Great Barrington, Lenox, and Stockbridge — A series of events will celebrate the legacy of the Music Inn from Friday, August 9, through Sunday, August 11.
The Music Inn opened in 1950 when New Yorkers Philip Barber and Stephanie Barber purchased land in Lenox from the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO). The BSO previously purchased the land, formally owned by heiress Gloria De Heredia, around 1947 to turn the mansion into a dormitory for students at Tanglewood. The Barbers purchased the remainder of the property and eventually converted a barn on the land into an inn.
The couple were friends with writer-activist Langston Hughes and folk singer Alan Lomax, and they wanted to have a place for live performances and multicultural events. In 1950, musicians Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger were the first live performers at the venue, then known as the Berkshire Music Barn.
The venue became a location for folk and jazz roundtable discussions, led by jazz critic Marshall Stearns.
Musicians now recognized as jazz legends played at the venue, including Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, and The Modern Jazz Quartet. Multiple albums were recorded during the Music Inn’s jazz era, including albums by The Modern Jazz Quartet, Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, and Kenny Dorham.
The Barbers eventually expanded the Music Inn by adding the School of Jazz in 1957 and in 1958 renovating a potting shed on the property to have more live music.
“The Music Inn was a historic place in that it was one of the first places in America that treated jazz as a serious subject to be studied,” music scholar Jeremy Yudkin told The Berkshire Edge.
Yudkin is the author of the book “The Lenox School of Jazz: A Vital Chapter in the History of American Music and Race Relations,” which was released in 2006. He is also a professor of music at Boston University and the co-director of the Center for Beethoven Research.
“Most importantly, especially considering it was the 1950s, the Music Inn was a place where Black musicians were treated with respect, where they were regarded as teachers and taught white students,” Yudkin said. “It was historic from the point of view of American race relations, and it all happened here in ‘lily-white Lenox.’ Before the Music Inn existed, jazz only had a place in smoky, small, and noisy nightclubs. Jazz musicians had to enter hotels and other venues through the kitchen. There were many places in America where Black jazz musicians could not play.”
In 1960, as the venue’s popularity continued to grow, the Barbers sold the Music Inn to entrepreneur Don Soviero, who eventually expanded the barn on the property onto an adjoining lawn. The venue could now have up to 7,500 in the audience, and while jazz musicians still played at the venue, Soveiero added blues and folk concerts. The School of Jazz was closed in 1961, and Soveiero eventually ended all lecture and roundtable events.
“There was this sudden popularity in the late 1950s and 1960s of what people called folk music,” Yudkin said. “There was The Kingston Trio, and Joan Baez who performed at the Music Inn. It all became overwhelmingly popular. The hippies all gravitated to folk, and they began to overwhelm the Music Inn.”
In 1967, Soviero went bankrupt, and the property was purchased in 1969 by developer David Rothstein. The ensuing decade brought performances by popular music acts including The Byrds, The Eagles, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, The Band, and Van Morrison.
Rothstein eventually built a movie theater, a restaurant, an art gallery, and a head shop all on the property. “It just got completely out of hand,” Yudkin said.
The crowds for concerts expanded to an estimated 15,000 people.
The Allman Brothers Band played at the Music Inn on August 26, 1979. The crowds at the concert were reportedly very rowdy, which led Rothstein to shut the venue down.
The venue’s final concert was a performance by Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie.
The property of the former Music Inn now houses a condominium complex. “I don’t think that the history of the Music Inn is as recognized as it ought to be,” Yudkin explained. “It’s not very well known. People don’t recognize its history and legacy.”
The Music Inn Archives and The Music Museum of New England continue to recognize and celebrate the Music Inn’s legacy. As part of this year’s celebration of The Music Inn, musical performances will be held at the Red Lion Inn’s Lion’s Den in Stockbridge on Friday, August 9, and Saturday, August 10. On Sunday, August 11, events will be held at The Triplex in Great Barrington, including a panel discussion with former Music Inn employees, a screening of the films “The Modern Jazz Quartet at The Music Inn” and “The Music Inn,” an interview with former owner David Rothstein, and a panel discussion with Music Inn performers.
“It’s good to have these kinds of events, but I think that the Music Inn should be more recognized, especially by the town of Lenox,” Yudkin said. “Where The Music Inn once stood should be on tourist maps and cultural trails.”
Visit The Triplex’s website for more information and to purchase tickets.
