[members-announce] Pittsfield CityJazz Festival announces lineup for Oct. 101-9 event

[JazzPittsfield at aol.com]

Lineup Announced for Pittsfield  CityJazz Festival; 
Tickets Now on Sale for Expanded  Oct. 10-19 Event 
PITTSFIELD, Massachusetts,  August 19, 2008– The Pittsfield CityJazz Festival 
today announced the lineup for  an expanded 10-day event that kicks off on 
Columbus Day weekend and presents the  best of both local and international 
performers. The fourth annual festival,  Oct. 10-19, will feature “Jazz around 
town,” highlighting regionally-based  artists on Oct. 10-12; Jazz in School, with 
week-long performances and  presentations in Pittsfield’s public schools; and 
a series of headliner  concerts.  
Events comprise a variety of  formats, and will take place at several venues 
throughout downtown Pittsfield,  the seat of Berkshire County in western 
Massachusetts. Many events are free to  the public, starting with a noon-hour 
kickoff on Friday, Oct. 10, with the  Eagles Stage Band, the Jazz unit of Pittsfield
’s own Eagles Band. Columbus  weekend then features local performers in 
restaurants and lounges around  Pittsfield 
Concerts get under way on  Wednesday, Oct. 15, when the Noah Baerman Trio 
performs at the Berkshire  Athenaeum. Baerman (www.NoahBaerman.com) is a pianist, 
composer, and educator,  and has several CDs to his name. He recently was 
profiled on NPR’s Piano Jazz  with Marian McPartland. Attendance is free. 
On Thursday, Oct. 16, acclaimed  composer Evan Lurie premieres his “
Improvisations on ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’,”  in a free concert at the Berkshire 
Museum. Written for the Festival, Lurie’s  work is part of Pittsfield’s “Big Read” 
project, underwritten by the National  Endowment for the Arts. A founding 
member of the Lounge Lizards, Lurie is the  musical director of Nickelodeon’s 
Emmy Award-winning preschool show, The  Backyardigans, and will be appearing with 
his septet of accomplished NY-based  musicians.  
The Oct. 17 concert features  “Jazz Meets Symphony,” with the New Black 
Eagle Jazz Band and the Pittsfield  CityJazz Youth Orchestra, at the historic 
Colonial Theatre. In addition to a  full set by themselves, the Black Eagles 
(www.BlackEagles.com) will perform  several of their traditional Jazz pieces that 
have been adapted for small  symphony, with an orchestra comprising student 
musicians from Berkshire County  high schools in Pittsfield, Dalton, Great 
Barrington, Lee, and  Lenox 
For the first time, the festival  will feature an evening of Jazz Vocals, 
spotlighting the groups of Terry Roiger  and Ron Gill. Roiger 
(www.TeriRoiger.com) has made a name for herself with the  repertoire of Billie Holiday and Nina 
Simone, while Gill (www.Ron-Gill.com) has  just released a CD of songs by 
Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington. The Jazz  vocalists will perform on Saturday, 
Oct. 18, in a cabaret setting at  Pittsfield’s Crowne Plaza Hotel. 
The headliner performances  conclude on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 19, with “
Organic Jazz, the Two Faces of  Barbara Dennerlein” showcasing her formidable solo 
talents at the pipe organ and  Hammond B3. The concert is presented under the 
sponsorship of the Berkshire  Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. 
Germany-based Dennerlein  (www.BarbaraDennerlein.com), who is famous for her 
prowess in playing the  baseline on the pedals, is concluding her first American 
tour with this matinee  performance at Pittsfield’s First Baptist Church.  
One festival highlight is the  week-long jazz-in-the-schools program, with 
the Pittsfield Sister City Jazz  Ambassadors appearing in assemblies in 
Pittsfield’s public schools. The group  has represented Pittsfield at several 
exchanges in Italy and Ireland, helping  spread the message about Jazz, America’s 
cultural gift to the  world. 
The event is an activity of  Cultural Pittsfield, the mayor’s Office of 
Cultural Development, and is  co-sponsored by the Berkshire Music School. Among the 
underwriters for this  year’s events are: 
* The Legacy Banks  Foundation 
* The Pittsfield Cultural  Council 
* The Crowne Plaza  Hotel 
* Greylock Federal Credit  Union 
* The National Endowment for the  Arts 
* Banulis Fund, Fidelity  Charitable Trust/NY Times Foundation. 
Tickets for all events are on  sale at the Colonial Theatre box office, 
www.TheColonialTheatre.org; a discount  for all three weekend concerts is available 
by calling the box office,  413-997-4444. Costs for the concerts are $25-30, 
with student discounts  available for the Oct. 17 and 19 concerts (Jazz Meets 
Symphony, and Organic  Jazz).  
Links to artists’ sites, as well  as news updates, are posted regularly at  
www.PittsfieldCityJazz.org. 
# #  # 
Contact: Ed Bride, 413-442-7718  [JazzPittsfield at AOL.com] 



--------------------------------------------

Edward J. Bride, Chairman
Pittsfield CityJazz  Festival
413-442-7718
_www.PittsfieldCityJazz.org_ (http://www.pittsfieldcityjazz.org/) 







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