PITTSFIELD, Massachusetts, August 14, 2006 - The second annual Pittsfield CityJazz Festival today 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. Supported by lead sponsor the Legacy Banks Foundation and other regional businesses, the 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 on Thursday evening, Oct. 12, with a piano recital/concert 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 will be free of charge, and will take place at the Berkshire Music School.
All other concerts will take place at The Colonial Theatre. 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. 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 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. The foundation is a non-for-profit organization that collects donated instruments and offers them for free to the people who desperately need to be able to play them. There will be two dropoff points in Pittsfield, the Berkshire Music School, 30 Wendell Ave., and the city's Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, 28 Rennie Ave. [Information about the Foundation is available at http://www.stevenspringfoundation.org].
Other major underwriters include the TD BankNorth Foundation; others will be announced as they come on board throughout the summer. Ticket prices and other information will be available at the website below or by contacting [email protected].
For more information contact Ed Bride Associates.
