Jazz

This Saturday, March 23 at 8pm - the stage of The Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Massachusetts will spring to life as Bria Skonberg and Benny Benack III re-vive and re-imagine classics from The American Songbook.“Sing & Swing” is part of a “Jazz at Lincoln Center presents” touring initiative that features up-and-coming musicians who have been identified as rising stars by that venerated organization.

Beat Scientist, Drummer and Producer Makaya McCraven will perform at The Zankel Center at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York on Saturday, February 17. In advance of that exciting concert, on Thursday, February 15, Makaya will be in conversation with Skidmore Angus McCullough at The Tang Teaching Museum. Makaya McCraven's latest album, "In These Times," is the triumphant finale of a project 7+ years in the making.

The Grammy nominated vocal supergroup, säje, is the brainchild of vocalist/composers Sara Gazarek, Amanda Taylor, Johnaye Kendrick, and Erin Bentlage. Born out of close friendship and deep admiration, these world-renowned artists, composers, and arrangers have come together to explore, create, and celebrate the music that moves them. Their debut album is now out.The band explores the edges of jazz and pop with a combination of inventive covers and brilliantly written originals.They will be performing at the Spa Little Theatre on Saturday, November 11 at 7 p.m. and we welcome Sara Gazarek to The Roundtable.

A Place for Jazz is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to presenting the best in Jazz. It was founded by Butch Conn in 1987. Programs include concerts, public workshops, school-based clinics, a Jazz website and general support of Jazz and its musicians. Bill McCann and Tim Coakley join us.

The Bearsville Jazz & Art Festival will be happening this Sunday, September 3rd. Attendees can celebrate Labor Day Weekend in the Park at Bearsville Theater with world-class Jazz plus painting demonstrations by the Woodstock School of Art in the heart of the Catskills. To tell us more we welcome Lizzie Vann, owner of the Bearsville Theatre and historian and writer Tad Wise.

On Sunday, August 6 The Aaron Diehl Trio will perform a jazz program that includes Sir Roland Hanna’s 24 Preludes at Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood at 8 p.m.

Adding to the cultural riches of summer, LuluFest Lenox - a jazz festival celebrating female musicians and composers as bandleaders.The festival will take place on Friday, July 14th and on Saturday, July 15th. After two decades in New York and Texas, the popular festival featuring female leaders in jazz makes its debut in the Berkshires.

Esteemed musician Wynton Marsalis tells great stories, but are they strictly true? Marsalis tells us about Danny Barker, Lu & Charlie’s and an inscribed stone.

Two Berkshires Jazz prodigies are returning to the city this spring for the Pittsfield CityJazz Festival. The 2023 Pittsfield CityJazz Festival, running April 21-30, will feature jazz prodigies Emmet Cohen and Anton Kot, Houston Person, Avery Sharpe, Don Braden, Albert Rivera and more.Berkshires Jazz, which curates the festival has a number of events planned, including an open jam session at Hot Plate Brewing on April 21, a performance by the Anton Kot Quintet at the Berkshire Museum on April 22, and the popular Annual Jazz Crawl on April 28. Edward Bride is chairman of the Pittsfield CityJazz Festival and President of Berkshires Jazz.

The 46th Annual Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival will return for a full two-day and two-stage festival experience on Saturday, June 24 and Sunday, June 25 at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.