North Adams — The nonprofit Berkshires’ Academy for Advanced Musical Studies (BAAMS) will present members of the faculty—Dario Boente, piano; Richard Boulger, trumpet and flugelhorn; Alex Blake, bass; and Victor Jones, drums and percussion—in a benefit concert at Studio9 (Porches Inn) on Sunday, October 1, at 6 p.m.
Leading the band on Sunday will be GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY award-winning pianist and composer Dario Boente, a multi-genre keyboardist who has performed in more than 20 countries, his compositions appearing on over two dozen albums and compilations. Fans of bluesman Big Joe Turner may remember Boente’s work as Turner’s touring keyboardist and music director. As a sideman, Boente has worked with such GRAMMY-winning artists as Ruben Blades, Louie Vega, and Fernando Otero. His tastes run the gamut from the music of Argentina to jazz to world-beat electronica.
Joining Boente on trumpet and flugelhorn will be Executive and Artistic Director Richard Boulger, the man who first envisioned BAAMS in 2018. Boulger is not only a North Adams native but also a longtime New York City musical artist and educator. He has played trumpet and flugelhorn with a long list of giants like Freddie Hubbard and Donald Byrd, having studied composition with Ludmila Ulehla, the former chair of Contemporary Music at the Manhattan School of Music. Richard is a former touring and live-recording artist with the Allman Brothers Band.
Alex Blake’s résumé as a bassist and band leader is heavily laden with some of the biggest names in jazz: Billy Cobham, Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra, Kazumi Watanabe, Randy Weston, Sonny Rollins. His pop collaborators include Jimmy Buffett and The Manhattan Transfer. (Click here to see a much longer list.) Blake’s first big job was playing for Sun Ra at age 16. At 17, he was invited to join Dizzy Gillespie’s band, and this catapulted him into international jazz circles. Blake is the rare musician who can scat sing while accompanying himself on bass. He lays down such a reliable groove with his instrument that he’s known as a drummer’s bassist, one who gives drummers the confidence and freedom necessary to be creative, take risks, and explore unorthodox musical territories during improvisatory performances without feeling at risk of losing the other players.
Drummer Victor Jones is well versed in traditional and modern jazz, having started his career as a teenager playing in bands near his home town of Newark, N.J., then touring the world with sax legend Lou Donaldson and, a few years later, with Stan Getz. Subsequent tours included dates with James Moody, Michel Petrucciani, Stanley Clarke, Phyllis Hyman, and Chaka Khan. Since 2003, Victor has led his own world music band, Cultur-Versy, purveyors of a blend of dance, hip-hop, and electro pop. The group has released three CDs, the latest being “Dance Floor 54.”
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Hear faculty members Dario Boente, Richard Boulger, Alex Blake, and Victor Jones in a concert to benefit the nonprofit Berkshires’ Academy for Advanced Musical Studies at Studio9 (Porches Inn), 18 Veazie Street North Adams, MA, 01247 (directly across from MASS MoCA), on Sunday, October 1, at 6 p.m. Tickets are $25 and available here. For more information, send a message to info@berkshiresacademyams.org or call (413) 663-4424.
