The pick of summer 2001
By Seth Rogovoy

(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass., May 23, 2001) - What am I most excited about or most looking forward to this summer? The answer is easy: I'm looking forward to being surprised. Surprised the way I was when I saw the intoxicating Stacey Earle last summer at Club Helsinki in Great Barrington, or the dynamic Jess Klein last fall for the first time at Tanglewood. Surprised the way I was when I saw that Patti Smith had discovered a whole new level of rock 'n' roll transcendence when she levitated the crowd at Mass MoCA last summer, or when an electrifying Ani DiFranco blew me away half a decade or so ago when I first stumbled across her at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in nearby Hillsdale, N.Y.

Could I have predicted any of these all-time great moments in concertgoing? No, not at all. But given that, can I recommend any particular concerts coming up this summer? Sure. Don't miss any of the following. You might even be surprised.

* David Krakauer, Hevreh, Great Barrington, June 2:

Playing any music, David Krakauer would be one of the greatest clarinetists in the world. He already holds that title in classical music, through his work as a guest soloist with with some of the finest chamber music groups in the world, including the Tokyo String Quartet, the Eroica Trio, the Kronos Quartet, the Lark Quartet, the Mendelssohn String Quartet and the Empire Brass Quintet. Just last month, he performed a brilliant solo recital at New York City's Merkin Concert Hall, taking listeners on a journey through the history of Western art music via the clarinet, touching down for some Brahms, Debussy, Janacek, Messiaen, Reich and two of his own compositions and improvisations.

A demonstration of keen virtuosity and intelligence, Krakauer's recital was also the sort of dynamic performance that could win over thousands or even millions of new, young listeners to classical music, if only they could see and hear it performed by this animated wizard of his instrument. Without gimmickry and with no pandering, he nevertheless infused the music with the soulful excitement of James Brown.

The Merkin concert - which earned Krakauer a rave review in the New York Times -- also culminated in an ecstatic, 15-minute segment of modern klezmer music, of which Krakauer is the premiere contemporary practitioner. If you're a klezmer fan, you already know this. If you're a fan of the clarinet, jazz or world-beat music, you won't want to miss Krakauer and his aptly-named band, Klezmer Madness when they perform at Hevreh. And be sure to wear your dancing shoes.

* The Great Folk Scare of '01:

Is it just my imagination, or is this summer shaping up to be a replay of Greenwich Village 1963? Just look at it this way: at the Guthrie Center in Great Barrington alone over the next few weeks you can hear such '60s folk icons as balladeer and radio host Oscar Brand (June 9), Josh White Jr., the son of the legendary folk-blues artist but a figure in his own right since the 1960s (June 15), and Carolyn Hester, who was the reigning queen of the Greenwich Village folk scene (and who gave Bob Dylan his first recording gig - on harmonica) before Joan Baez took her crown (June 30). Pete Seeger himself headlines a concert at the Mahaiwe Theatre in Great Barrington on June 12, along with Jay Ungar, Molly Mason and the Mammals, a new, young folk group featuring Pete's grandson, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, and Jay's daughter, Ruth. Is folk music coming back? Or did it never leave? Attend some of these shows and then report back to us.

* Jess Klein www.jessklein.com, Club Helsinki, June 23; Guthrie Center, July 14:

Does lightning strike in the same place twice? That will be the question on the minds of those who caught Klein with her band at Helsinki last March.

Klein is a proven solo performer, but what was remarkable in her last appearance in Great Barrington was the manner in which she rose to the occasion and held her own in front of a full-fledged rock trio without losing any of the delicate intimacy that powers her sensuous, soulful vocals and her sinuous, alluring melodies.

* Philip Glass www.philipglass.com, Mass MoCA, July 13-14:

Contemporary music's most influential composer will bring his ensemble to Mass MoCA in North Adams for a sneak preview of "Shorts," a program of new, short films by experimental directors Atom Egoyan, Peter Greenaway, Shirin Neshat and Michal Rovner created expressly for Glass, who has composed new scores for each that will be performed live by the Philip Glass Ensemble. This program officially bows a week and a half later at New York's Lincoln Center. As a bonus, Glass and his group will also perform his scores for "Anima Mundi" and "Evidence," two short films by Godfrey Reggio, the director of "Koyaanisqatsi" and "Powaqqatsi," for which Glass is best known as a composer for film.

* Berkshire Jazz Festival, Butternut Basin Ski Area, August 25-26:

One of the potentially most exciting developments on the 2001 summer concert scene is what is being touted as the first annual Berkshire Jazz Festival at Butternut. With a lineup including Houston Person and Etta Jones (think Lester Young and Billie Holiday), the Roy Hargrove Quintet, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, the Randy Weston Trio, the Terence Blanchard Group featuring Cassandra Wilson, the Pat Martino Trio featuring Joey DeFrancesco, the Paul Winter Consort, Dianne Reeves in a special tribute to Sarah Vaughan, Gato Barbieri, and the Duke Ellington Orchestra conducted by Ellington's grandson Paul Mercer Ellington, listeners will be treated to a two days of prime jazz the likes of which hasn't been seen in these parts since the heyday of the Music Inn back in the late 1950s.

And the Berkshire Jazz Festival isn't just about big-name headliners, either. In addition to jam sessions, workshops and other events taking place on the multi-stage festival, listeners can catch lesser-known but equally exciting groups including the Charles Neville Quartet, Mel Martin and Bebop and Beyond, Mario Pavone/Michael Musillami Quartet, Sylvia Cuenca Group, Vic Juris and Kate Baker, Alan Simon Quartet featuring Nicole Pasternak, Richie Hart Trio, Roberta Gambarini, Charlie Tokarz Quartet, Blake Rowe, Guilherme Franco and the David Amram Quartet.

While Tanglewood's Labor Day Jazz Weekend is finally getting some new life breathed into it this year with Boston jazz impresario Fred Taylor on board doing the booking, the offerings at Tanglewood - with performers like George Benson, Chuck Mangione and Spyro Gyra -- are still safely mainstream and surprisingly commercial. Outside of Tanglewood's Sonny Rollins concert on September 2, those looking for real in-the-moment improvisation this summer will be finding it at Butternut.

* Other highlights of the summer season in and around the Berkshires will undoubtedly include this coming weekend's shows by U2 and PJ Harvey at the Knickerbocker Arena in Albany on Saturday night and the Civic Center in Hartford on Sunday, singer-songwriter Lucy Kaplansky at the Guthrie Center on June 8, country-rocker Lucinda Williams at the Calvin Theatre in Northampton on June 9, and old slowhand himself, Eric Clapton, at the Knick in Albany on June 16.

Cowboy Junkies bookend the Berkshires with shows at the Egg in Albany on June 28 and the Calvin in Northampton on June 30, and Emmylou Harris does the same with shows at the Calvin Theatre on July 29 and at Proctor's Theatre in Schenectady, N.Y. on Aug. 2.

Club Helsinki will be presenting several top-shelf jazz and funk performers this summer, including guitarists Charlie Hunter (June 14) and John Scofield (June 27) and saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett (August 10-11). And of course, by the time his annual concerts at Tanglewood come around on July 3 and 4, new daddy James Taylor will also have given birth to his first new album in several years, adding spice to what has become the traditional summer season kickoff at Tanglewood.

[This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on May 31, 2001. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 2001. All rights reserved.]