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| 2nd Annual Live At Foxhollow Benefit Concert Set for August 12 On the heels of last year's overwhelmingly successful inaugural Live At Foxhollow benefit jazz concert, EnlightenNext, the Lenox-based educational nonprofit "dedicated to a revolution in consciousness and culture" is upping the ante with a knockout 3-band lineup that is sure to be the jazz event of the summer in the Berkshires. Columbia recording artists The Bad Plus will be headlining the evening of jazz, rock, funk, and fusion, followed by Screaming Headless Torsos (don't let the name fool you!) featuring master guitarist Dave Fiuczynski, with Lenox-based Unfulfilled Desires kicking off the event. The outdoor concert is set for Saturday, August 12, and will again be held on the lawn at Foxhollow Estate overlooking Laurel Lake. Proceeds will support the continuation of EnlightenNext's educational speakers series (formerly Voices from the Edge), which brings the leading thinkers in politics, science, business leadership, environmental activism, and contemporary culture to the Berkshires year round. If you've never heard of The Bad Plus you probably aren't tuned in to the pulse of the Nu-Jazz movement, which blends jazz, world music, and urban grooves into a fresh 21st century flavor. With their daring, amplified acoustic sound and original arrangements, The Bad Plus have spent the last few years busting up any preconceived notions of what an acoustic jazz trio ought to be. In doing so, they have been pushing the edges of contemporary jazz. Racking up some 250 performances on four continents since the March 2004 release of their critically acclaimed CD, Give, they have become one of the most telepathically tight and musically adventurous bands on the planet. It's the quintessential jazz for the 21st century, without borders, pretensions, or delusions. Regardless of how you might describe the kind of music you like, you won't want to miss the opportunity to experience The Bad Plus performing live. Following the Bad Plus is the iconoclastic and prolific jazz-rock guitarist David Fiuczynski and his band Screaming Headless Torsos. Bandleader, Fiuczynski, a local musician living in the Pioneer Valley, has been hailed by the world press as an incredibly innovative guitar hero, who continues to deliver with music that is unclassifiable, challenging, and invigorating—a jazz player who "doesn't want to play just jazz." Billboard describes the Screaming Headless Torsos' music as "cutting-edge sounds that define today's musical landscape." And the DownBeat Critics Poll recently chose them as "Rising Star" in the Electric Jazz Group category. Having been playing to international audiences numbering in the thousands for years, the Torsos are finally starting to create a buzz with US audiences. Live At Foxhollow opens with Unfulfilled Desires, the up-and-coming international jazz-rock-funk collective based in Lenox, Massachusetts. The band has a fresh and eclectic sound—the combined expression of the classical, jazz, and rock backgrounds of their international lineup of players hailing from the US, Chile, France, and Germany. On a recent European tour, Time Out London described them as "a hard-driving jazz-funk quintet playing virtuosic jazz and jazzrock, " choosing them as "Hot Pick of the Week." Unfulfilled Desires' founder and drummer Andrew Cohen is also the founder of EnlightenNext, the main sponsor of Live At Foxhollow. EnlightenNext produces a variety of programs and publications to support their mission, including an international speakers series that has brought such luminaries as NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu, Nobel Prize nominee Dr. Munawar Anees, MIT Leadership Lab founder Otto Scharmer, and Muslim comedienne Shazia Mirza to the Berkshires. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |