FEATURE ARTICLE
Fall '97 Berkshire Pop Preview
by Seth Rogovoy(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Sept. 19, 1997) -- Billy Joel at Tanglewood and Betty Carter at Williams College will highlight an otherwise undistinguished fall pop season in the Berkshires.
Pop-rock singer-songwriter Joel, who has just released his third greatest-hits collection, will be taking questions from the audience when he appears at Ozawa Hall in Lenox in a benefit for the Berkshire Theatre Festival on Oct. 4. There will be a piano on stage, however, and the "Piano Man" is likely to make use of it a few times during the course of the evening, to illustrate a musical point or two or even to play a couple of songs.
The evening, which will be taped for broadcast on National Public Radio, will also include the debut of one or two of Joel's new classical-music piano pieces, performed by students in a keyboard scholarship program at Tanglewood sponsored by Joel.
Jazz vocalist Betty Carter -- who graced the stage at Ozawa Hall last summer at Tanglewood's jazz festival -- will return to the Williams College campus where she was given an honorary degree last June to perform in Chapin Hall on Nov. 14 at 8.
Otherwise, as of now the pickings are slim on the local concert scene this season. The Studio, Pittsfield's downtown entertainment venue, has yet to announce plans for the fall, but promoter Mort Cooperman says he hopes to rectify that soon, with several show dates expected in October.
In the meantime, special events include the Berkshire Museum's presentation of the Pioneer Valley-based, Afro-Andean folk-pop ensemble Quetzal, in Pittsfield on Sept. 27 at 8.
While Billy Joel is doing his thing over at Tanglewood, on the same evening the National Music Foundation will be hosting a 15th birthday party for public radio station WAMC's folk-music program, "Hudson River Sampler." Folksingers Cheryl Wheeler, Les Sampou, Priscilla Herdman and Happy and Artie Traum and Afro-pop musician Samite will be on hand to salute host Wanda Fischer. The concert will be broadcast live over WAMC before the audience at the Berkshire Performing Arts Center.
Singer-songwriters are also on the menu at CC's Cafe, the Saturday night coffeehouse series in the campus center at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams (formerly North Adams State College). The free series continues this Saturday night with the Merrie Amsterburg Duo from Boston. Upcoming shows include the Sloan Wainwright Band (Sept. 27), Pioneer Valley songwriter Erica Wheeler (Oct. 4), Greg Greenway (Oct. 11), Roger Day (Oct. 18), and the Ray Mason Band (Oct. 25). The series continues in November with the Wiggins Sisters (Nov. 1), Michael Crissan (Nov. 8), Karen Capaldi (Nov. 15), Kevin Connolly (Nov. 22), and the Jon Carmen Trio (Dec. 6).
The Stone Chapel Concert Series, at St. Andrew's Chapel in the town of Washington, continues this Sunday at 4 with a show by Annie Wenz and Al Grierson. The final show of Stone Chapel's season takes place on Oct. 5 at Bucksteep Manor, in conjunction with St. Andrews' annual harvest dinner, when Vikki True and the Sweet Sisters of Mercy will perform, with Boston singer-songwriter Kevin So in the warm-up slot.
Just over the border in Spencertown, N.Y., the Spencertown Academy will present Suzzy Roche, one-third of the singing sisters the Roches, performing in support of her solo debut album, "Holy Smokes," on Oct. 17 at 8. Greg Greenway fills out Spencertown's Coffee House Folk series on Nov. 7. Spencertown also presents Classic Jazz Epochs, a duo focusing on the music of early jazz greats including Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Waller, Eubie Blake and James P. Johnson, on Oct. 11 at 8.
As always, the Capital District and Northampton will lure those seeking more bang for their concert buck, and this fall both areas promise a wealth of choices. Albany's Palace Theatre kicks off its fall season tomorrow night with George Clinton and the P-Funk All- Stars. Other shows at the Palace include Blues Traveller (Oct. 11), Fiona Apple (Oct. 18), Bill Cosby (Oct. 24), Grand Funk Railroad (Oct. 26), and Yes (Oct. 28). Luther Vandross and Vanessa Williams join forces at the Pepsi Arena on Sept. 30, and the Beach Boys and Chicago do their nostalgia thing at the Pepsi on Oct. 31.
The Troy (N.Y.) Savings Bank Music Hall is a veritable center of American music this fall, offering jazz, bluegrass, gospel, folk, klezmer and progressive acoustic music, beginning tomorrow night with jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell. Other jazz artists include Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter performing piano/saxophone duets (Oct. 3) and pianist Ramsey Lewis (Nov. 1).
Bluegrass and jazz will meet at the music hall on Oct. 4 when Bela Fleck is joined by Mike Marshall and Edgar Meyer, and again on Nov. 15, in a "fiddle summit" featuring an all-star, progressive-acoustic jam session including Mark O'Connor, Sam Bush, Tony Trischka, Russ Barenburg, Darol Anger, Matt Glaser, Richard Greene and Jim Whitney. Fiddle is also the theme on Oct. 15, when contemporary bluegrass virtuoso Alison Krauss performs with her band, Union Station, and again on Oct. 19, in a double-bill of klezmer music featuring Kaila Flexer and Third Ear plus Kapelye. Jay Ungar and Molly Mason are joined by John Kirk and Trish Miller for a family fiddle concert on Nov. 9. Other shows at the music hall include vocal ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock (Oct. 18) and the Paul Winter Consort (Dec. 6).
To the east, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones are at Northampton's Academy of Music this Sunday night at 7. George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars are at Smith College's John M. Greene Hall in Northampton on Sept. 22. Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter is at the Academy of Music on Oct. 12, and Blues Traveller is at Smith College on Nov. 30.
Northampton nightclub Pearl Street boasts bands like the Samples (Oct. 1), Helmet and the Melvins (Oct. 4), Sister Hazel (Oct. 10) and Taj Mahal (Oct. 11). The Iron Horse Music Hall presents music seven nights a week, highlights of which include the Andy Statman Quartet (Sept. 22), Dan Bern (Sept. 25), Tom Rush (Oct. 5), Joshua Redman (Oct. 15), Janis Ian (Oct. 16), Leon Redbone (Oct. 23), Chuck Mangione (Nov. 5), Greg Brown (Nov. 10), Patty Larkin (Nov. 19) and the Nields (Nov. 21).
The biggest tour of the fall, of course, is by the Rolling Stones, who stop in for two nights at Foxboro Stadium on Oct. 20-21.
Happy concertgoing!
[This article originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Sept. 19, 1997. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1997. All rights reserved.]
Seth Rogovoy
rogovoy@berkshire.net
music news, interviews, reviews, et al.
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