Sax, Horn, And Sacred Steel: Williamstown Jazz Festival 2005

By Susan Bush
12:00AM / Friday, April 08, 2005

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The Williamstown Jazz Festival kicks off on April 13.

Williamstown - Jazz aficionados may find next week's Williamstown Jazz Festival to be a deliciously rich and satisfying sampling of sound.

Jazz saxophone legend Charles Lloyd is set to surround Chapin Hall with the sounds of the Charles Lloyd Quartet on Saturday, April 16 beginning at 8:30 p.m.. Tickets are $10; $5 for students with a student identification.

Lloyd's more than 45-year career brought him from the jazz clubs of Memphis, Tennessee - where he offered back-up for artists such as B.B. King and Johnny Ace- to the University of Southern California in 1956, where he subsequently earned a master's degree in music. He played with Cannonball Adderly for about a year before he formed his own quartet with Gabor Szabo, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams in 1965. Lloyd spent much of the 1970s out of the limelight in southern California, and shot back to the jazz forefront during an international tour during the mid-1980s. During the April 16 performance, Lloyd will be accompanied by pianist Geri Allen, bassist Rueben Rogers, and drummer Eric Harlan.

The five-day event is scheduled to kickoff on Wednesday April 13 with a performance by the Ingrid Jensen Quartet. The performance is set to begin at 8 p.m. at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute on South Street. Admission is $10; $5 for students with a student identification.

The Vancouver-born Jensen is among the most popular modern-day trumpet musicians of the jazz world. She was born in 1967 and her passion for music may be linked to her mother, who was a pianist and a school teacher. Jensen attended Boston's Berklee College of Music on a scholarship and graduated from the prestigious music school in 1989. Jensen has performed with Jeff "Tain" Watts, Gary Bartz, and legendary bop trumpet performer Clark Terry. She is a Peabody Conservatory of Music faculty member, and also plays the flugelhorn. The jazz festival performance will feature pianist Geoffrey Keezer, bassist Matt Clohesy, and drummer Jon Wikan.

A free Friday April 15 gospel concert featuring Sierra and the Sacred Steel Review with Lonnie Bennett is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. at the St. John's Episcopal Church on Park Street in Williamstown. Lonnie "Big Ben" Bennett is a steel guitarist from Rochester, N.Y. who plays in the House of God steel guitar tradition. "Sacred steel" uses steel guitar as a lead instrument; the playing style originated in African-American churches. Bennett and his family attend the Rochester House of God No.1.

The 14th Annual Intercollegiate Jazz Festival is scheduled to span two days. On Friday, the noon-4 p.m. free event is set for Chapin Hall at Williams College. Participants are the Holyoke Community College Jazz Ensemble, the Westfield State Jazz Ensemble, the Rhode Island College Jazz Ensemble, and a jazz group from Brown University.

The second day of the intercollegiate event begins on Saturday April 16 at 9 a.m. at Chapin Hall. The Amherst College Jazz Ensemble, the Smith College Jazz Ensemble, jazz musicians from the Community College of Rhode Island, the WPI Jazz Ensemble, the Schenectady Community College Jazz Ensemble, the Yale University Jazz Ensemble and the Williams College Jazz Ensemble are slated to perform.

Zydeco will have a place in the spotlight; zydeco accordionist Terrance Simien is scheduled to present a free lecture on Friday, April 15, at 4:30 p.m. at the Bernhard Music Center Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall. The lecture is set to be followed by a Zydeco Dance Party at 8 p.m. at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art Hunter Center on Marshall Street in North Adams. Advance tickets are $13; tickets at the door are $16.

A complete schedule of events and ticket information is available at www.williamstownjazz.com.

The Williamstown Jazz Festival 2005 is a collaboration between the Williams College Music Department, the Williamstown Chamber of Commerce, and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.