Gary Smulyan, Noah Baerman concert Aug. 3, Pittsfield, MA

Gary Smulyan featured in Aug. 3, 2012 concert in Pittsfield, MA
Gary Smulyan featured in Aug. 3, 2012 concert in Pittsfield, MA
As part of our year-round commitment to presenting jazz in the Berkshires, we have scheduled a double bill featuring DownBeat award-winning baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan and pianist/composer/author Noah Baerman. The special program will take place at 8PM August 3 in the intimate setting of the backroom at Baba Louie’s Sourdough Pizza, where we have instituted a jazz series to follow Pittsfield’s monthly First Fridays Artswalks. Tickets are $20, general admission, concert starts at 8pm.

Please phone 413-841-7718 to see if there will be any seats available.

The guest artists will be backed by the Berkshires Jazz Duo, featuring bassist Jeff Link and drummer Peter Coombs. With Baerman at piano in the first set, the trio will then perform with Gary Smulyan, this year’s DownBeat Magazine critics poll winner.

Considered the standard bearer of his generation for the baritone saxophone, Smulyan has consistently been ranked as the Number 1 performer on his instrument in both the annual Downbeat Readers and Critics polls. He is the baritone saxophonist with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and played with its previous incarnation, the Mel Lewis Big Band. He also plays baritone saxophone with the Dave Holland Big Band and Octet, and the Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band.

Noah Baerman scheduled to perform in concert Aug. 3, in Pittsfield, MA
Noah Baerman scheduled to perform in concert Aug. 3, in Pittsfield, MA
Noah Baerman has performed at the Pittsfield CityJazz Festival and as a rising talent in the Tanglewood Jazz Festival. A prolific composer, he has earned top honors from the Billboard Song Contest, the Unisong Contest, and ASCAP (“ASCAPlus Awards” every year since 2004). His long list of recordings is topped by a new solo album, Turtle Steps. He earned his bachelors and masters degrees in Jazz Studies from Rutgers University, where his mentor was Kenny Barron.

The concert caps-off the “First Fridays Artswalks” in downtown Pittsfield, when some 30 venues will be featuring the paintings and other hanging art from local and regional artists. Dinner will be available earlier in the restaurant (34 Depot St., Pittsfield), in the backroom starting at 7pm and continuing during the music in the backroom.

Directions to Baba Louie’s Sourdough Pizza

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