FALL ’98 POP AND JAZZ PREVIEW
by Seth Rogovoy

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Sep 14, 1998) -- After a summer that offered pop-music fans -- especially those favoring jazz and country -- a surfeit of choices, the fall presents concertgoers with a more typical, leisurely-paced menu of opportunies to hear live music in the Berkshires. Those venturing beyond the county’s borders, however, will find much of interest in the Northampton and Albany areas.

But before leaving the Berkshires for your concert fix, be sure to check out the menu at area colleges and museums, which is often where to find the best music in the off-season.

In the last couple of years, the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown has emerged as the most innovative and ambitious presenter of folk and world music in the Berkshires. This year concertgoers need not wait until the annual winter concert series to enjoy live music at the Clark.

Banjoist Tony Trischka and Moroccan musician Hassan Hakmoun return in “Encore,” presenting artists from last March’s successful “From the Old World to the New” series appearing with different ensembles. Trischka will bring his Wayfaring Strangers bandmate Matt Glaser on fiddle, along with Barry Mitterhoff on mandolin, bassist Larry Cohen and percussionist Jeff Berman, to the Clark on Oct. 24 at 8, for “World Turning,” Trischka’s tribute to the history of the banjo -- especially good news to those who felt that Trischka got short-shrifted in the Wayfaring Strangers concert last March.

Hakmoun’s program, on Nov. 7 at 8, is “Life Around the World,” in which he will appear with Ron McBee, Abderrahim Hakmoun and Jamshied Sharifi, in a program which will explore the interrelationships among different world musics. Also of interest to world-music fans will be Voice of the Turtle, a quartet that performs music of the Sephardim, or Spanish-speaking Jewry, in a Chanukah-oriented program on Dec. 5 at 7:30.

At Williams College, alternative-pop band the Push Kings kick off the college concert season tomorrow night at 9 in Goodrich Hall, the new student center that was designed for presenting medium-sized concerts. Along those lines, The Slip, the Boston-based jam-rock band which appeared at last June’s Berkshire Mountain Music Festival in Lanesboro, will be at Goodrich Hall on Oct. 10 at 9. Also at Williams, Cercie Williams, a Boston-based saxophonist, brings her quartet to Brooks-Rogers hall on Nov. 12 at 8 for a free concert.

Over in North Adams, the CC’s Café series at the college formerly known as North Adams State continues this season. Highlights of the coffeehouse-style series -- which is free every Saturday night that school is in session and features up-and-coming as well as established singer-songwriters on the New England scene -- include Kevin Connolly (Oct. 3), Peter Mulvey (Oct. 24), Greg Greenway (Oct. 31), Victoria Pratt Keating (Nov. 14) and Lisa McCormick (Nov. 21).

The much-touted, year-round concert series at the National Music Foundation in Lenox seems not to have materialized, nor have any more concerts in the New Artists series been announced. The foundation is hosting a few holiday-themed performances, however, including a “Christmas Heritage Concert” at the Center Theatre featuring Philip Aaberg, Darol Anger, Alison Brown, Mike Marshall, Tim O’Brien and Todd Philips, on Dec. 5, and “Voices of Winter,” featuring holiday folk music by Priscilla Herdman, Anne Hills and Cindy Mangsen.

While there are sure to be other concerts announced in coming weeks, this is pretty much how the fall season in the Berkshires looked earlier this week.

What with the Iron Horse, Pearl Street and the soon-to-be reopened Calvin Theatre now all being booked by the same promoter, there is a wealth of great music to be heard in Northampton, however. The legendary Dave Brubeck inaugurates the renovated Calvin on Oct. 7, followed by the David Grisman Quintet on Oct. 9. Other highlights of the busy Calvin schedule include Lyle Lovett on Nov. 6, jam-rock band Moe on Nov. 7, and Irish folksinger Mary Black on Nov. 15.

With music at the Iron Horse and Pearl Street nightclubs virtually every night, there’s always something to hear in Northampton. Top choices in the coming weeks and months at the Iron Horse include jazz singer/pianist Mose Allison tomorrow night, Steve Forbert (Sept. 23), The Nields (Oct. 24-25), Bo Diddley (Nov. 7), Greg Brown (Nov. 11) and Celtic ensemble Solas (Nov. 13). Pearl Street presents Juliana Hatfield (Sept. 24), John Lurie and the Lounge Lizards (Sept. 26), Tom Tom Club (Oct. 10), Little Feat (Nov. 16), Saw Doctors (Nov. 18) and Hot Tuna (Nov. 21).

Between the Van Dyck in Schenectady and an expanded schedule at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, things will be nearly as hopping in New York’s Capitol District, especially for jazz fans. The region’s ongoing love affair with jazz will feature Terence Blanchard at the Van Dyck on Sept. 20, followed by Joshua Redman (Oct. 1-3), Stanley Turrentine (Nov. 6), Nnenna Freelon (Nov. 7) and the Randy Brecker Band (Nov. 21). The Troy music hall boasts a lineup that reads like a who’s who of contemporary jazz, including Tanglewood Jazz Festival veterans Cassandra Wilson (Oct. 17) and Diana Krall (Nov. 20), as well as young lions Roy Hargrove and James Carter (Oct. 3).

Troy is about more than just jazz, however -- it’s a veritable foundation of American music. Highlights of the music hall’s season include folk-rock group Cowboy Junkies tomorrow night, followed by performance artist Laurie Anderson (Sept. 22), American string masters Doc Watson, Tony Rice and Norman Blake (Oct. 10) and Jerry Douglas, Tim O’Brien and Maura O’Connell (Nov. 15), and the Berkshires’ own Arlo Guthrie (Nov. 22).

In Albany itself, country music superstars Brooks and Dunn and Reba McEntire share the bill at the Pepsi Arena on Oct. 25. Neil Diamond holds forth at the Pepsi on Nov. 13, and jam-rockers Phish do the neo-hippie jig on Nov. 25.

[This article originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Sept. 18, 1998. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1998. All rights reserved.]