Fall '99 Concert Preview
by Seth Rogovoy

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Sept. 8, 1999) -- After a summer that featured a modest menu of popular music in the Berkshires, the schedule for the coming fall, when expectations are traditionally lowered, looks promising.

The Berkshire Theatre Festival has become a reliable purveyor of off-season pop talent, having brought Ray Davies and Dionne Warwick to Stockbridge in recent years. On Oct. 2, Art Garfunkel, the pretty-voiced, erstwhile partner of Paul Simon, performs in Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood in Lenox on behalf of the BTF.

Much activity this fall is centered in North County, which is typical for the off-season, although with the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams now a player on the county's music scene and with the demise of the "National Music Foundation" in Lenox, Northern Berkshire's dominance in music might soon extend year-round.

Mass MoCA and the Clark Art Institute have made lemonade out of lemons by turning an unfortunate scheduling conflict into an opportunity for fans to enjoy a night of blues at MoCA. Guy Davis, originally slated to perform at the Clark, will perform on a co-bill with swing-blues guitarist Duke Robillard in MoCA's theatre on Oct. 16 at 8. Folk-blues singer-guitarist Chris Smither will keep things rolling in a blue vein when he performs at the Clark on Nov. 20 at 8.

The Williams College music department has added world music to its annual lineup of classical and jazz ensembles. On Oct. 7, Williams presents a unique program of traditional and contemporary Gypsy and Hungarian folk music in Chapin Hall at 8. Among the performers will be Kalman Balogh, the world's foremost virtuoso on the Hungarian cimbalom - a variant of hammered dulcimer - leading his Gypsy Jazz ensemble in the tradition of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli, and the Okros Folk Music Ensemble, featuring Balogh and Gypsy violinst Sandor Fodor "Neti." Okros is the premiere Hungarian folk revivalist outfit - "the Chieftains of Hungarian folk" -- featuring vocalist Agi Szaloki and the 78-year-old "Neti," regarded as the last great Gypsy folk violinist from Transylvania.

Williams's world-music series continues on Nov. 3 in Chapin Hall with Peruvian vocalist Susana Baca, who records for David Byrne's Luaka Bop label. Baca explores the connection between African and Peruvian musical traditions with songs dating back hundreds of years. Jazz guitarist Peter Hand's quintet performs a freee concert on Nov. 11 at 8 in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall.

Down in South County, the Dream Away Lodge in Becket continues to host performers. Robby Baier performs next Friday, Sept. 24, followed the next night by new band Dr. Isosceles, a sort of Berkshires supergroup combining the singer-songwriter talents of Adam Rothberg, Russell Miller and Jamie Choquette, ex- of Dead White Males. Baier returns to Dream Away on Oct. 8, Bobby Sweet performs on Oct. 16, and Baier, Sweet, and Dr. Isosceles all perform for a Halloween show on Oct. 30. Wednesdays are still music nights at the Dream Away, featuring "democratic song swaps," from 7:30 until late into the nighttime.

With colleges back in session, the concert scene heats up to the east and west of us in Albany and Northampton. In Albany, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band bring their fabulous reunion tour to the Pepsi Arena on Nov. 21. Ani DiFranco is at the Palace Theater on Oct. 3, followed by Meat Loaf (Oct. 30) and Engelbert Humperdinck (Nov. 17). Singer-songwriter Lucy Kaplansky is at the Eighth Step (Oct. 2), followed by Holly Near (Oct. 3). The Pepsi Arena also presents neo-hippie jam-band Phish (Oct. 9) and pop acts No Authority and 98 Degrees (Oct. 11). Tony Bennett is at Proctor's Theatre in Schenectady on Oct. 2.

The Troy (N.Y.) Savings Bank Music Hall hosts an evening of bluegrass with Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush and Tony Rice on Oct. 17. Also coming to Troy are jazz vibraphonist Milt Jackson (Oct. 30) and avant-garde clarinetist Don Byron (Nov. 20).

Over in Northampton, Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar performs at the Calvin Theatre on Wednesday, Sept. 29, followed by roots-rock singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams (Sept. 30), jazz pianist Herbie Hancock (Oct. 8), banjoist Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (Oct. 28), Lyle Lovett (Nov. 6), and the Berkshires' own Arlo Guthrie (Nov. 20).

There's music every night at the Iron Horse, but highlights of the Horse's fall season include Mose Allison (Sept. 25), Steve Forbert (Oct. 2), Eartha Kitt (Oct. 10-12) and Warren Zevon (Nov. 1). The Pearl Street Nightclub's schedule includes female rockers Luscious Jackson (Oct. 13) and alt-folk singer-songwriter Dan Bern (Nov. 1).

The University of Massachusetts at Amherst hosts a jazz festival on Oct. 6 featuring Joe Lovano, Nicholas Payton, Dianne Reeves, Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and the Indigo Girls headline at the Mullins Center at U-Mass. on Oct. 16. Jonatha Brooke, formerly of The Story, plays at her alma mater, Amherst College, on Oct. 27, and comedienne Lily Tomlin is at Smith College's John M. Greene Hall on Nov. 16.

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[This article originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Sept. 17, 1999. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1999. All rights reserved.]