West Stockbridge — In addition to regular performances from the West Stockbridge Chamber Players, the West Stockbridge Historical Society has presented concerts at the Old Town Hall featuring a number of jazz musicians, mostly players from outside the area. But on Saturday, June 10 at 7:30 p.m., the Society will present local jazz singer Pamala Knowles, a Berkshire resident who, years ago, might have traveled from Paris or New Zealand to make a gig in West Stockbridge, Mass.
Knowles’ most significant achievement as a jazz artist must be her original work, “Thirteen Kinds of Desire,” a jazz setting of Yusef Komunyakaa’s poetry. Neil Tesser of the Chicago Reader wrote, “Knowles boasts an impressive range, clarion timber [sic], and excellent intonation. Komunyakaa supplies Pamela with terrific material from mythography to textured romanticism and she knows just what to do with these poems, tailoring savvy settings for them and singing the hell out of every one.”
And arts reporter Susan Van Dongen wrote, “Even a perfunctory listening reveals a touch of Diane Schuur and Carmen McRae here, a little Miles Davis there, maybe even some of the Beat quality of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. No, maybe it’s more like Tom Waits.”
Her experience as an actress (she trained at the American Conservatory Theatre and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) helps explain why an English professor (i.e., Margaret Gibson at the University of Connecticut) would write, “The voice of Pamela Knowles enters these lyrics so amply, with such insight and intimacy that it is hard to imagine the words apart from her voice, such is its range and plentitude, wit and passion.”
I asked local jazz singer and voice teacher Suzi Stern (co-founder of LuLuFest Lenox, an upcoming festival spotlighting women-led jazz bands), for her take on Pamela Knowles.
“Pamela sings adventurous, smart material and plays with phrasing in an artful manner,” Suzi wrote. “We’ve gone out for coffee several times and geeked out on vocal improvisation, lyric interpretation, and technique conversations.”
Unsurprisingly, Stern is pleased to have a jazz musician friend like Knowles in the area: “It’s a joy having a jazz singer in town that can talk about and share my feelings about singers being a part of the adventurous dialogue that all the players on the band stand are a part of; rather than being the vocalist out in front of the ensemble.”
Stern concludes by pointing out a key musical value that the two singers have in common: “We both agree that all of the musicians on stage are a part of a circle that is connected … like a conversation between good friends. It’s nice having her in town! Hopefully more coffees to come!”
Hear Pamela Knowles at the Old Town Hall in West Stockbridge on Saturday, June 10 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available here.
