Downtown Pittsfield Summer Music Series – Free!

The Downtown Pittsfield Cultural Association, with partners the City of Pittsfield, MassDevelopment’s Transformative Development Initiative (TDI), and Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. (DPI), are presenting a free Downtown Pittsfield Summer Music Series on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays (and select Thursdays) through early September.

Fridays will feature a variety of local musicians and performers live at Persip Park, 175 North Street, from 5 to 8 pm. Saturdays will feature live Jazz in collaboration with Berkshires Jazz from 2 to 5 pm at Persip Park; and Sundays will feature Latin Dance Instruction in Dunham Mall, 100 North Street, from 5 to 7 pm.

CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER: Saturday, August 3, 2 to 5 pm: Jazz in Persip Park with the Peggy Stern Trio

Peggy Stern Trio: Peggy Stern, Maryann McSweeney, and Conor Meehan

Saturday, August 10, 2 to 5 pm: Jazz in Persip Park with Charlie Tokarz and Paul Arslanian

Charlie Tokarz plays saxophone, flute, and clarinet. He has worked as an accompanist for modern dance at the Institute For Contemporary in Boston, Contact Improvisation in New England, and for The American Tap Dance Foundation in New York directly as a result of being introduced to the group by Paul Arslanian. He has played in the pit band for musicals for local theatre groups, high schools, the Colonial Theatre, and Arena Stage in Washington, DC. He continues to freelance with various jazz groups and teaches primarily at Hotchkiss School.

Paul Arslanian has been playing professionally since 1970, first in the San Francisco Bay Area as a freelance jazz pianist, bandleader, composer and dance accompanist and then, since 1984, in New England where he now resides.

Paul was a Senior Lecturer in Dance at UMass, Amherst from 1999-2018 until retiring, teaching “Music for Dancers” and accompanying classes in ballet, modern and tap dance. From 2010 to the present, Paul has been pianist with the Green Street Trio and coordinator of the Northampton Jazz Workshop, a weekly concert and jam session series. He has been a producer for the Northampton Jazz Festival, in Northampton, MA, since 2015.

Throughout his long career, Paul has had the opportunity to play with, and learn from, many great jazz artists such as Pharoah Sanders, Houston Person, Freddie Hubbard and Gary Smulyan and with many vocalists including Karrin Allyson, Rebecca Parris, and Giacomo Gates.

Saturday, August 17, 2 to 5 pm: Katherine Winston in Persip Park

From the rolling hills of New England, Katherine Winston is a Singer/Songwriter whose music is a blend of country, folk/rock, and pop. Inspired by musical icons like Stevie Nicks, Brandi Carlile, and Dolly Parton, Katherine’s powerhouse vocals and raw emotional power have captivated audiences all over the country and beyond.

Katherine’s deeply relatable songwriting explores the intricate layers of human emotion and experience. Her live shows are a testament to her ability to connect with audiences on a profound level, leaving fans spellbound with each heartfelt lyric and impassioned melody. https://katherinewinston.com

Saturday, August 24, 2 to 5 pm: Jazz in Persip Park with The Lucky 3

The Lucky 3 is a slimmed down version of the quintet ’The Lucky 5’.  While a smaller outfit than their mainstay band, the trio has more room to explore the music all the while maintaining their signature swing. Consisting of Jonathan Talbott on violin, Matt Downing on bass, and Kip Beacco on guitar, The Lucky 3 plays everything from old hot jazz and swing to Parisian gypsy jazz and eastern European styles. The trio runs the gamut of the sounds their quintet is known for in the region and beyond.

Saturday, August 31, 2 to 5 pm: Jazz in Persip Park with Luke Franco

Guitarist Luke Franco purveys the rich tradition of jazz guitar by gleaning from the masters, both past and present. Formative years spent with John Abercrombie—his main influence and one of the great guitar innovators—led Franco to develop his own style and compositional voice. While pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Miami, he was Teachers Assistant in John Hart’s talented and ambitious guitar studio, and performed as a featured soloist with the award winning Concert Jazz Band led by Grammy winner Jon Daversa alongside guest artists including Gonzalo Rubalacaba and Alan Ferber. He was featured as lead guitarist at the world premiere of Michael Tilson Thomas’s “Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind” along with the New World Symphony in 2016. Presently, Franco has been performing in the Berkshires, Hudson Valley, and NY Capital Region presenting his own music both as a leader and as an in-demand sideman, notably in trio with Tarik Shah and Jimmy Madison. As a counterpoint to his musical career, he and his wife founded Tiny Hearts Farm in Copake, NY in 2011 and manage the 35-acre farm with their two young boys, growing cut flowers and playing music at the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains.

Saturday, September 7, 2 to 5 pm: Jazz in Persip Park with the Peggy Stern Trio

Peggy Stern – piano
Paul Ostermayer – sax
Dave Christopolis – bass

Peggy Stern has composed, played, recorded, and toured in a wide variety of situations: from solos to octets to jazz choruses. Her compositions range from highly original pieces to reharmonized jazz standards. “Everything she writes wants to dance,” says Ken Dais of Jazziz.

Peggy’s background would account for her varied musical tastes. She began playing classical piano at an early age, continuing her studies at the Eastman School of Music, and finishing a master’s degree, still in Classical music, at the New England Conservatory. And then she began to improvise. While living in San Francisco, she played in salsa bands, notably Azteca and Supercombo with Benny Vallarde. She did a stint in an R&B band (called Cat’s Cradle) with singer Linda Tillery and was “instructed” by Paul Jackson (bass) and Mike Clark (drums) of Herbie Hancock’s Headhunter band.

Subsequently, Peggy moved to New York, absorbing the piano stylings of the greats, such as Jimmy Rowles and Tommy Flanagan. Peggy has worked and toured with many wonderful musicians: Lee Konitz, Diane Schuur, David “Fathead” Newman, Jay Clayton, Gary Peacock, Gene Bertoncini, Bud Shank, Red Holloway, Thomas Chapin, Machito, Puck Fair, Bobby Shew, Stanley Turrentine, Gerry Mulligan, Eddie Henderson, and Emily Remler, to name a few.

Peggy has toured throughout Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, and Japan. In addition, Peggy has worked as an educator for the past 20 years, at colleges in the US. She has given workshops throughout Europe (Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Italy), and the US. peggystern.com

Follow along with @downtownpittsfield on Facebook for updates including cancellations due to weather.