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by Seth Rogovoy
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Sept. 20, 1996 -- The fall concert season is shaping up to be one of familiar and unexpected riches for fans of folk, rock, jazz and bluegrass music in the Berkshires.
In a coup for local audiences, Ray Davies, founder and lead singer/songwriter of the seminal, British Invasion rock group The Kinks, will kick off the American tour of his one-man show, "The Storyteller," on five consecutive nights beginning Sept. 25, at the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge. The show will feature equal parts music and spoken-word, the former drawing upon the Kinks' classic catalog and the latter from Davies' recent autobiography, "X-Ray."
In another local coup for audiences as well as for the Lenox Library, jazz titans John Lewis and Wynton Marsalis will team up for a one-of-a-kind performance called "For the Books: An Evening of Standards to Benefit the Lenox Library" on Oct. 12 in Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood. Pianist Lewis is the founder of the Modern Jazz Quartet, which performed frequently at the Music Inn in Lenox in the 1950s; trumpeter Marsalis is easily the most acclaimed jazz musician of his generation.
Latin jazz will be the theme at Dos Amigos in Great Barrington when Gladys Carbo and New Havana Midnight perform on Sept. 28, and at the Mahaiwe Theatre in the same town when the Afro-Cuban Experience, featuring Los Afortunados -- a touring company of musicians, dancers and singers performing Afro-Cuban folklore -- comes on Oct. 5, in a show sponsored by Sambadees Productions.
Some more experimental sounds will be heard as part of a festival of improvisational performance arts at Simon's Rock College in Great Barrington on Oct. 25-27. Among those improvising will be Larry Chernicoff's new group, Jazz and Jest, featuring Roger the Jester on tuba along with Charlie Tokarz on woodwinds, Rick Tiven on violin, Mark Papas on drums and others. Tokarz will also be bringing his group Lithium Friends to the festival, which will include improvisational dance and theater groups as well.
Acoustic music fans will have the rare luxury of choosing from the offerings of not one but two concert series this fall. Birch Tree Concerts, now located at Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield, will present blues stylist Paul Geremia on Oct. 18, Northampton singer/songwriter Erica Wheeler on Nov. 15, and a holiday show on Dec. 20. The Stone Chapel Concert series will present Boston singer/songwriter Ellis Paul at St. Andrews Chapel in front of Bucksteep Manor in the town of Washington this Sunday at 4, and international flatpicking virtuoso Beppe Gambetta in the Barn at Bucksteep on Oct. 6.
The Musica y Mas coffeehouse-style series at the Cactus Cafe in Lee continues on Sept. 25 with the Housatonic Philharmonic, featuring Tim Gray and Andy Gordon. The new Milltown Studios on Main Street in North Adams has entered the coffeehouse sweepstakes, with a show tonight featuring South County country outfit Out of the Blue.
As of now there are no concerts scheduled at the Night Shift Cafe in North Adams, where David Byrne's site-specific installation is in residence until the end of October. Word is, however, that there will be some exciting news emanating from those quarters shortly.
In the meantime, the founding members of leading New England band Max Creek will reunite tomorrow at Bogies in Great Barrington in an outdoor, afternoon concert at 1. Local world-beat group Tamboura will kick off the festivities, which will commemorate Max Creek's first-ever performance, which was held at Woody's Roadhouse in Washington about a quarter-century ago. In case of rain the show will be indoors.
The Max Creek show is being produced by Michael Saporito, the man behind the annual Rock and Reggae Festival at Butternut Basin. In association with the National Music Foundation, Saporito will also be presenting what he is calling "The First Annual Berkshire Wintergrass" festival at the Berkshire Performing Arts Theatre in Lenox on Dec. 6, featuring such top stars in progressive acoustic music as Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas, Russ Barenburg, Edgar Meyer and Rickie Simpkins. Look for special guests to be named later.
The county's numerous colleges will also be hosting a variety of musical performances -- refer to the Calendar and the PopCorner in Berkshires Week for regular updates on those scenes.
Beyond the immediate area, Northampton and the Capital District hold out an enticing array of concert opportunities. The Dave Matthews Band is at the Mullins Center at U. Mass-Amherst on Oct. 6 and Albany's Knickerbocker Arena on Oct. 10; Boxing Gandhis, featuring Lenox native Eric Fowler on guitar, will open both of those shows. The newly-reunited classic-rock group Kiss checks into the Knick on Oct. 12.
Albany's Palace Theatre hosts a festival of neo-hippie rock featuring Moe, Moonboot Lover, Ominous Seapods and Yolk on Sept. 26, and the Black Crowes on Oct. 15. The Empire Center at the Egg presents Four Bitchin' Babes, with Christine Lavin, Sally Fingerett, Megon McDonough and Debi Smith, on Oct. 4, singer/songwriter Robbie Dupree on Oct. 11 and bluesman James Cotton on Nov. 15.
Legendary violinist Stephane Grappelli kicks off the jazz series at the Troy (N.Y.) Savings Bank Music Hall tomorrow night at 8, when he will be joined by guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli. Saxophonist Joshua Redman returns to Troy on Oct. 5, followed by pianist Marian McPartland on Oct. 26.
Troy is presenting a series of double bills featuring some of the world's most accomplished acoustic musicians, starting on Nov. 2 with fingerstyle innovator Leo Kottke and Indian slide guitarist Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. Best known for their work in bluegrass, mandolinist David Grisman and fiddler Vassar Clements will exercise their jazz chops on Nov. 23, the former accompanied by guitarist Martin Taylor and the latter by guitarist Reggie Harris. On Dec. 7, Troy will feature the same bluegrass bill playing at BPAT the night before.
Also at Troy are slide guitarists Bob Brozman and Martin Simpson on Oct. 4, new-age pianist/composer George Winston on Oct. 8, guitarists David Lindley on Oct. 11 and Phil Keaggy on Oct. 18, and the Berkshires' own Arlo Guthrie on Nov. 24.
Northampton's Academy of Music hosts the David Grisman Quintet on Sept. 24, Spalding Gray on Oct. 8, the Richard Thompson Band on Oct. 22 and Suzanne Vega on Oct. 30. Sweet Honey in the Rock will appear at Smith College's John M. Greene Hall on Oct. 5, followed by Ani DiFranco on Nov. 19.
Highlights of the fall program at the Iron Horse include Patty Larkin and Chuck Brodsky on Sept. 29, jazz singer/pianist Diana Krall on Oct. 1, Joshua Redman on Oct. 14, Greg Brown on Oct. 17, Richard Shindell on Oct. 19, Don Byron on Oct. 23, Deborah Harry and the Jazz Passengers on Nov. 8 and Kate and Anna McGarrigle on Nov. 11.
And on the other side of town, Pearl Street boasts Bob Mould with Rasputina on Sept. 23, Maceo Parker on Sept. 29, Sebadoh on Oct. 4 and Los Lobos on Oct. 8.
Happy concertgoing!
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