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| Lineup Announced for Pittsfield CityJazz Festival The second annual Pittsfield CityJazz Festival announced the lineup for the Oct. 12-15 event, and it includes something for everybody: Jazz Masters, up-and-coming artists, big bands, and a major educational component. Festival will initiate the jazz program at the newly-restored Colonial Theatre, and will include Dr. Billy Taylor, the T.S. Monk Sextet, Phil Woods, the Jazz Ambassadors big band, and the educational program JazzReach. Besides the nationally-known performers, the festival includes a week-long jazz-in-the-schools program; a free recital by Jazz savant Tony DeBlois; and the appearance of regional artists in restaurants and other Pittsfield venues all weekend. JazzReach will also conduct two workshops for area high schools on Friday afternoon, Oct. 13. "Arts and culture play a critical role in fueling the economic engine of Berkshire County, to which the Pittsfield Jazz Festival has already become a major contributor, " said Legacy Banks chairman and CEO J. Williar Dunlaevy. "The Legacy Banks Foundation is proud to serve as the lead sponsor of this multiple-day event that attracts thousands of visitors to Pittsfield, significantly impacting the economic development of our community." "The incredible lineup that the CityJazz Festival has put together will truly put this event on the map as a premier cultural attraction for the fall in the Berkshires, " said Mayor James M. Ruberto. "It's truly remarkable how much this event has grown in such a short time. And it will be especially exciting to hear some of the world's finest jazz music fill the newly restored Colonial Theatre - a true acoustical marvel." The festival gets under way Thursday evening, Oct. 12, with a piano recital by Jazz savant Tony DeBlois, a blind, autistic phenomenon who plays 21 instruments and who knows some 8, 000 songs. The latest CD of this 31-year-old performer was released last year along with his autobiography of the same name, "Some Kind of Genius." DeBlois' concert at the Berkshire Music School is sponsored by the Summer White House. Frank Newton, proprietor of the popular Lenox inn, has been a producer of Jazz events in the Berkshires for more than 30 years, and is a major supporter of the American song book. The Billy Taylor Trio will be featured on Friday, Oct. 13; the NEA Jazz Master is making a rare appearance, as a way of acknowledging the historic venue's return to public use. The Metta Quintet, the performance arm of JazzReach, will open the proceedings that night. On Saturday afternoon, Oct. 14, there will be a panel discussion about the jazz era of Music Inn, the Berkshires music resort of the 1950s-60s. Sponsored by the Red Lion Inn and moderated by Seth Rogovoy, editor of Berkshire Living Magazine, the panel will include Benjamin Barber, son of the owners of Music Inn; Billy Taylor; historian and writer Jeremy Yudkin; film co-producer and Jazz drummer George Schuller, and others to be announced. In conjunction with that panel, the Berkshire Museum will be hosting a week-long photo exhibit and an excerpt will be shown from the documentary film on Music Inn, which is nearing release. The Saturday evening performance will feature the legendary T.S. Monk Sextet. The drummer will also conduct a lecture/demonstration and open sound check on Saturday afternoon, following the Music Inn panel. On Sunday afternoon, Oct. 15, the U.S. Army Jazz Ambassadors big band will appear, with guest soloist the alto saxophonist Phil Woods. One of the mainstays of the bebop era, Woods has recently released two big-band recordings, one of which was with the Jazz Ambassadors. The festival also announced an association with the Steven Spring Foundation, which is organizing a fundraising effort to benefit the Hurricane Katrina relief effort in New Orleans. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |