NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Pianist Charles Blenzig and trumpeter/flugelhornist Richard Boulger will perfrom at Studio9 at the Porches Inn from 7 to 9 pm on Aug. 14.

 

Blenzig and Boulger are both faculty members of the Berkshires' Academy for Advanced Musical Studies (BAAMS), a North Adams-based nonprofit dedicated to providing top-tier music instruction to students ages 10-18.

 

They will be joined by drummer Tony Lewis and bassist Alex Blake, who both teach at BAAMS.

 

Tickets are $20 at the door, to benefit BAAMS. 

 

According to a press release: 

 

Charles Blenzig is a renown jazz pianist, composer, arranger, producer, and educator. In the mid 1980s Blenzig performed weekly at the Sweet Basil Jazz Club with the Gil Evans Monday Night Orchestra. Blenzig has performed across the country and around the world with Hiram Bullock, Lew Soloff, Michael Breakers, Marcus Miller, Kenwood Dennard, Eddie Gómez, Joe Locke, Harvey Mason, Dave Weckl, as well as Italian rap artist Jovanotti, and so many more.

 

He was a longtime member of the SUNY-Purchase Jazz Conservatory faculty teaching alongside Jon Faddis, Hal Galper, and Todd Coolman.

 

North Adams native and former Allman Brothers' Band recording and touring artist, Richard Boulger, shares the bill with Blenzig, having been a protegé of both trumpet legends Donald Byrd and Freddie Hubbard, who's been described by Randy Brecker as: "A trumpet player with a big, fat sound, great chops, and most importantly, lots of soul." Before returning home to establish the music academy, Boulger taught music to thousands of inner-city New York children.