PITTSFIELD — Presented by Berkshires Jazz, this year’s CityJazz Festival will featured the DIVA Jazz Orchestra as headliner, with special guests the Berkshires Jazz Youth All Star Band. The festival’s co-headliner is George Russell Jr., chair of the Harmony and Jazz Composition Department at the Berklee College of Music, and his trio, which includes educator and jazz singer Lydia Harrell. After a two-year pandemic hiatus, the festival has moved from its traditional mid-October time frame to dates that span the weekends of April 23 and May 1, putting it in sync with Jazz Appreciation Month.
Professional all-female big bands are hard to come by. (Toshiko Akiyoshi notably led her own big band, but all the players were men when I saw the group.) Rare or not, the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, now on a CD-release tour, is the real deal. They play some of the most difficult Ellington charts — and much more — without breaking a sweat. And they have the big sound you’re looking for. The DIVA Jazz Orchestra will close this year’s CityJazz Festival the afternoon of May 1 at The Colonial Theatre.
George Russell Jr. is a Boston-based purveyor of joy the likes of which only jazz music can provide. His colleague Lydia Harrell teaches voice at Berklee College of Music and is well known in Boston jazz circles as a vocalist of distinction, having won such competitions as the 2017 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival Voice Competition and the 2015 Duke Ellington Jazz Vocal Competition.
The entire Pittsfield CityJazz Festival schedule can be found here, but below are a few more highlights:
Saturday, April 23, 7-10 p.m. — The first Berkshires Jazz Jam at Mission Restaurant led by Dave Smith, piano; Jason Schwartz, bass; and Conor Meehan, drums, with rotating local artists. No cover.
Wednesday, April 27, 7 p.m. — Brooklyn bassist Ruby Farmer will appear with Benny Kohn, piano, and Conor Meehan, drums, at the Berkshire Athenaeum. Admission is free. This 16-year-old “jazz prodigy” was one of two recipients of the 2021 Billy Strayhorn Jazz Education Scholarship Award.
Saturday, April 30, 4–10 p.m. — This year’s Jazz Crawl, a multi-venue series of events, includes appearances by the Benny Kohn-Jeff Stevens Duo, the Dave Bartley Trio, the Don Mikkelsen Quartet, Andy Kelly’s Gypsy Jazz Ambassadors, the Kris Allen Trio, the Ennis-McEachern Quartet, and the Michael Junkins Trio.
The complete Jazz Crawl schedule with individual times and venues is posted here.
