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| Berklee College partners with BeanTown Jazz Fest for concerts Berklee College of Music and the BeanTown Jazz Festival - both of which create accessibility to great jazz for Boston audiences– are partnering to present the opening concert for the fifth-annual BeanTown Jazz Festival, September 23 – 24. On Friday, September 23, Berklee and BeanTown are bringing jazz and R&B vocalist Lalah Hathaway to the Berklee Performance Center for a special pre-festival concert. On Saturday, September 24, the pair brings alto saxophonist Miguel Zenon, with his bold blend of jazz and Latin music, to the outdoor stage on Columbus Avenue. Hathaway is the daughter of soul superstar Donnie Hathaway. The Berklee alumna’s latest CD, the personal and smooth grooving Outrun the Sky (MesaBlueMoon/Pyramid), is a testament that the gift of song passes through generations. In addition to releasing three solo discs, Hathaway recorded The Song Lives On with Joe Sample, and has appeared on albums by Grover Washington, Meshell Ndegeocello, Mary J. Blige, Gerald Albright, and Pete Escovedo, among many others. On stage, she has performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, Gil Scott Heron, Chaka Khan, The Winans, and Stevie Wonder. The song “Boston, ” on her latest CD, is a melancholy reflection of the time she spent here studying at Berklee. Zenon, also a Berklee alumnus, is basking the critical praise for his new release Jibaro (Marsalis Music), the second disc produced by label owner Branford Marsalis. Zenon named his album, pronounced “He-bar-oh, ” after a style of music that has roots in the rural areas of his native Puerto Rico. The Boston Globe reports the disc is, “very much a jazz set, but one with a Latin accent that we haven't heard before, more Spanish in its origin than African. Soulful, swinging, charming, and accessible.” Zenon’s group includes pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Hans Glawischnig, and drummer Antonio Sánchez. Zenon is also known for his performances with the SF Jazz Collective and Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, and recordings with the Mingus Big Band and Chiara Civello, among others. For the fifth annual BeanTown Jazz Festival, 14 bands will perform on three stages from noon to 7:00 p.m. Last year's event attracted more than 40, 000 fans throughout the day write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |