7th annual Pittsfield City Jazz Festival Taking Place October 7-20 in Western Massachusetts

Grace Kelly, Phil Woods, Armen Donelian, Greg Caputo, and the BerkshiresJazz Youth Ensemble are among the performers at the 7th annual Pittsfield CityJazz Festival, October 7-20, 2011.

The festival gets under way on Columbus Day weekend, Oct. 7-9 with Jazz About Town, when several restaurants and lounges in downtown Pittsfield offer a variety of instrumental and vocal jazz performances, both indoors and outdoors. Among the many highlights:

• The inauguration of the festival’s Piano Prodigy Series, with Alma Macbride, who won the Mary Lou Williams centennial competition at Lincoln Center at the age of 14. Alma performs in a free concert at the Berkshire Athenaeum on Wednesday, Oct. 12.
• Jazz pianist Armen Donelian appears at the festival for the first time on Oct. 14. Renowned for both his original compositions and interpretations of jazz and classical works, Donelian’s trio includes bassist Dave Clark and drummer George Schuller.
• Grace Kelly returns to Pittsfield, concluding a year-long tour on Oct. 15, with NEA Jazz Master Phil Woods. The two appeared on stage at the festival in 2006, when Woods gave then 14-year-old Kelly his legendary leather cap, giving rise to the name of their new CD “Man with the Hat.” Grace and Phil welcome their friend, drummer Gregory Caputo, who will appear with them as a special guest artist.
• The festival concludes on Oct. 20 with jazz-themed Third Thursday block party.

For more details visit http://berkshiresjazz.org/

For tourist information visit MassVacation.com and BerkshiresVisitorBureau.

For year round jazz festivals, concerts, campus events, brunches, radio stations and more, visit MassJazz.com.