[members-announce] Pittsfield CityJazz Festival

[JazzPittsfield at aol.com]

JJA members who are interested in press credentials for the Pittsfield  
CityJazz Festival, please contact me. It may seem a long way off (Oct. 12-15),  but 
this is a peak tourist weekend in the Berkshire Hills of western  
Massachusetts, where the fall foliage brings "leaf peepers" for long weekend  stays. 
Thus, though you won't be denied press credentials, you could have a  tough time 
with lodging.
 
The lineup was announced today, see below.
 
Ed 
 
 
Lineup Announced  for Pittsfield CityJazz Festival, Oct. 12-15;   
Sponsored by Legacy Banks, Performers Include Dr. Billy  Taylor,  
Phil Woods, T.S. Monk and the Jazz Ambassadors Big  Band 
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 Renne Ave. [Information about the 
Foundation is available at _http://www.stevenspringfoundation.org_ 
(http://www.stevenspringfoundation.org/) ]. 
Other major underwriters include the TD BankNorth Charitable Foundation;  
others will be announced as they come on board. Other information and directions  
are available at _www.CulturalPittsfield.com_ 
(http://www.culturalpittsfield.com/) , or by contacting _JazzPittsfield at AOL.com_ 
(mailto:JazzPittsfield at AOL.com) .  Tickets, ranging from $20 to $45 for the Friday and Saturday concerts 
and $5 to  $10 for the Sunday matinee, may be purchased at 
_www.TheColonialTheatre.org_ (http://www.thecolonialtheatre.org/) . 
# # # 
Contact: Ed Bride, 413-442-7718 [JazzPittsfield at AOL.com]