“The Gateway to the Berkshires”
and more
Details on headline concerts and ticket info here.
For the complete schedule of free and ticketed events, visit BerkshireGatewayJazz.org
Friday, Apr. 21
Open Jam Session
7-10pm, Hot Plate Brewing Co.
Dave Bartley, host and referee
Saturday, April 22
7:30pm, Berkshire Museum
Anton Kot Quintet
With Don Braden, Albert Rivera, Avery Sharpe and Tyler Bullock
Wednesday, April 26
7pm, Berkshire Athenaeum
Jazz Prodigy Concert
Conor McMillen, violin
With Ben Kohn, Dan Broad, Luke Franco, and Conor Meehan
Sponsored by The Friends of the Athenaeum
Friday, Apr. 28
Annual Jazz Crawl
Downtown Pittsfield, see schedule below
Saturday, Apr. 29
7-10pm, Berkshire Palate (at Hotel on North)
Swing dance with The Lucky 5
Sunday, Apr. 30
4pm, The Colonial Theatre
Emmet Cohen Trio with Houston Person
Plus the Berkshires Jazz All Star Student Ensemble
5:30-7:30pm
Dave Bartley Duo
Jae’s on Winter, 7 Winter St
Dave Bartley, keyboard
Pete Toigo, bass
6-9pm
Jason Ennis Trio
Hot Plate Brewing
1 School Street
Jason Enns, guitar
Matt Cory, Bass
Grisha Alexiev, drums
7-9pm:
Andy Kelly and his
Gypsy Jazz Quartet
101 Restaurant and Bar
1 West St.
(in the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites)
Andy Kelly, guitar
Dan Broad, bass
Leo Russo, tenor saxophone
Charlie Tokarz, woodwinds
7-10pm:
Adithya Vaidhyan Trio
Methuselah, 391 North St.
Adithya Vaidhyan, tenor sax
Anuvind Iyer, keyboard
Curren Flaherty, bass
7-10pm:
Don Mikkelsen Quartet
Berkshire Palate, 297 North St.
(at Hotel on North)
Don Mikkelsen, trombone
Luke Franco, guitar
Nick Edwards, bass
Jimmy Madison, drums
April 15, 7pm, Shakespeare & Co., Lenox
A Gershwin Extravaganza:
Ted Rosenthal, with the Kids 4 Harmony Orchestra
The Ted Rosenthal jazz trio plays his interpretations of George Gershwin compositions.
And, Ted performs “Rhapsody in Blue” with the Kids 4 Harmony strings ensemble
[Another sold-out event at this storied location. For information about Kids 4 Harmony, click here.]
Apr. 21-30
Pittsfield CityJazz Festival
Emmet Cohen, Houston Person, Anton Kot, Avery Sharpe, Don Braden, Albert Rivera, Tyler Bullock and more.
Plus our Jazz Prodigy Concert, a swing dance, a jam session,
and the perennial favorite, the annual Jazz Crawl
Click here for information and tickets for the Anton Kot Quintet
Click here for information and tickets for Emmet Cohen with Houston Person
Details for the “Jazz Crawl” and other events will be posted here in coming days
June 9-11
Berkshire Gateway Jazz Weekend
Featuring Roberta Donnay and the Prohibition Mob Band,
Alexis Cole with the Amherst Jazz Orchestra, and more
July 8
Berkshire Jazz Showcase
Featuring Berkshires-based groups,
outdoors on the Pittsfield Common
July 14-15
LuLuFest Lenox
A music festival with master classes and concerts featuring women-led bands
Aug. 19
Bousquet Jazz Festival
At the base of the ski hill, plus an indoor jam session
The Lucky 5, Claire Daly, Dominique Eade, Berkshires Jazz All Stars, and more
Sept. 15-16
The Lenox Jazz Stroll
Al fresco and indoors, in historic Lenox Village
Nov. 12
Django Festival All-Stars
Their first U.S. date, en route to a week-long residency
at the Birdland Jazz Club in NYC.
He’s been making jazz, and nurturing young jazz artists, for more than 50 years, and Berkshires Jazz thinks it’s about time we paid tribute to Mike Schiffer. At the age of 93, he is still playing. But this time, on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 29 (4pm), he’ll be among us, in the audience.
Known first and foremost as a performer, Mike also booked the talent at the legendary, and lamented, Castle Street Café for as long as the jazz program existed at that Great Barrington venue. He presented young and seasoned artists alike, and introduced audiences to budding talent. Several of them –including guitarist Rob Putnam, and pianists Rob Kelly and Benny “Fingers” Kohn—will serenade Mike at the Lenox Club. And perhaps a couple of surprises. Your ticket includes complimentary wine, beer, and light hors d’oeuvres.
There will be brief remarks from legislator Smitty Pignatelli, musicologist and jazz historian Jeremy Yudkin, and educator, musician, and presenter Andy Wrba. And some of the best jazz piano you can hear hereabouts. And a few surprises (oh..we already said that). Among them, if we’re lucky, Mike will say a few words and play a number or two.
What promises to be a wonderful event, musically and socially, tickets are sold out.
Trumpeter, composer, arranger, and author Eddie Allen is one of the most versatile musicians on the New York scene, playing everything from big bands to ensembles to R&B/Pop to Latin to symphonic to Broadway. His holiday brass septet will feature two trumpets, trombone a
nd French horn, plus rhythm section. They will be playing his original arrangements of favorites from his well-received recording, “Jazzy Brass for the Holidays.”
A brass septet –or, more accurately, a brass-oriented jazz ensemble—is the perfect configuration for this repertoire of holiday music. The family-friendly concert starts at 7pm, and takes place the beautiful confines of the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, on the campus of Shakespeare & Co., 70 Kemble St., Lenox, Mass.
Allen has worked with such jazz greats as Art Blakey, Billy Harper, Randy Weston, Dizzy Gillespie, and Benny Carter. He has recorded and performed with, as well as composed for: Louis Hayes, Lester Bowie, Jack McDuff, Etta Jones & Houston Person, and Mongo Santamaria. You get the picture: he’s one of the most accomplished and well-rounded talents on the jazz scene. And, he continues to work as a freelance musician and clinician.
“Joyous and jazzy brass…” –JazzTimes Magazine
“A horn man to watch.” –The Washington Post
“…Bracingly vivid trumpeter…” –The Village Voice (N.Y.C.)
Usher-in the Christmas season with this musical delight.
Click here for tickets, or paste this URL into your browser:
https://www.shakespeare.org/shows/2022/eddie-allens-holiday-brass
The downtowns of Pittsfield and Lenox, Massachusetts will be sprawling with live jazz on the weekend of Nov. 18-20, with the first Berkshires Jazz Fall Sprawl. Artists range from small, local groups to the 17-piece Amherst Jazz Orchestra, and spotlight 16-year-old prodigy Brandon Goldberg, who is making his Berkshires debut that weekend in a sold-out show.
Most of the events are free, thanks to the sponsorship of the Mill Town Foundation, whose downtown music initiative is bolstering the presence of live music in the Berkshires. In fact, if you’ve got your tickets for Brandon Goldberg, you’re covered for the only ticketed event. The full schedule is at the bottom of this page.
Brandon Goldberg found his passion for jazz by listening to his favorite artists including Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane. He has performed at the Newport, Litchfield, Twin Cities, and Caramoor Jazz Festivals as well as the Monterey Jazz Festival with the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra and Bravo Niagara Festival of the Arts. He has played on the stages of the most prestigious jazz clubs including Jazz at Lincoln Center, Dizzy’s Club, Birdland Theatre.
And now, he’s coming to the Berkshires with his trio, including Ben Wolfe on bass and Aaron Kimmel on drums. We’ve been watching Brandon since he was 12 years old, and finally have the opportunity to bring him from his home in Miami to introduce him to Berkshires audiences. Ventfort Hall, the historic Berkshire cottage (104 Walker Street, Lenox, Mass.) is the perfect place, the building which the movie world saw as the setting for The Cider House Rules. Cash bar will be available before and after the concert, when there will be an opportunity to meet the young artist, who is preparing to go into the studio to create his third CD. Tickets are sold-out, but keep you eye on this young musician, who will be back on larger stages before you know it.
Now, as to what makes the sprawl. We have sponsored Jazz Crawls, with performances from one end of downtown Pittsfield to the other, in somewhat chronological sequence. And, there have been Jazz Strolls, movable feasts of jazz performances, rotating among a small number of nearby sites in historic Lenox Village. The “sprawl” is a new concept, with jazz and blues performances in both Lenox and Pittsfield, sometimes overlapping. A veritable sprawl. There’s plenty to choose from on this opening weekend of the holiday season.
Here’s the schedule:
November 18
6-9pm: Teri Roiger Piano Trio
Gateways Inn, Lenox
7-10pm: Misty Blues
Firefly, Lenox
7-10pm: Don Mikkelsen Quartet
Berkshire Palate, Pittsfield
7-10pm: Michael Junkins Trio
Methuselah, Pittsfield
November 19
6-8pm: George Oldziey Trio
Apple Tree Inn, Lenox
6-9pm: Armen Donelian & Friends
Gateways Inn, Lenox
7-10om Wanda Houston Band
Firefly, Lenox
7-10pm: Andy Kelly and Friends
101 Restaurant & Bar, Pittsfield
7-10pm: Amherst Jazz Orchestra
Flat Burger Society, Pittsfield
November 20
4pm: Brandon Goldberg Trio [ticketed event] Ventfort Hall, Lenox
6-9pm: Luke Franco Trio
Gateways Inn, Lenox
NOTE: the online box office is closed. Tickets will go on sale at The Stationery Factory on Oct. 9, at 6:30pm. Premium Seating may be limited.
An unequivocal musical prodigy, singer-saxophonist-songwriter-composer and band leader Grace Kelly has rocked the jazz world with sold-out concerts . . . 14 acclaimed albums . . . and a resume that includes performing at the Hollywood Bowl and as part of the house band for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” – all before reaching her mid-twenties. She takes a break from her band’s 28-city CD tour and returns to the Berkshires for a special appearance at The Stationery Factory.
As a young lion in jazz, Grace Kelly’s honors include multiple ASCAP Composer Awards, Song of the Year in the 2018 John Lennon Songwriting Contest, and she has been named nine years consecutively in the Annual Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll, “Rising Star Alto Saxophone” (the youngest ever named to Downbeat critics poll in 2009). She has played in the house band for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and was featured in Amazon’s Emmy-nominated series Bosch, where she played her original composition, “Blues for Harry Bosch”. That appearance has brought her wide recognition beyond the regular jazz audience, attracting crowds of all ages and description to her concerts. And, now’s your chance to catch her in a different setting.
The 20-piece UConn Jazz Ensemble is renowned as one of the outstanding jazz aggregations in the northeast. Their Stationery Factory performance includes their own material plus several big-band arrangements of Grace Kelly’s vocal and instrumental compositions. The band is directed by John Mastroianni, a top leader, composer/arranger and alto saxophonist who has appeared with several big bands in the area, including the New England Jazz Ensemble, the Greg Caputo Big Band, the Jeff Holmes Big Band, and others.
The venue, The Stationery Factory (63 Flansburg Ave., Dalton), has stunning acoustics, rarely put to the test by large jazz ensembles. The audience is in for a unique and memorable music experience.
Bar service will be available. There are two levels for seating; Premium (which includes a cocktail table and cushioned chairs), and General Admission. Don’t miss out. Click here for tickets.
Click here to enjoy a brief introduction to this most exciting and talented artist.
Alto saxophonist Grace Kelly was a child prodigy, appearing with Phil Woods at the Pittsfield CityJazz Festival…at the age of 14… and made jazz history. She celebrated the event five years later with a CD called “man with the hat,” on which Phil was her guest. Five years from child wonder to headliner.
Acclaimed the world over, Grace has appeared at all the major jazz festivals and has been featured on CNN, NPR, and magazines as far-ranging as DownBeat and Vanity Fair, which declared her “a significant millennial in the jazz world”.
The prodigious performer, singer, composer, and dancer will be returning to the Berkshires for a CD Release concert on August 28. Her national tour starts in central Massachusetts, heads for the east coast, and the first leg concludes at the Lee Congregational Church in downtown Lee, “the Gateway to the Berkshires,” on August 28 at 7pm.
Her quartet includes Devon Yesberger, keys; James Dale, bass; Ross Pederson, drums; and the inimitable Grace Kelly on saxophone and vocals.
Don’t miss out, this will be one of the hottest tickets of the summer cultural season in the Berkshires. Click here for our online box office or past the following URL into your browser.
https://berkshires-jazz.ticketleap.com/grace-kelly-quartet-in-the-berkshires/details
See you there!
And mark your calendar for Oct. 9, when Grace returns as a guest artist with the University of Connecticut Jazz Ensemble. The setting will be The Stationery Factory, in Dalton, Mass., whose acoustics are unparalleled. Sunday of Columbus Day weekend, when fall foliage is at its peak.
June 17-19, 2022
Downtown Lee, Mass.
“The Gateway to the Berkshires”
Friday, June 17
Michael Benedict and Bopitude
Lee Congregational Church, 7:30pm
[Click here for Bopitude ticket information and online box office]
Saturday, June 18
Jazz Brunch
Rob Putnam Quartet
Starving Artist Café, 11am-2pm
Jazz In the Park, 11:30am-4pm
Benny “Fingers” Kohn and Friends
Michael Junkins Group
Mary Ann Palermo and First Take
Karrin Allyson Quartet, with special guest Houston Person
Lee Congregational Church, 7:30pm
Sunday, June 19
Jazz Brunch
Dave Bartley
Starving Artist Café, 11am-2pm
Presented by
Berkshire Gateway Preservation, Inc.
Lee Chamber of Commerce
Berkshires Jazz, Inc.
Masks are strongly advised. Please check www.BerkshireGatewayJazz.org for updates, and other details.
Tickets Now On Sale
The Pittsfield CityJazz Festival returns after a two-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The event spans two weekends, taking place from April 23 to May 1, and becomes part of Jazz Appreciation Month.
The festival is made possible by a $10,000 grant from The Feigenbaum Foundation, and sponsorships from Berkshire Bank, Greylock Federal Credit Union, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Pittsfield Cooperative Bank, and WETF, the jazz station (www.jazzradioWETF.org).
The lineup includes something for everybody.
And once again, jazz brunch at Dottie’s opens our closing day. Open 8am-2pm, with music from 10am-noon, featuring Dave Bartley and Pete Toigo.
4-6pm: Benny Kohn | Jeff Stevens Duo
• Hotel on North, 297 North Street
5-7pm: Dave Bartley Trio
• Flat Burger Society, McKay Street
5:30-7:30pm: Ennis/McEachern Quartet
* Methuselah, 391 North Street (updated item)
6-8pm: Luke Franco Quartet with special guest Mike Fahn
• Berkshire Palate, 297 North Street
7-10om: Andy Kelly’s Gypsy Jazz Ambassadors
• 101 Restaurant, 1 West Street
8-10pm: Kris Allen Trio
• Methuselah, 391 North Street
8-10pm: Michael Junkins Trio
• RJ’s Restaurant, 109 First Street