2010 Tanglewood Jazz Festival
Off the Hook Labor Day Weekend
By: Charles Giuliano - Feb 15, 2010
On Saturday, September 4, at 2 pm, the 2010 Tanglewood Jazz Festival will open with “Radio Deluxe,” co-hosted by John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey. The program will be taped live at the festival for later broadcast on more than 60 stations nation-wide. Normally broadcast from their living room “high above Lexington Avenue,” the Tanglewood program will be the second consecutive year they have taken it on the road since the program’s inception in 2005. The show’s format, marked by the duo’s urbane, sophisticated humor, inventive playlist, and extensive knowledge of the Great American Songbook, is expanding its repertoire to include such rock era voices as Randy Newman and Joni Mitchell. “Radio Deluxe” from Tanglewood will feature two such special guests to be announced at a later date.
On Saturday, September 4 at 8 p.m., jazz vocalist and 2010 Grammy winner for the Best Vocal Jazz Album of the Year, Kurt Elling, makes a triumphant return to Seiji Ozawa Hall. Nine-time Grammy nominee, Elling captured the award for his latest CD, “Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman” (Concord Records 2009). With a four-octave baritone voice, Elling is known for his cutting edge vocalese technique and has toured with his musical “father figures” Jon Hendricks and Mark Murphy in “Four Brothers.” A native of Chicago, Elling has worked extensively with the Steppenwolf Theater on multi-disciplinary events incorporating music, poetry, acting, dancing and visual projections. He has recorded and toured extensively and has been awarded the Prix Billie Holiday from the Academie du Jazz in Paris, has placed six consecutive years at the top of the Down Beat Critics and Jazz Times Readers’ polls and received three Jazz Journalists’ Association Awards for Best Male Vocalist.
Opening for Kurt Elling on Saturday night will be Elling’s long-time collaborator Laurence Hobgood and his trio. Referred to as “one of the most incredible pianists I’ve ever heard” by Dave Brubeck, Hobgood has worked with Elling since 1995 when they co-produced “Close Your Eyes,” their first of six Grammy nominated records on the Blue Note label. Hobgood received his own Grammy nomination in 2010 for “Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying a Vocalist” for “Dedicated to You.” A powerful, imaginative innovator with a hard-driving sense of swing, Hobgood’s latest CD, “When the Heart Dances” (Naim Records), features legendary bassist, Charlie Haden.
The Sunday afternoon concert on September 5 will open at 2 p.m. with a rare and exclusive performance by clarinetest/saxophonist, Eddie Daniels, and pianist, Bob James, in a new program called “Broadway Boogie.” Musical collaborators for forty years, Daniels and James refer to this swinging, integrated quartet as “chamber jazz.” “Chamber jazz,” says Daniels, “denotes music in a close setting that is finely tuned and woven together, even in its improvisation and composition, that pulls the listener in due to the utter intimacy of the situation. I believe this approach can transform the performer as well as the listener.” Repertoire ranges from jazz standards to Bach.
Bob James, best known for his smooth and fusion-flavored music and collaborations with guitarist Earl Klugh, David Sanborn and Fourplay, has a wide range of musical talent from classical music to straight-ahead jazz. Pianist for Sarah Vaughn in the 1960’s, James’ discography includes work with guitarist Lee Ritenour, bassist Dave Holland and pianist Joe Sample as well as an eastern-influenced CD entitled “Angels of Shanghai” that features students from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
Not to be pigeon-holed into one style, James says of the premiere of “Broadway Boogie” at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York in October of 2009, “Perhaps more than any other art form, jazz happens in the moment. You can talk about it, you can rehearse, you can theorize…but what I crave most is the unique feeling I get when I’m about to embark into unknown territory. Especially when my captain for the journey is someone I trust and respect. Individually and together, Eddie and I want to inspire and challenge our listeners. We’ve spent our lives with a deep passion for jazz and the dialogue we plan to engage in during this long overdue reunion will give our audience the opportunity to hear the influences that have shaped our styles.”
Following “Broadway Boogie” on Sunday afternoon will be the Legendary Count Basie Orchestra. Since it’s creation in 1935 by William “Count” Basie, the orchestra has toured and performed around the globe for fans and dignitaries in every country. Since Basie’s passing in 1984, the orchestra has been led by Thad Jones, Frank Foster, Grover Mitchell and–currently–by Bill Hughes (who was hired by Basie in 1953). The multi-Grammy winning orchestra continues to tour the world and perform for enthusiastic fans of every age.
Sunday evening’s performances on Sept 5 at 8 pm will begin with the Julian Lage Group. While Lage has performed several times at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival (most recently with Mark O’Connor’s Hot Swing in 2008) this marks the first appearance on the Ozawa Hall stage with his own group. Regarded a guitar prodigy at the age of 13, Lage spent several years under the tuttelege of instrumentalist Gary Burton and subsequently gained recognition from jazz superstars Herbie Hancock and Bela Fleck. His premier recording “Sounding Point” (EmArcy Records 2009), was nominated for Best Contemporary Jazz Album that year and received critical acclaim for Lage’s thoughtfully composed works and innovations in duo and trio settings. The 21-year old Boston-based guitarist is currently touring with Mark O’Connor’s Hot Swing, Gary Burton’s Next Generation Band and the Julian Lage Group.
The festival will close on Sunday evening with an encore performance by pianist/composer, Donal Fox, performing a new program called “Piazzolla to Bach,” with a very special guest to be announced. Fox appeared at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival in 2008 and returns by popular demand. Named a Martin Luther King visiting artist at MIT in 2009, Fox crosses the classical music and jazz music boundaries and continuously receives critical acclaim for his compositions and integration of the two musical genres. Following Fox’s world premiere in December of a composition entitled “Peace Out” at Carnegie Hall, Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times wrote, “Mr. Fox’s piano playing, bursting with violent, keyboard-spanning runs, drove the music. A searching middle section quotes fragments of a Charlie Parker blues tune, “Now’s the Time.” After a steely solo piano cadenza, the piece concludes with a pensive finale based on a descending and strangely haunting four-note refrain…exceptionally interesting.”
Artists to perform at the popular Jazz Café will be announced in the near future.
GENERAL TICKET INFORMATION
Tanglewood Jazz Festival prices range from $18-77. One day jazz lawn passes are $34.Tickets are available through TanglewoodÂ’s website, www.tanglewood.org
(beginning at 8 a.m. on February 14), by calling SymphonyCharge at 617-266-1200 or 888-266-1200 (beginning at 10 a.m. on February 14), or by visiting the Boston Symphony Orchestra Box Office at 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA (beginning at 10 a.m. on February 14). The Symphony Hall Box Office is open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and Saturday 12 p.m.-6 p.m.Beginning June 21, it will be open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Regular season ticket prices range from $9-$115. Tickets for Open Rehearsals are $17. All ticket prices include a $1 Tanglewood grounds maintenance fee.
Tickets are also available for purchase in person at the Tanglewood Box Office at TanglewoodÂ’s Main Gate on West Street in Lenox, MA, as of June 18. American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, Discover, and cash are all accepted at the Tanglewood Box Office. For further information and box office hours, please call the Boston Symphony Orchestra at 617-266-1492 or visit www.bso.org
. Tickets are also available for purchase in person at the Tanglewood Box Office at TanglewoodÂ’s Main Gate on West Street in Lenox, MA, as of June 18. American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, Discover, personal checks, and cash are all accepted at the Tanglewood Box Office. For further information and box office hours, please call the Boston Symphony Orchestra at 617-266-1492 or visit www.bso.org
2010 Tanglewood Jazz Festival
Ticket Prices
Saturday, September 4, 2 p.m.
“Radio Deluxe” with John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey
Live taping for national radio broadcast with special guests TBA
$33/42/56/lawn $19
Saturday, September 4, 8 p.m.
Laurence Hobgood Trio
Kurt Elling
$45/63/77/lawn $19
Sunday, September 5, 2 p.m.
The Eddie Daniels-Bob James Quartet-“Broadway Boogie”
Legendary Count Basie Orchestra
$33/42/56/lawn $19
Sunday, September 5, 8 p.m.
Julian Lage Group
Donal Fox Quartet: Piazzolla to Bach Project with special guest TBA
$42/$50/$62/lawn $18
All-day lawn pass Saturday and Sunday
$34