, featuring regional musicians in restaurants and lounges around Pittsfield’s Upstreet Cultural District.  The holiday weekend continues with a brunch on Oct. 7 at Dottie’s Coffee Lounge. Here’s the schedule:

Friday, Oct. 5:

Panchos, 156 North St,
6-9pm: Gary Miller and Ed Green Jazz Duo

Rainbow Restaurant, 109 First St.
7:30pm: Blue Light Trio

Saturday, Oct. 6

Patrick’s Pub, 26 Bank Row
5:30-8pm: Nico Wohl, guitar trio

Panchos, 156 North St.
6-9pm: Dave Bartley, keyboard and vocal

Mission Bar & Tapas, 438 North St.
8-11pm: Mary Ann Palermo and First Take

Hotel On North, 297 North St.
9-11pm: Banulis & Miller Jazz Duo

Sunday, Oct. 7: Jazz Brunch

Dottie’s Coffee Lounge, 444 North St.
10am-2pm (music until noon)
Nico Wohl guitar duo

Monday, Oct. 8, the holiday weekend continues
Mission Bar & Tapas, 438 North St. 8-11pm:
Andy Wrba and Friends

Enjoy the vibe!

For information on the rest of the festival, including headliners Veronica Swift and Christian McBride’s New Jawn quartet, plus our jazz prodigy concert, click here.

Veronica Swift, Christian McBride headline this weekend’s Pittsfield CityJazz Festival

We are pleased to announce the lineup for the 14th annual Pittsfield CityJAZZ Festival, Oct. 5-14, a cultural highlight of the Fall Foliage season in western New England. Highlights include the annual “jazz crawl,” a jazz prodigy concert; headline performances featuring Veronica Swift (Oct. 12) and Christian McBride’s New Jawn quartet (Oct. 13); jazz brunches, and more. Box office activity is heavy for both of the ticketed events.

The events all take place within the Upstreet Cultural District, Pittsfield, Massachusetts’ downtown corridor that is rich with visual and performing arts activities, restaurants, lounges, and other cultural attractions.

Things kicked-off on Columbus Day weekend, Oct. 5-7, with Jazz About Town, the annual jazz crawl featuring local musicians in restaurants and lounges. The holiday weekend continued with a brunch on Oct. 7 at Dottie’s Coffee Lounge, featuring Nico Wohl and Andy Wrba.

Festival activities resumed mid-week with the Jazz Prodigy concert, on Wednesday, Oct. 10, 7pm, at the Berkshire Athenaeum. The free concert, sponsored by the Friends of the Athenaeum, introduced the remarkable bassist Gabriel Severn to Berkshires audiences. He was backed by Eugene Uman, piano, and Conor Meehan, drums. Snippts are appearing on Facebook…check them out.

The fast-rising vocalist Veronica Swift opens headline weekend on Friday, Oct. 12, with the Berkshires Jazz All-Star Trio in a dinner/concert at Legion Hall, 41 Wendell Ave. Tickets are $25 for the concert, which starts at 8pm (optional Italian dinner is $17, including tax and gratuity (dinner available starting at 6:30). Cash bar will be available.  Tickets are available here.

Christian McBride’s New Jawn quartet caps the festival in a 7:30pm concert at The Colonial Theatre, 111 South Street. The Berkshires Jazz Youth Ensemble, a curated big band comprising students from Herberg and Reid Middle Schools, will open for McBride. Tickets are $25 and $38.

The festival concludes with a jazz brunch on Sunday, Oct. 14. Ticket information and the online box office can be found at www.BerkshiresJazz.org.

About the artists

Award-winning 13-year-old electric bassist Gabriel Severn began playing at age 7, but was already drawn to the bass by age 2. As a toddler, he’d point the bass out at performances and festivals while watching his dad play. It was then that he developed an ear for Jaco Pastorius’ music, and loved listening to bands such as the Yellowjackets and Weather Report during car rides.

In 2012, at age 7, Gabriel began private lessons, and 4 months later joined his first band. He received international recognition when his video performing Jaco’s solo on Havana at age 11 went viral, setting the wheels in motion for a possible professional career. He has won a Down Beat Magazine award for student composition. He will appear with local musicians Eugene Uman on piano and Conor Meehan on drums.

At age 24, Veronica Swift is being recognized as one of the top young jazz singers on the scene. She performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center at age 11, as part of the “Women in Jazz” series at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola. She won second place at the prestigious Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition in 2015, and her album from that same year, “Lonely Woman,” features some of the hottest young jazz players on the scene including Emmet Cohen, Benny Bennack III, Daryl Johns (with whom she shared the Grammy Choir/Band experience), Matt Wigler, and Scott Lowrie.

She moved to New York City in 2016 and almost immediately started performing every Saturday night at the legendary Birdland Jazz Club, a gig she continues to maintain when she isn’t on the road. Earlier this year, she appeared in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s reprisal of the famous Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall concert.

In addition to performing the Great American Songbook and bebop and vocalese classics, Swift is also a passionate devotee of 20s and 30s music. Last year at this time, she was on tour with Chris Botti in California. Here in Pittsfield, she will appear with the Berkshires Jazz All-Star Trio: Benny Kohn, piano; Mary Ann McSweeney, bass; and Conor Meehan, drums.

Six-time GRAMMY-winning jazz bassist Christian McBride has been likened to a force of nature, fusing the fire and fury of a virtuoso with the depth and grounding of a seasoned journeyman. Powered by a relentless energy and a boundless love of swing, McBride’s path has described a continuous positive arc since his arrival on the scene. With a career now blazing into its third decade, and recordings as both a sideman and leader numbering more than 300, the Philadelphia native has become one of the most requested, most recorded, and most respected figures in the music world today.

The consummate jazz educator and evangelist, McBride often leads the ensemble at Jazz House Kids in Newark, NJ, and is the voice of the syndicated NPR program “Jazz Night In America,” and hosts his own show on Sirius/XM. In 2016, he was named creative director of the Newport Jazz Festival. His New Jawn Quartet comprises Josh Evans, trumpet; Marcus Strickland, saxophone; McBride, bass; and Nasheet Waits, drums. Their first CD, “Christian McBride’s New Jawn,” will be released in October, shortly after the Pittsfield CityJazz Festival.
.
The festival is made possible thanks to sponsorships from the Feigenbaum Foundation, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts Cultural Council, and private donations.

Click here for our online box office for Veronica Swift’s concert on Oct. 12. The Colonial Theatre is also selling tickets for Christian McBride (Oct. 13) online (click here).  You can also order them by phone at 413-997-4444 (saving the transaction fee vs. ordering online), and at The Colonial Theatre’s walkup box office at 111 South Street, Pittsfield, during regular operating hours.

See you there!

Berkshire Jazz Showcase, Aug. 25 on the Pittsfield Common

Berkshire County has a long-standing reputation as a hot-bed of jazz talent, going back nearly 75 years to Music Inn, and now being revived throughout the region. Dozens of world-class musicians, many of whom could easily establish careers in jazz havens like New York, Chicago, New Orleans or San Francisco, live here because this is where they want to be. You can find them in clubs and lounges on many weekends, but rarely on a main stage, especially those from the more rural areas.

This is somewhat ironic. The performing arts represent the heart of the Berkshires; the area is swarming with creativity. And yet, despite signature jazz festivals that feature headline talent during the shoulder season (e.g., the Berkshire Gateway Jazz Weekend each June, and Pittsfield CityJAZZ Festival in October), there is no main-stage jazz event during the high tourist season –and none at all that showcases the rich variety of local talent who call the Berkshires home.

That all changes on August 25.

As a county-wide organization whose mission includes promoting the local jazz scene, Berkshires Jazz addresses this longstanding oversight by showcasing a panoply of the highest-quality regional jazz artists in a one-day outdoors festival at the Pittsfield Common. Free to the public, the first annual Berkshire Jazz Showcase (1-6pm, Saturday, Aug. 25) will include 5 bands, food vendors, a beer and wine garden, and the adjacent playground and “splash park”.

Come and enjoy a wide-ranging jazz extravaganza, with:
Gruppo Mondo
Andy Kelly Gypsy Jazz
Ben Kohn Trio
Jason Ennis and Friends
Lucky 5

And, it’s free!

Watch this space for updates.

Bring blankets or chairs. And, come early, the Pittsfield Farmer’s Market will be in full swing until 1pm.

Laroo/Byrd 4tet, dinner show on July 14, featuring Rick Rozie and Jocelyn Pleasant

As hot as jazz gets, the internationally renowned Laroo/Byrd Quartet makes its Berkshires debut on Saturday, July 14 with a dinner show at our newest popular venue, American Legion Hall. An optional dinner buffet makes for a complete evening’s entertainment. Dinner starts at 6:30pm; show at 7:30. Tickets are on sale now, click here for details.

Having appeared here in Pittsfield as part of the Latin Jazz Trio some 10 years ago, the monster pianist Warren Byrd returns in a new quartet configuration with his wife, the trumpeter and saxophonist Saskia Laroo. The Laroo/Byrd Quartet (or “4tet,” as it is often called) is the transmutation from their popular duo configuration into a full band with added bass (Rick Rozie) and drums (Jocelyn Pleasant).

Hailing from Hartford, Connecticut, Warren Byrd is a pianist/vocalist with a long list of international credits, tours, and celebrated work. Though earning a full scholarship for a voice major at Hartt College of Music, he chose to focus on jazz piano and composition, emerging primarily self-taught. His work is a testament to his gifts: freelancing with such notables as Archie Shepp and Eddie Henderson to leading Gospel choirs to composing for theatre and dance. He is co-founder/leader of Duo Laroo/Byrd and the Afro-Semitic Experience, performs as a freelancer, with Saskia’s other groups, as a solo pianist and with his own Byrdspeak Ensemble.

A native of Amsterdam, Saskia Laroo is a premiere figure in music and one of the finest female trumpet players in the world. She began playing trumpet at age 8, and as a teen picked-up cello and guitar. Though first enrolling as a Mathematics major in college, she switched to music, graduating from the Muziekacademie of Hilversum. Versatility has propelled her illustrious career, from barnstorming with Latin, jazz and pop bands, to collaborations with legends such as Hans Dulfer and Teddy Edwards. She released her first CD, “It’s Like Jazz” in 1994 under her own label Laroo Records. Since, she has produced seven CDs and a DVD varying from classic jazz to Club-influenced acid jazz fusion. She has performed worldwide in hundreds of settings.

Concert tickets are $25 in advance, $30 on the day of the event. The optional dinner buffet is highlighted by Brenda Torchio’s renowned chicken picatta. $17, including tax and tip, but please make your reservations in advance.

Berkshire Gateway headliners: Frank Vignola Trio, Jeff Holmes Big Band

Ready to buy? Quick links to our online box office:

Click here for Frank Vignola tickets.

Click here for Jeff Holmes Big Band tickets.

 

“Headline weekend” for the Berkshires Gateway Jazz Weekend kicks off with the Frank Vignola Trio (7:30pm, Lee Congregational Church). Frank is one of the most extraordinary (and popular) guitarists performing before the public today. His virtuosity has made him the guitarist of choice for many of the world’s top musicians, including Donald Fagen, Wynton Marsalis, Tommy Emmanuel, the Boston Pops, and guitar legend Les Paul, who named Frank to his “Five Most Admired Guitarists List”. The New York Times deemed him “one of the brightest stars of the guitar”.

It’s great to welcome him back to the Berkshires, where he has performed at two Pittsfield CityJazz Festivals, to great critical and popular acclaim. His trio includes co-guitarist Vinny Raniolo and bassist Elias Bailey.

Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 on the day of the event. Click here for ticket information and online box office.

Headline weekend continues on Saturday, June 16 with the Jeff Holmes big band. Click here for details and tickets. 

Berkshire Gateway: Jeff Holmes Big Band with vocalist Dawning Holmes

Closing-out the headline performances at this year’s Berkshire Gateway Jazz Weekend will be the Jeff Holmes Big Band, featuring the amazing vocalist Dawning Holmes. [Click here for tickets, or read on]

Pianist, composer, arranger and trumpeter Jeff Holmes is a nationally published composer/arranger, and a multiple recipient of National Endowment For The Arts Jazz Composition Grants. He has written music for renowned jazz musicians including John Abercrombie, Max Roach, Sheila Jordan, Yusef Lateef, Rufus Reid, and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.

In addition to the band’s impressive library of big-band standards and originals, this evening’s repertoire will include a tribute to Leonard Bernstein, whose 100th birthday is being celebrated this year by musical organizations across the globe. Bernstein’s music touched all genres, from classical to pop, opera to jazz, and Hollywood.

The band features the outstanding vocalist Dawning Holmes, who was first heard in Lee during the 2017 tribute to Buddy Rich. In addition to her work with Jeff’s big band, Dawning has sung in jazz clubs from New York City to London, has guested with both Paul Winter and the UMASS Studio Orchestra/Jazz Ensemble I, and opened for Bob Newhart at the Foxwoods Casino Theatre. She performs pieces made popular by Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Sam Cooke, Amy Winehouse, and is currently working on a project of her own original music and lyrics.

Concert time is 7:30pm, at the Lee Meeting House (Lee Congregational Church). Tickets [click here] are $25 in advance, $30 on the day of the event.

< 1 2 3 4 5 >»
Berkshires Jazz