A weekend of music (2006 summary)

The 2006 Pittsfield CityJazz festival filled an entire week, starting with a Jazz-in-schools program that featured local professional musicians, who visited two elementary schools per day [see separate blog entry]. Their charter was to discuss the role that Jazz has played –and continues to play-- in American culture, and to demonstrate the facts with their own instruments.


The excitement exhibited by the students was palpable, as documented on WAMC, Northeast Public Radio, and there’s nothing a musician appreciates more than an appreciative audience.
The remainder of this post provides a look at the music that was presented.

Oct. 12
Even before the weekend’s evening concerts got underway, a notable concert called attention to the fact that this festival was unlike others that have taken place in the region: a free, open recital by blind, autistic music savant Tony DeBlois. The 32-year-old DeBlois plays 21 instruments and knows some 8,000 songs. His autobiography, co-written with his mother (and manager) Janice DeBlois, carries the same name as his sixth CD, “Some Kind of Genius.” Those who attended this standing-room concert [photo available] were in strong agreement that the book and CD are aptly named.


A birth weight of just 1 lb. 3/4 oz. was only the first obstacle that Tony DeBlois had to overcome. Despite the conditions of his birth, this individual with Savant Syndrome has been playing the piano since age two. He was the subject of the 1997 CBS made for TV, Movie of the week "Journey of the Heart" which was inspired by actual events in his life. Additionally, he has appeared on two Catholic Global Showcase Specials (2001), The Learning Channel's "Uncommon Genius", Strange Science "Unusual People", and "Understanding the Mysteries of Memory."


He is the recipient of numerous awards that recognize his genius as well as his achievements. As his "Let me do it independently" attitude inspires the many people who meet him, his talents are being noticed internationally, hence his returning concerts to Singapore, Taiwan and Ireland. His Pittsfield concert at the Berkshire Music School was presented by Frank Newton of Lenox, a self-styled protector of the American song-book. Newton, owner of The Gables and the Summer White House, treated DeBlois’ recital as a way of giving to the community, presenting notable talent to the region. [photo]


DeBlois’ concert is an education in itself, inspiring people with his success against all odds. Recorded by Pittsfield Community Television, his performance was broadcast repeatedly, bringing his inspiring message and great music into countless homes in central Berkshire County.

Oct. 13
The festival’s commitment to education did not stop there, or with the Jazz-in-schools initiative. It reached out to other young audiences through the efforts of JazzReach. Established by musician H. Benjamin Schuman in 1994, the nationally recognized, New York City-based not-for-profit organization is dedicated to the promotion, creation, teaching and performance of Jazz music. Through the presentation of captivating live multimedia educational programs for young audiences, dynamic main-stage concerts for all audiences and informative clinics, workshops and master-classes for student musicians, JazzReach fosters a greater awareness, appreciation and understanding of this vital American art form.


Just as the local musicians visited the lower schools, JazzReach educated, informed, and entertained high school audiences at the Colonial Theatre, in a series of multimedia presentations that highlight a century of Jazz’ evolution. JazzReach educational programs actively engage students in an analysis of:(1) the cultural factors that have come together to make jazz such a compelling art form;(2) the social conditions that shaped the music's development; and(3) the immense impact jazz has had on the evolution of our national identity.

The young JazzReach program was paired with perhaps the originator of the Jazz Education movement, Dr. Billy Taylor, in the first of the headliner concerts on that evening, Oct. 13. The opening group was Metta Quintet, JazzReach's official resident ensemble, responsible for carrying out all of the organization's artistic endeavors. [event photo] A highly creative unit comprising emerging jazz artists, Metta Quintet aspires to position itself among the vanguard of visionary contemporary ensembles committed to exploring exciting new artistic territory and the infinite boundaries of both the recorded and live jazz experience.


The quintet's critically acclaimed debut recording, Going to Meet the Man, was released in the spring of 2002. The recording features eight programmatic works by some of the jazz world's most heralded young stars including, Brad Mehldau, Mark Turner, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Larry Goldings and George Colligan. All compositions are inspired by the short stories of celebrated American author, James Baldwin that appear in the book of the same title.

Taylor Made for Jazz
It is difficult to find something new to say about Dr. Billy Taylor. A legend for his passionate playing in the pre- and post-bop club scene, in 1964 he formed Jazzmobile, the pioneer organization designed for the preservation and propagation of Jazz, "America's Classical Music."


So, in a pairing that may have looked like genius but was really lucky scheduling, the new voice, JazzReach, opened for the progenitor of Jazz education, Billy Taylor. This aspect of the festival was made possible in part by a grant from Education Sponsor the TD Banknorth Charitable Foundation, which has a strong community commitment to education.

The distinguished ambassador of the jazz community to the world-at-large, Taylor's recording career spans nearly six decades. He has also composed more than 350 songs, including "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free," one of the show-stoppers in his sublime performance here in Pittsfield, as well as works for theatre, dance and symphony orchestras.


Playing the piano professionally since 1944, he got his start with Ben Webster's Quartet on New York's famed 52nd Street. He then served as the house pianist at Birdland, the legendary jazz club where he performed with such celebrated masters as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. Since the 1950s, Billy Taylor has been leading his own Trio, as well as performing with the most influential jazz musicians of the twentieth century.


Dr. Taylor has not only been an influential musician, but a highly regarded teacher as well, receiving his Masters and Doctorate in Music Education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he still participates in that institution’s renowned “Jazz in July” program.


He has also hosted and programmed such radio stations as WLIB and WNEW in New York, and award winning series for National Public Radio. In the early 1980s, Taylor became the arts correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning.


One of only three jazz musicians appointed to the National Council of the Arts, he also serves as the Artistic Advisor for Jazz to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where he has developed one acclaimed concert series after another. He is also the recipient of two Peabody Awards, an Emmy, a Grammy and a host of prestigious and highly coveted prizes, such as the National Medal of Arts, the Tiffany Award, a Lifetime achievement Award from Downbeat Magazine, and, election to the Hall of Fame for the International Association for Jazz Education.


Now in his eighties and officially retired from active touring and recording, he remains active with his educational activities and a full schedule of speaking engagements and appearances on radio and television. He appeared in Pittsfield out of respect for another legend, the Colonial Theatre, and because of personal connections to this area.

Oct. 14
Saturday featured eight-plus hours of varied programming, starting with an afternoon panel, a retrospective of Music Inn [see separate blog entry], continuing with a Master Class and open sound check with T.S. Monk, and the evening performance by Monk’s sextet.


The Music Inn panel, moderated by Berkshire Living founding Editor Seth Rogovoy, reflected on the social and musical impact of the Jazz resort in Lenox, primarily during the 1950s when Philip and Stephanie Barber owned it.


Late in the afternoon, T.S. Monk took to the stage. Like the elder statesman Billy Taylor, the younger Monk is a frequent attendee, presenter, and/or performer at the annual conferences of the International Association for Jazz Education, and has an ongoing commitment to developing new audiences.


A communicator verbally as well as with sticks in his hand, Monk earned his stripes as a composer as well as a drummer, a bandleader and even a vocalist. First known as the son of Jazz pianist, composer and leader Thelonious Monk, his destiny was sealed when Max Roach, with whom he studied, gave him his first drum set. Young Monk joined his father's trio and toured with his dad until the elder Monk's retirement in 1975. In 1992, T.S. formed his jazz sextet and quickly earned a name for himself in the industry. He received raves from the moment they hit the stage and the studio.


One of the most unique groups on the circuit, the T. S. Monk Sextet's cohesive and driving style has been heard at venues nationwide. Described as pulsating, dynamic and innovative, this band soars and sizzles with charged live performances. His informal chat with the audience, as part of his sound check, was one of the highlights of the Festival for all who attended that segment, which was open to the pubic.


Oct. 15
Another bebop-era great, alto saxophonist Phil Woods, closed out the festivities on Sunday afternoon. Woods was the featured soloist with the U.S. Army Jazz Ambassadors, a 19-piece genuine Jazz orchestra.


Woods announced himself on the Jazz scene 50 years ago, winning the Down Beat Magazine poll in the “New Star” category for alto saxophone in 1956. In the intervening years, he won that magazine’s Critics Poll award 21 times, at last count, and the Readers’ Poll 27 times. He has also won readers’ poll awards from Jazz Times magazine and Swing Journal.


He has been nominated for seven Grammy awards, winning four of them. He was inducted into the American Jazz Hall of Fame in 1994, and in 2005 was named the alto saxophonist of the year by the Jazz Journalists Association. His latest honor was the National Endowment for the Arts’ designation as NEA Jazz Master, announced just days before the Festival.


Besides his own distinguished and lengthy discography, Phil has appeared and/or recorded with a who’s-who of American music, from Dizzy Gillespie to Tony Bennett, Quincy Jones to Benny Carter, Benny Goodman to Thelonious Monk, and countless others.


Woods’ latest recording was released in 2006, a concert with the Los Angeles Jazz Orchestra. “Unheard Herd” chronicles some of the unrecorded compositions and arrangements that were performed by Woody Herman’s “second herd.”


Prior to that release, Phil had recorded a tribute to saxophonist Benny Green, with the Jazz Ambassadors.


The Jazz Ambassadors are the U.S. Army's premier touring jazz orchestra. Formed in 1969, the band has received great acclaim both at home and abroad performing America's original art form. As is the case with other groups on the Festival’s agenda, the Jazz Ambassadors are frequent performers at Jazz Education conferences around the country, and in fact premiered the Benny Green project, with Woods as guest soloist, at one such conference in New York.


Their concerts are designed to entertain all types of audiences. Custom compositions and arrangements highlight the group's creative talent and gifted soloists. Their diverse repertoire includes big band swing, bebop, Latin, contemporary jazz, standards, popular tunes, Dixieland, vocals, and patriotic selections.


One of the great surprises of the weekend occurred during this final concert, when Phil introduced the 14-year-old alto sax phenom, Grace Kelly. He brought her to the stage where they jammed on I’ll Remember April, an experience culminated by Phil bestowing his cap on the young protégé’s head [photo by Lee Everett, courtesy Cultural Pittsfield]. When seen dining at Aster’s after the concert, Grace was still wearing that Phil Woods cap, a thrill of a lifetime, she says.


With its commitment to presenting world-class musicians, educators, and historians, the Pittsfield CityJazz Festival has established itself as a significant force for Jazz and for education. As the cultural downtown of the Berkshires, one would expect no less.

2006 Overview

As “the downtown of the Berkshires,” you might think that Pittsfield would have all manner of cultural events and attractions, right down to a City-run Jazz festival. You’d think so, but up until the autumn of 2005, you’d be wrong, at least about the Jazz event.

After a successful launch in 2005, the second annual Pittsfield CityJazz Festival brought a bevy of world-renowned and up-and-coming artists to Pittsfield, including two Jazz Masters, the son of the legendary Thelonious Monk, the U.S. Army Jazz Ambassadors big band, and city-wide entertainment by dozens of local musicians. With the support of the Legacy Banks Foundation and other local underwriters, the Festival quickly grew into an event of national repute.

Activities were spread around the city, at such venues as the Berkshire Music School, the Berkshire Museum, all the schools, and the cultural heart of the County Seat, the Colonial Theatre. Dozens of local restaurants, inns and galleries presented regional musicians, before (and in some cases, after) the “headline” events.

When all was said and done, the Festival directly touched an estimated 5,000 people, ranging from young students to senior citizens, and everyone in between. It received the attention of all the local print and broadcast media, as well as travel publications and Jazz media, both print and electronic. The Pittsfield CityJazz Festival has become known around the world of Jazz.

Highlights:
Jazz in Pittsfield schools [see separate blog entry]
Music Savant Tony DeBlois
Jazz Reach
Metta Quintet
Jazz Master Billy Taylor
T.S. Monk
Jazz Master Phil Woods
The U.S. Army Jazz Ambassadors Big Band

Weekend events will be described in greater detail in another entry.

Music Inn, revisited (2006 Festival event)

Saturday afternoon, Oct. 14, featured a retrospective of Music Inn, starting with a panel that was moderated by Berkshire Living founding Editor Seth Rogovoy. It reflected on the social and musical impact of the Jazz resort in Lenox, primarily during the 1950s when Philip and Stephanie Barber owned it.

The panel included Dr. Benjamin Barber, the internationally renowned political theorist who more-or-less grew up at Music Inn; George Schuller, Jazz drummer and co-producer of a documentary on Music Inn that is nearing completion; and Jeremy Yudkin, professor of music at Boston University and author of several books, including one on Music Inn. Dr. Billy Taylor, who performed at Music Inn and who is included in the documentary, recorded his personal reflections on the day previous, during a visit to WorkshopLive.

The context of the panel was personal recollections of the times, plus an introduction to the documentary and a commentary about a series of photographs that was on display at the Berkshire Museum, for two weeks starting with the Festival. There was also a well-received excerpt from that documentary, which was later accepted into the Tribeca Film Festival.

Most of the photos in the exhibit were taken by Clemens Kalischer of Stockbridge, and many others are from the Barber family collection. The Music Inn component was sponsored by the Red Lion Inn.

Your personal memories of Music Inn will be welcomed here.

Jazz in the Schools (2006)

The 2006 Pittsfield CityJazz festival filled an entire week, starting with a Jazz-in-schools program that featured local professional musicians, who visited two elementary schools per day. Their charter was to discuss the role that Jazz has played –and continues to play-- in American culture, and to demonstrate the facts with their own instruments.

The excitement exhibited by the students was palpable, as documented on WAMC, Northeast Public Radio, and there’s nothing a musician appreciates more than an appreciative audience. One of the visits was recorded by Pittsfield Community Television, and was broadcast repeatedly over the ensuing months, bringing the festival into countless homes in the community.

It is no secret that people tend to favor the kind of music they hear during their formative years, which is why the Jazz community has long been committed to visiting and performing in schools. As was seen in Pittsfield’s schools, the people performing at this year’s festival are perfect testament to this assertion.

Made possible by a grant from the Festival's education sponsor the TD Banknorth Charitable Foundation, bringing Jazz into the schools is a way of educating the next generation of music fans. Without music in the schools, the next generation will have no guidance except for what they hear on the airwaves, which many believe to be a pitiful prognosis.

Dates for 2007 Festival

Watch this space. Dates will be announced shortly for the 2007 Pittsfield CityJazz Festival.