2010 Tanglewood reviews

Herbie Hancock The Imagine Project at Tanglewood

August 9, 2010 performance report by Dave Conlin Read.

Herbie Hancock brought his The Imagine Project tour to Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, and just about blew the roof off the joint. Mr. Hancock, more youthful and fit than any 70 year old man should expect to be, was accompanied by Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, James Genus on bass, Lionel Loueke on guitar, Greg Phillinganes on keyboards (and vocals), Kristina Train, vocals (and violin). They played one immense set that opened with Actual Proof (1974 “Thrust”) and closed with Chameleon (1973 “Head Hunters”), which we caught on video, while the usually staid Tanglewood audience got busy!

The day before this gig, while Mr. Hancock and the Imagine Project were headlining the Newport Jazz Festival, Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble were putting on a festival of their own in Tanglewood’s Koussevitsky Music Shed. That’s notable because the former has a mission to “utilize(s) the universal language of music to express its central themes of peace and global responsibility” and the latter seeks to “connect the world’s neighborhoods by bringing together artists and audiences around the globe.”

We’ll have more about each show later in the week; until then here’s Herbie Hancock closing out the Aug. 9, 2010 Imagine Project Tour concert at Tanglewood:

Yo Yo Ma tops Tanglewood program

Report of August 1, 2010 perfromance by Dave Conlin Read.

The composition of a Tanglewood program itself sometimes enhances the enjoyment of the various compositions that comprise a program; a transcending element to go along with the enjoyment of the program as performed by the musicians. On paper, this program at Tanglewood was sure to attact a large audience because of the presence on the bill of cellist Yo Yo Ma and the inclusion of the broadly popular Pictures At An Exhibition (the Maurice Ravel orchestration of Mussogorsky’s composition), under the direction of conductor Charles Dutoit, who has been a frequest guest here and in Boston for nearly 30 years.

And, with the cooperation of the iffy Berkshires weather, the Koussevitsky Music Shed was full and a few thousand more patrons and picnicers populated the lawn. But it was the opening item on the program that we found most remarkable; Jean Sibelius’ “Karelia” Suite, Opus 11, which had never been performed at Tanglewood, and only once by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Not only would we like to hear it again here, but we wonder why it hasn’t made it onto the regular rotation (if there is such?); it felt like a paean to this place – particularly the immediate Tanglewood environs as well as the greater Berkshires.

Which comports with the composition’s origin as a commission on the history of Karelia, the densely wooded region in northern Europe. Besides a delightful variety of sounds from the percussion section, the piece has an overall deeply sonorous feel. Gazing outside the Shed, the surrounding trees seemed to be as attentive to the music as the paying audience was.

When Yo Yo Ma settles onto the soloists chair near the podium, as he did to perform the Cello Concerto in E Minor, Opus 85, by Edward Elgar, holding cello and bow, it’s as if a new entity comes into being. Well, a pedestrain witness does himself no favor trying to describe artistry at this level. Berkshires resident Ma, who by all accounts is a friendly and humble gentleman, makes music at a level that could inspire composers, as a profound event or dazzling landscape would.

On the other hand, having such a popular soloist, or widely familiar piece on the program, always attracts patrons who are unfamiliar with symphony audience protocal; they’re like new parents who applaud every movement.

2010 A Prairie Home Companion at Tanglewood

As completely satisfying as the weekly 2 hour broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion is, it can seem like a souvenir when compared to a live broadcast, such as we’ve witnessed at Tanglewood the first Saturday of summer since 2000. The radio audience gets 120 minutes of humor and music; those in attendance get all that, plus the chance that the strolling serenading Keillor will help himself to their picnic goodies before airtime, and the opportunity to sing along with him, the show’s musical guests, and the Guy’s All Star Show Band for another hour afterwards.

Garrison Keillor and Andrea Suchy sing America the Beautiful, 2010 Tanglewood encore

With BSO opening night two weeks away, the show was without the usual participation of BSO/TMC musicians. Rather, it featured 3 musical guests, all drawn from the distaff side: Andrea Suchy, Hilary Thavis, and The Wailin’ Jennys. Expanding upon that gynocentric theme were the Lives of the Cowboys skit and the introduction of Erica Rhodes as Keillor’s replacement as the show’s host (once certain issues are resolved, that is).

The localised scripts were funny; especially Guy Noir on the case of the imaginary grandson of Edith and Teddy Wharton showing up to claim the Mount and convert it into a dirt bike race track. Scripts and podcast of the show are available at PrairieHome.org.

Update: Your intrepid reporter is seen on the Prairie Home Youtube clip (above) capturing Flip video of the encore:

Summary of Carole King and James Taylor Troubador 2010 Reunion Tour at Tanglewood

July 3-5, 2010 performances – by Dave Read.

James Taylor hearts Carole King!

King and Taylor, 68 and 62, just couldn’t look or sound or perform any better than they did during these shows, which were artful compilations of each other’s body of work, accompanied by “The Section,” Danny Kortchmar, Leland Sklar, and Russ Kunkel, plus Robbie Kondor, Arnold McCuller, Kate Markowitz, Andrea Zonn, and Kim Taylor. Cellist Yo Yo Ma, a Berkshire resident, was a surprise guest for 2 songs July 5, Sweet Baby James and You’ve Got A Friend.

Juke boxes were the original killer app for the 60s generation; in a kind of Aquarian alchemy, Tanglewood was transformed during these shows into a dazzling, dynamic Wurlitzer. All told, the Tanglewood leg of the tour amounted to about 6 dozen numbers and roughly 8 hours, nary a moment of which was anything but “totally freakin awesome,” according to our audience poll.

James Taylor – Steamroller – Tanglewood July 5, 2010

James Taylor and Carole King concert Tanglewood scenes

Article by Dave Read.

For the July 4, 2010 performance of the James Taylor and Carole King Troubador Reunion 2010 World Tour, we meandered among the audience on the lawn and alongside the Shed for this video and these photos. This was the middle of three consecutive days when audiences of 18,500 packed into the Koussevitsky Music Shed and sprawled accross the vast Tanglewood Lawn.

video and photos of James Taylor and Carole King at Tanglewood

James Taylor and Carole King Troubador Reunion 2010 World Tour at Tanglewood

July 3, 2010 report by Dave Conlin Read.

The three day Tanglewood segment of the Carole King & James Taylor Troubador Reunion 2010 World Tour got underway Saturday July 3, a quintessential sunny summer day that got all hot, bothering nobody, and then cooled nicely after dusk, easing the lawnsters’ transition from the gnosh to the canoodle.

This reunion includes the 3 sidemen from the Troubador, the Hollywood club where King and Taylor first performed together: guitarist Danny Kortchmar, the bassist Leland Sklar and Russ Kunkel on drums. Connecticut native Kortchmar and Taylor met on Martha’s Vineyard in the mid-60s, a friendship that led Taylor to London where the Beatles signed him in 1969 and then to L.A. in 1971.

With King and Taylor taking turns on stage recalling the moments when they first heard each other’s songs, one almost could sense the firing of billions of synapses among the audience of 18,500, as it embarked on a million mile trip down memory lane. Ms. King wondered aloud whether “this is what Koussevitsky had in mind?”

Maybe not exactly; Koussevitsky being all about the learning, and this show being all about the remembering. But we can imagine the Maestro being mollified by this first-class show, the principals all having earned post-graduate honors from the University of the Sixties.

James Taylor and Carole King Troubador Reunion 2010 World Tour at Tanglewood – July 3, 2010 Set List

Something In The Way She Moves
So Far Away
Honey Don’t Leave L.A
Carolina In My Mind
Way Over Yonder
Smackwater Jack
Country Road
Sweet Seasons
Mexico
Song Of Long Ago
Long Ago And Far Away
Beautiful
Shower The People
(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
INTERMISSION
Been To Canaan
Crying In The Rain
Copperline
Sweet Baby James
Jazzman
Will You Love Me Tomorrow
Your Smiling Face
It’s Too Late
Fire and Rain
I Feel The Earth Move
You’ve Got A Friend
ENCORE
Up On The Roof
How Sweet It Is
You Can Close Your Eyes

You may be interested to know that it was 2 years ago that Ms. King was a surprise guest at Mr. Taylor’s 60th birthday party in the Koussevitsky Music Shed.