News - Page 4 of 15 - Berkshires Jazz

Ted Rosenthal Quintet: a 100th birthday tribute to Thelonious Monk

Berkshires Jazz continues our summer of centennial tributes on Aug. 12, when the Ted Rosenthal Quintet performs a 100^th birthday salute to the iconic pianist Thelonious Monk. TD Bank is sponsoring the concert, at the Lee Meeting House (Congregational Church), starting at 7:30pm.

Equally renowned as a pianist and composer, Thelonious Monk was known for his unique improvisational style. He made countless contributions to the standard jazz repertoire. Even now, 35 years after his passing, he still has a strong and loyal worldwide following.

Ted Rosenthal is one of the leading jazz pianists of his generation. He has toured worldwide as a soloist and in various configurations. He has performed with many jazz greats, including Gerry Mulligan, Art Farmer, Phil Woods, Bob Brookmeyer, and James Moody. Ted has 15 CDs to his name, including “Images of Monk”, which provides the musical foundation for the concert.

In his debut performance for Berkshires Jazz, Ted appears with Mike Rodriguez (trumpet); Joel Frahm (saxophone); Martin Wind (bass); and Jimmy Macbride (drums).

Additional support is being provided by North Coast Brewing Co., a supporter of jazz events nationwide.

The Lee Meeting House (Lee Congregational Church), 25 Park Place in Lee, Mass., is a stunning, historic venue, both acoustically and visually. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 on the day of the event. Click here for our online box office.

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Celebrating Buddy Rich’s centennial with the Greg Caputo Big Band

If you ask 10 jazz fans to name the greatest big-band drummer of all time, chances are that 8 or 9 of the responses will be “Buddy Rich.” An icon of speed, precision, and taste, Rich still has a worldwide following, 30+ years after his passing. Berkshires Jazz is celebrating his 100th birthday year with a concert on July 22, featuring the big band of drummer Gregory Caputo.

Caputo has always served as a great ambassador for classic swing and big band jazz. His credits include stints with Count Basie, Artie Shaw, Harry James, Nelson Riddle, Benny Goodman, Sheila Jordan, Sammy Davis Jr., and countless world class jazz artists. Local fans remember his appearance in Lee with NEA Jazz Master Phil Woods, which turned out to be Woods’ final appearance in the Berkshires.

His big band is a who’s-who of jazz musicians. Called the “keeper of the big band flame” by Jazz Times magazine, Greg’s repertoire is always presented with great precision and spirit. Classic Drummer magazine describes Greg as “a master drummer who speaks volumes in refined sensibilities and superb technique.” An inductee into the National Jazz Archives, he is also on the faculty of UMass’ highly-regarded Jazz In July program.

Fasten your seat belts for a great evening of some of the finest big-band material you’ve ever heard.

The concert is on Saturday, July 22, 7pm, at the Lee Meeting House (Lee Congregational Church), 25 Park Place in the Berkshire Gateway town of Lee, Mass. A stunning venue, both acoustically and visually, a great place to hear a big band. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 on the day of the event. Click here for online box office.

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Berkshire Gateway Jazz Returns to Lee

A centennial birthday tribute to Ella Fitzgerald and the reunion of the New Black Eagle Jazz Band with legendary blues guitarist Duke Robillard highlight the sixth annual Berkshire Gateway Jazz Weekend, June 15-18 in downtown Lee.

The four-day festival also includes a Fine Art show, al fresco food vendors with daytime jazz, and a wine and beer tasting under a tent in Church Park. The weekend activities are bracketed by a documentary movie screening on Thursday, June 15 and a Father’s Day jazz brunch.

A collaboration of Berkshires Jazz, Inc. and Berkshire Gateway Preservation, Inc., the affair takes place in the western Massachusetts town of Lee, the “Gateway to the Berkshires.” The principal performing venue is the Lee Meeting House (a.k.a. Lee Congregational Church), 25 Park Place.

The headline concerts kick off on Friday, June 16, when the Vermont Jazz Center Big Band and Wanda Houston celebrate the 100^th birthday of the first lady of song. Performing and breathing new life into the same musical arrangements used by Ella Fitzgerald, the concert features acclaimed vocalist Wanda Houston singing Ella’s renowned parts. She will be backed by the Vermont Jazz Center Big Band. The repertoire will be a tour-de-force of the great American songbook.

Ella Fitzgerald was the most popular female jazz singer in the United States for more than half a century…and perhaps the first jazz artist to become a household name. One of today’s outstanding interpreters of vocal jazz and blues, Wanda Houston has loved –and sung along with– Fitzgerald’s music since she was a young girl. Like Fitzgerald, she is a great singer as well as a superb storyteller; she colors the spaces between her songs with fascinating stories of her youth and the trials and tribulations of life on the road.

The Vermont Jazz Center Big Band is a professional community band that comes together under the auspices of the VJC to rehearse and take on projects. The 16-piece band is directed by trumpeter Rob Freeberg and features many top-flight ensemble players and soloists.

Tickets (click here) are $25 in advance ($30 on the day of the event, if available), and at several locations in the Berkshires, including the Lee Chamber Visitor Center and Wood Brothers Music in Pittsfield.

Traditional Jazz At Its Best

On Saturday, June 17, one of the longest-standing, best-known and highly-respected traditional jazz groups, The New Black Eagle Jazz Band returns to the Berkshires after a three-year hiatus. The band has dozens of audio recordings and DVDs to its name, including one that garnered a Grammy nomination. Of their prowess and creativity, the late N.Y. Time critic John S. Wilson wrote that the band is “So far ahead of other traditional bands…there is scarcely any basis for comparison.”

In 2009, the Black Eagles teamed-up with famed guitarist Duke Robillard for a recording called “Nothing But the Blues.” After many years, they are reunited exclusively for the Berkshire Gateway Jazz Weekend.

Duke Robillard had his first band in high school, and he was fascinated from the beginning by the ways in which jazz, swing, and the blues were linked. In 1967, he formed Roomful of Blues, and the band was tight enough and tough enough to accompany two of its heroes, Big Joe Turner and Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson on recordings and in live appearances. The Grammy-nominated guitarist won The Blues Music Awards (formerly W.C. Handy Awards) for “Best Blues Guitarist” four times.

The event is supported in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, as well as sponsorships from Big Y, Adams Community Bank, Onyx Specialty Papers, Consolati Insurance, Inc. and Aldam Press.

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Mary Ann McSweeney at the Whitney Center for the Arts, May 13

A special, one-time concert of jazz interpretations of Portuguese music themes, Mary Ann McSweeney’s “Urban Fado Project” made its Berkshires debut on May 13, at the Whitney Center for the Arts, 42 Wendell Ave., Pittsfield. Tickets are available here.

Her quartet includes Jason Ennis on guitar, Todd Reynolds on violin, Conor Meehan on drums, and McSweeney on bass, and augmented by special guests.

Fado originated in Portugal in the 1800s. Of Portuguese heritage herself, McSweeney says “the beautiful melodies of Fado resonated for me immediately. The sadness, the sigh of the voice, the story of fate told by the singer inspired me to compose music that is Fado.” McSweeney wrote much of the new music at home in Brooklyn, and so she named the repertoire the “Urban Fado Project.”

Known for her jazz prowess as both a leader and ensemble member, McSweeney brings new grooves and new chord structures to the Fado form. “I want to bring a new voice and vibe to this music and share the cultural diversity it has to offer.” Her instrument, the string bass, brings a melodic and low supportive voice to the music. “I like to keep the form of the traditional Fado song, but I have also expanded it to leave room for improvisation. Musicians can layer their voice onto the form of the piece.”

The intimate setting of the Whitney Center for the Arts lends itself well to this music, presented in a cabaret setting.

royal hartigan returns to Pittsfield with his blood drum spirit jazz ensemble

The blood drum spirit jazz ensemble will present a concert of original and traditional music in jazz and global traditions on Sunday, May 7, 2017, at 3 pm at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church at 67 East Street in Pittsfield. It will be to honor and remember those loved ones we have lost through death or separation, notes drummer and leader royal hartigan. The concert is dedicated to Karl Tyler, Clifford Adams, and Mary Ann Knight, a founding member of the Friends of Springside Park. People are invited to bring photos, poems, writings, or other remembrances for display in the church during the concert. The Zion Lutheran Church is collaborating in the support for this performance. A free will offering is requested to assist the churches’ programs.

The ensemble will include saxophonist David Bindman, pianist Matan Rubinstein, bassist Wes Brown, and percussionist royal hartigan, with dancer and Pittsfield native Olivia Ilano, who currently resides in the Pioneer Valley. The ensemble has recorded three double CDs and toured throughout the world, including West Africa, Asia, and the United States.

A Pittsfield native and professor at UMass Dartmouth, hartigan has recently returned from two years in Ghana, West Africa, as a J. William Fulbright scholar/artist at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi. While there, blood drum spirit toured across the country, and performed and recorded with local musicians in numerous villages. The work will be released as a film and CD set entitled We Are One with a focus on the connections among the world’s peoples.

For concert information contact royal hartigan at (508) 999-8572 or royaljhartigan@gmail.com.

Berkshires Jazz Artist in Residence program

Our Jazz Artist in Residence program is the subject of an excellent article in the Berkshire Eagle. The story, by Education Editor Jenn Smith, ran in the March 1 edition, the first day of “Music in the schools” month.>>
http://bit.ly/2mdzk1r

Thanks to The Feigenbaum Foundation for making it happen, and to clinicians John Mastroianni, Joe Smith, and Richard Boulger, who all have contributed to the success of the program.

Centennial Celebrations of Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Thelonious Monk highlight 2017 programs

After a whirlwind 2016, Berkshires Jazz is even more active this year, starting with our “10 Flavours” performance by the Dechamplains on Feb. 25, and highlighted by centennial salutes to three jazz giants: Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, and Ella Fitzgerald. Two of these are part of two separate jazz festivals, and the third is a standalone event.

This is our most active year ever, so please mark your calendar, and return here for box office information and updates. The schedule, as it now stands:

May 13: Mary Ann McSweeney Quartet, plus guest vocalist Natalia Bernal. The Urban Fado Project. A great turnout at the Whitney Center for the Arts.

June 15-18: Berkshire Gateway Jazz Weekend (in collaboration with Berkshire Gateway Preservation, Inc.)

June 16: Ella Swings, with the Vermont Jazz Center Orchestra and Wanda Houston. Tickets are available here
June 17: The New Black Eagle Jazz Band, with special guest Duke Robillard. Tickets are available here.

Aug. 12: Images of Monk: a centennial salute, the Ted Rosenthal Quintet

Oct. 6-15: Pittsfield CityJazz Festival

Oct. 13: Veronica Swift (rising vocalist, daughter of Stephanie Nakasian and the late Hod O’Brien)
Oct. 14: The Dizzy Gillespie Afto-Cuban Experience

10 Flavours of Jazz

Update: Here’s an excerpt from the memorable performance by Atla and Matt Dechamplain.

In conjunction with Pittsfield’s annual 10×10 Upstreet Arts Festival Berkshires Jazz presents The Matt DeChamplain Trio, with vocalist Atla DeChamplain.

Saturday, Feb. 25, 8pm.

Flavours of Malaysia, McKay Street, Pittsfield.

New Orleans/traditional
swing
Brazilian/bossa nova
stride
Kansas City/blues
west coast/cool
contemporary
And more.
$25 in advance, $30 at the door.
inner available separately, starting at 7:45pm.
413-442-7718

Online sales for tonight’s performance are now closed. A limited number of seats may be available at the door. Please call or txt 413-841-7718 to confirm.

Karl Tyler Memorial

In Memory of a Jazz Fan Extraordinaire

Karl Tyler passed away on September 29, 2016. On October 29, there was a memorial service at Pittsfield Cemetery officiated by Rev. Timothy Weisman of Zion Lutheran Church. Karl was a Jazz enthusiast and played the bass, sang, and danced. He was a fan and friend of the legendary Jazz composer and pianist Randy Weston, percussionist, pianist, Ethnomusicologist, Fulbright Scholar and tap dancer Royal Hartigan, and most of the Berkshire County Jazz players and fans.

Karl’s lifelong love of Jazz was a central part of his life, and was equaled only by his expertise for Jazz history, styles, and musicians, many of whom knew and highly respected Karl. He would customarily be asked to sit in and scat sing or whistle solos with a group. On many occasions, he would trade short solos with world-class New York Jazz artists playing in the Berkshires, such as Randy Weston’s famous sextet at Avaloch Inn in Lenox during the 1950s and 1960s.

Karl was a legend for his quick memory of people and places in Jazz among the Berkshire Jazz community and among many players in New York. Karl was a member of Zion Lutheran Church of Pittsfield.

Karl Tyler Memorial Of the attendees at the memorial service were Royal Hartigan, Dick Di Nicola, Ted Murray, and Rich Vinette, all musicians who knew Karl and remembered his enthusiastic presence at any and all jazz happenings in Berkshire County. (If there was a riff in the air…Karl would be there).

Royal Hartigan recited a poem at the memorial and led the musicians in a short West African inspired ceremonial musical piece in Karl’s honor.

After the service, Karl’s family wanted to thank the four musicians for bringing the spirit of Jazz to the service and insisted on giving them each a crisp $100 bill. The musicians in turn have donated the entire amount to Berkshires Jazz, Inc. in Karl’s name and his spirit in supporting Jazz.

We are pleased to post this recollection of a consummate jazz advocate, and welcome additional contributions, either in someone’s memory, or to help Berkshires Jazz continue on our journey, Donations may be made anonymously or attributed.

R.I.P., Karl Tyler

Please stay tuned…

With the 2016 Pittsfield CityJazz Festival in the books, new programming will be be announced here soon – and via our mailing list, which you are welcome to join today:

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