Tanglewood concert reviews

James Taylor and friends at Tanglewood Ozawa Hall

June 30, 2011 performance; by Dave Read

James Taylor and Friends was the billing for the first of the four James Taylor concerts at Tanglewood during the 2011 season. It attracted a capacity crowd to Seiji Ozawa Hall, where the audience spilled over the rise leaving some members of lawn nation with a better view of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s old place than of Mr. Taylor. Playing second fiddle to the headliner, just barely, was mother nature, who was lauded all night for delivering just the sort of setting June and the Berkshires were meant to be presented in.

We need to resist the temptation to describe Taylor’s performance as being measured, as one would expect at the outset of a run of four concerts in five days. The concert felt like a recital, which befits the venue and it’s 1,200 seats – intimate in comparison to the 5,100 seat Koussevitsky Music Shed, where the other three concerts will take place. It was a discrete event, featuring everybody’s neighbor and friend, accompanied by his longtime keyboards player and vocal quartet, augmented by wife Kim, whose birthday it was, plus a contingent from the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and BSO cellist Owen Young.

Taylor is as expert with patter as he is with the songs so that an evenings’ performance coheres; without making the audience feel like anything other than peers, Taylor talks about being in the studio with Paul McCartny and George Harrison – in 1968, for heaven’s sake – that’s when for all anybody else knew, the Beatles were rearranging the universe. But James Taylor was auditioning his song “Something in the way she moves,” which not only scored him an Apple Records contract, but also inspired Harrison to write “Something,” which is on everybody’s list of best Beatles songs.

In what may be an indication that more of the audience was from away than is usually the case for a James Taylor Tanglewood concert, the Stockbridge reference in Sweet Baby James aroused not much more than a loud smattering of applause rather than the roar of recognition remembered from earlier shows.

Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis at Tanglewood

June 27, 2003 Article by Dave Read

Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis performed at Tanglewood June 27, 2003.

The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis gave a spell-binding concert in the Shed at Tanglewood for an audience of 5,378; two sets with the whole contingent, 15 brilliant jazz players duded up in matching Brooks Brothers suits, followed by a mini-gig featuring Mr. Marsalis accompanied by the rhythm section and saxophonist Wes “Warmdaddy” Anderson. And you gotta know something about spelling to write about it because the titles of the compositions played include words such as “rhapsody,” “diminuendo,” “crescendo,” and “blues.”

This is the LCJO’s “Rhythm is our Business” tour so let’s mention the rhythm section first: Eric Lewis, piano, Carlos Henriquez, bass, Herlin Riley, drums. Second thing to say about them is that the second set was their’s, a set consisting of but one number, John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, which we didn’t time but must have run 45-50 minutes. The first segment of the piece built up to Henriquez’ haunting bass solo with the rest of the band chanting/intoning “a love supreme, a love supreme…”. Instead of being a tasty coda, that just gave way to a searing sax solo and then came “top professor” Eric Lewis’ virtuoso piano solo that not only kept the audience rapt for a long time but also seemed to stun his colleagues, who peered at him in awe and looked at each other with expressions that ranged from disbelief to joy.

All the while in the back sat Herlin Riley, keeping time, always smiling, glancing over his left shoulder at Mr. Marsalis, and then he started hitting the rim and sides of his drums and we were off to rhythm heaven – all we can report is that it’s a beautiful place. Mr. Riley’s tour de force elicited movement from everybody in the house, of course, except for professor Lewis, who looked as if he were alone in a mountain-top monastary, head bowed before an altar. The collegial leader Wynton Marsalis, who was a warm and witty m.c. throughout the concert, and spoke of his special affection for Tanglewood (but mumbled the not-that-long-ago year of his T.M.C. fellowship!), remained seated for his own lofty solo which coalesced the extraordinary rendition of Coltrane’s eloquent composition, and brought the most-appreciative audience to its feet for a prolonged and heart-felt ovation.

sourced from a medley of composers

Lastly, the first half consisted of the Marsalis composition Back to Basics followed by the novelty of a 3-minute rendition of Fletcher Hendersons’s arrangement of Ravel’s Bolero, then LCJO trombonist Ron Westray’s arrangement of the Charles Mingus tone poem The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, Billy Strayhorn’s arrangement of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, and closing with Duke Ellington’s Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue.

Marsalis and the LCJO last performed here on July 25, 1999, sharing the stage with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra for a program in celebration of the centennary of Duke Ellington‘s birth. The featured composition that night was Edvard Grieg’ “Peer Gynt Suite” and the program alternated between Marsalis leading the LCJO in Billy Strayhorn and Ellington’s arrangement with Ozawa leading the BSO in the Grieg score of the same passages. Pretty cool.
Members of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra:

Wess Anderson – sax
Seneca Black – trumpet,
Walter Blanding – tenor sax,
Vincent Gardner – trombone,
Victor Goines – sax,clarinet,
Andre Hayward – trombone,
Carlos Henríquez – bass,
Ryan Kisor – trumpet,
Eric Lewis – piano,
Ted Nash – sax, clarinet,
Marcus Printup – trumpet,
Herlin Riley – drums,
Joe Temperley – sax, clarinet,
Ron Westray – trombone.

2005 Tanglewood on Parade review

July 26, 2005 Article by Dave Read

The 2005 Tanglewood on Parade may be remebered as the Five Conductors show for the parade of maestros to the podium in the Serge Kousevitsky Music Shed during the gala concert that culminated the all-day musical celebration for the benefit of the Tanglewood Music Center, now 65 years old. By nightfall, an audience of 12,345 had massed at the Shed after an afternoon of recitals, concerts, and demonstrations throughout the campus by students of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center.

First to the podium was Music Director James Levine to lead the B.S.O. in Berlioz’ Roman Carnival Overture. Wearing a tuxedo on a very hot day, the ruddy-faced maestro wrung a rousing performance from his casually clad players. So swept up was he in the final measure that it looked like he was twirling a lariat, about to rope a brace of basses. Smart programming that, forcing the audiences attention back to the delights of music and away from the joy of the fancy picnic.

Up next was Boston Pops principal guest conductor Bruce Hangen to lead the Pops in the Symphonic Dances from T.M.C. alumnus Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. This was a bravura performance that showcased both the brilliance of the orchestra and the genius of the composer. There were moments when you could’ve mistook Hangen and the Pops for Benny Goodman and his Big Band, so swell did they swing!

Then Pops conductor emeritus John Williams took over, and delighted the audience that had so warmly welcomed him by conducting the Pops in two passages from his own Star Wars score. Maestro Levine came back onstage after intermission, straddling a chair backwards like a kibitzer at a card table, to invoke the spirit of Serge Koussevitsky, express his feelings about being at Tangelwood, and to introduce his predecessor, “colleague and friend” Seiji Ozawa.

The beaming Ozawa sprinted to center stage, hugged Levine, glanced at the adoring audience, clasped hands with four or five T.M.C. players and got right to work leading the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in a thrilling performance of Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3.

They simply blew the roof off the joint, these young musicians who didn’t know each other until last month and who weren’t even born until Seiji Ozawa was into the second decade of his Tanglewood tenure. The nimble Ozawa, whose contract with the Vienna State Opera was recently extended through the 2009-10 season, was lithe as ever on the podium – a whole body conducting manner that’s both commanding and eloquent.

Frequent Tanglewood guest conductor Hans Graf was the right choice to lead the combined orchestras in the grand finale, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. Wearing a white tunic and projecting a stately demeanor, he conducted a fine aural war, satisfying our appetites for the lush and romantic as well as the savage and martial.

(There were 4 conductors on the Tanglewood on Parade program in 2001, Seiji Ozawa’s last as B.S.O. Music Director, including Andre Previn. A new composition by Chris Brubeck was given its Tanglewood debut, and Ozawa was given an authentic Civil War cannon.)

Sir Roger Norrington leads BSO in Beethoven’s Ninth at Tanglewood

August 25, 2002 performance, reviewed by Dave Conlin Read

Under the exuberant direction of Sir Roger Norrington, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and a quartet of vocal soloists closed the orchestra’s 2002 Tanglewood season with a truly joyful performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Opus 125.

This most familiar composition, so often used to commemorate solemn occasions around the world, today was given a mirthful reading appropriate to the true nature of the event – the culminating high point of an annual festival. It has been the Tanglewood finale each August since 1997, but made amazingly new by Norrington, including a re-ordering of the orchestra’s seating arrangement.

The setting outside was as splendid and brilliant as the sound coming from inside the Koussevitsky Shed, the opening of which in 1938 was memorialized with this same symphony. Over the bluegreen hills surrounding the Tanglewood campus, cumulous clouds slowly drifted along, moved by a generous breeze that was a boon to frisbee flingers but a bother to paper plate picnickers among the nearly 13,000 attendees.

Adding to the enjoyment of the performance was the fact that Norrington’s rendition clocked a mere 66 minutes, including an extra minute or two between the first and second movements to allow for the seating of scores of tardy people, way less than the usual 74 minutes, a standard that was used to set the maximum capacity of the compact disc when it was introduced twenty years ago.
(Phillips and Sony each name Beethoven’s Ninth as the ideal)

During that betwen-movements interval, the conductor gave an early indication that he had a special treat in store for us, when turning to face the audience, he leaned playfully for a moment against the podium with an expression of mock exasperation, looking more like a patient parent than an interrupted artist. There were more glances into the audience during the performance, even while his baton waved at the orchestra, and then a big wink just before a loud honking of the contrabassoon. A moment later, bass baritone Nathan Berg intoned Beethoven’s introduction to Schiller’s ode:

O friends, not these tones;
Rather, let us tune our voices
In more pleasant and more joyful song.

What followed was 17 minutes of the most exhilirating and powerful melding of voice and orchestra imaginable. Each of the soloist sang beautifully, (Christine Brewer, Jill Grove, Stanfod Olson, and Berg), but the most beautiful sound was that made by the 120 voices of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.

Beethoven’s Ninth is a great sonic gift, bequeathed to mankind by a deaf man, the creation of which represents his refusal to yield to gloom. Instead of despairing, he returned to a passion from his youth, Schiller’s ecstatic folk song, and in defiance of the conventions of his art, made this new thing, a symphony wherein the voice is the crucial instrument, extolling sentiments that translate well to all people of good will. Hearty thanks to Maestro Norrington and all the musicians under his direction today, and all the others throughout the memorable Tanglewood 2002 season.

Tanglewood Jazz features Jay McShann, Duke Robillard, Modern Jazz Quartet tribute by Donal Fox

August 31, 2003 performances reviewed by Dave Conlin Read

Donal Fox and Stefon Harris perform at 2003 Tanglewood Jazz Festival. Photo: Dave Conlin Read.

The Sunday portion of the 2003 Tanglewood Jazz Festival had enough variety, both in quality and quantity, to make up a nice little festival by itself. It began at 1 p.m. in the Tanglewood Theatre, the very funky, rusty venue where the B.S.O. stages opera, with a program dubbed, “Remembering the Modern Jazz Quartet: Donal Fox, Inventions in Blue”. The Modern Jazz Quartet was formed in 1952, just a few hundred yards down the road from Tanglewood at the Music Inn, whose beloved co-founder, Stephanie Barber, passed away five days ago.

The Modern Jazz Quartet was originally formed as the Milt Jackson Quartet and consisted of Jackson on vibraphone, John Lewis on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums. Lewis would emerge as the leader of the MJQ and also become the dean of the Lenox School of Jazz, the first academy for jazz studies, which operated only from 1957 – 60, but whose pioneering work is carried on now on campuses all around the world.

Pianist and composer Fox was accompanied by Stefon Harris on vibes, Yoron Israel on drums, and John Lockwood on bass for an elegant, energized, and engaging 90 minutes comprised of the works of just three men; himself, John Lewis, and, as Fox called him, “the original blues man, J. S. Bach.”

Now the programmer doffed his mortarboard in favor of a porkpie hat, as next on the schedule was an afternoon “Celebrating the Year of the Blues!” in Ozawa Hall.

Jay McShann and Lousiana Red at 2003 Tanglewood Jazz Festival

Leading off the five-act marathon was Lousiana Red, the 67 year old true blues original from Alabama who has lived in Germany since 1981, and been touring in the U.S. since his first “comeback tour” in 1997. Winner of the 1983 W. C. Handy Award as Traditional Male Artist of the Year, his CD “A Different Shade of Red – The Woodstock Sessions” was recorded last year at the Woodstock studio of drummer Levon Helm and features both Helm, on drums and harp, and his Band-mate Garth Hudson, on organ and sax.

He kicked off his brief but rollicking set with “Red’s Dream,” wherein he’s beckoned by President Kennedy to help out during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Red’s response is, “Mr. Kennedy, you run the country, I’ll run the Senate,” and proceeds with the list of great blusemen he would replace the rascals with!

Next up was rising R&B singer Nicole Nelson with her band, winners of the 17th annual Battle of the Boston Blues Bands in 2001 by the widest margin ever. Her infectious set delighted the audience; she’s got the whole package and seems destined for a long successful career.

Jay McShann and Duke Robillard at 2003 Tanglewood Jazz Festival

Jay McShann and Duke Robillard performing at 2003 Tanglewood Jazz Festival

Following her were a pair whose careers add up to more than a century: Duke Robillard, who’s been on top since launching Roomful of Blues in 1967, and Jay McShann (January 12, 1916 – December 7, 2006), who turned pro in 1931 and whose Kansas City-based orchestra in 1941 introduced Charlie Parker to the world.

It didn’t take long for the audience to see why Robillard has gotten 3 of the last 4 W. C. Handy Guitarist of the Year Awards; he’s master of all the tools in the axeman’s bag, sings good, and has put together a hellacious band, to boot. After about twenty minutes, Robillard was joined on stage by the legendary McShann, who played and sang the blues with an ardor and skill unbelievable for an 87 year old man.

Regrettably, we had to leave before Kendrick Oliver and the New Life Jazz Orchestra came on around 6, in order to take care of some errands before returning for the Festival’s finale at 8.

Herbie Hancock The Imagine Project at Tanglewood

August 9, 2010 performance report by Dave Read.

Herbie Hancock brought his The Imagine Project tour to Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, and just about blew the roof off the joint. Mr. Hancock, more youthful and fit than any 70 year old man should expect to be, was accompanied by Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, James Genus on bass, Lionel Loueke on guitar, Greg Phillinganes on keyboards (and vocals), Kristina Train, vocals (and violin). They played one immense set that opened with Actual Proof (1974 “Thrust”) and closed with Chameleon (1973 “Head Hunters”), which we caught on video, while the usually staid Tanglewood audience got busy!

The day before this gig, while Mr. Hancock and the Imagine Project were headlining the Newport Jazz Festival, Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble were putting on a festival of their own in Tanglewood’s Koussevitsky Music Shed. That’s notable because the former has a mission to “utilize(s) the universal language of music to express its central themes of peace and global responsibility” and the latter seeks to “connect the world’s neighborhoods by bringing together artists and audiences around the globe.”