LENOX — Since 1929, the Boston Pops Orchestra has given free Fourth of July concerts on the banks of the Charles River — but never at Tanglewood. At least not until this year, the year of … well, you know.
When James Taylor’s July 4 show was postponed until 2022, Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Orchestra had about five weeks to get their act together and prepare a program to fill in for Mr. Taylor.
They had help:
Jon Batiste — Winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Score for the Pixar film “Soul” and bandleader of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Batiste is a fount of effervescent joy who is determined to infect the world with it. It would be enough if he were merely a monstrously accomplished jazz pianist and a vocalist of genuine soul. But he is also a cavortist in the tradition of Jerry Lewis and Sammy Davis Jr. (James Brown figures in, too, no doubt). Also, he likes to show his socks.
Mavis Staples — The legendary R&B, soul, and gospel singer, civil rights activist, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner, and Kennedy Center honoree appeared at Tanglewood a few years ago with Bob Dylan, and she’ll be back in August with Brandi Carlile.
The Six-String Soldiers of the U.S. Army Field Band — the most-followed military music group in the world.
Members of the United States Air Force Band’s Singing Sergeants — the official chorus of the USAF and the first premier military chorus to enlist women. (Note: With no women in the chorus, the men would have been in deep “trouble” on the Disney medley.)
Crew — The crew required to pull off an event like this runs into the hundreds, and it’s a good feeling to be in their midst. They’re mostly engineers of one sort or another (i.e., geeks), and they’re fun people to be around, because they know all kinds of things that are beyond fascinating to the ordinary individual and tend to enjoy sharing their knowledge with others.
Boston Pops percussionist Pat Hollenbeck predicted the players would attack the parts on their music stands in the manner of wild animals. Perhaps they did. But from the eighth row of the Shed on Sunday, all one could hear was the sound of playing that was spot-on from the first note to the last. Every player was in top form.
The Boston Pops July 4th Spectacular was no ordinary Independence Day celebration. It was intended (and destined) to be a celebration of the return to community life of everyone involved — crew, orchestra, and patrons. Even the cop with the bomb-sniffing dog expressed elation at being there.
The July 4 show will be available to stream from Bloomberg until the end of the month. Click here for more info.
