World jazz in an intimate place
Summer may be drawing to a close, but there’s still time to catch some music at Huntington’s Historic North Hall. On Sunday, Aug. 25, at 2 p.m., the trio of La Voz De Tres (The Voice of Three) comes to the Hilltown venue, bringing a mix of world jazz, Latin American songwriting traditions and arrangements of songs from the great American songbook.
Singer Natalia Bernal, a native of Chile, was raised by a Chilean father and Uruguayan mother and absorbed songs from both those countries and from Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Cuba. Pianist Michael Eckroth, who’s worked with jazz greats such as John Scofield and Ron McClure, has played all over the world, and guitarist Jason Ennis draws on jazz, blues, Brazilian and classical music for his work.
Bernal and Ennis both studied at the Berklee School of Music as well, and the group, which one critic calls “a true collaboration,” offers a varied playlist that includes arrangements of material by Stevie Wonder (“The Secret Life of Plants”), Billie Holiday (“How Deep in the Ocean?”), and Milton Nascimento of Brazil (“Milagre Dos Peixes”).
General admission to the show is $10 at the door; student/youth admission is free. A “meet-the-artists” reception with refreshments will be held at intermission in the North Hall art gallery (paintings by Jean Gaitenby are currently on exhibit).
North Hall is located on 40 Searle Road (off Route 66) in Huntington. More information is available at northhallhuntington.org or by calling (413) 667-5543.
— Steve Pfarrer
An ageless tale
A tale of wealth and death comes to the Valley when Cinema Northampton brings “Citizen Kane” to the Forbes Library lawn on Wednesday, August 28, at 8 p.m. for an outdoor movie night.
Orson Welles’ most beloved work, from 1941, is a story told in flashbacks. It begins with the death of Charles Foster Kane, a publishing magnate whose dying word — “Rosebud” — sets a reporter off on a tortuous hunt for the meaning behind the word (no spoilers here). Welles based his character in part on the powerful newspaper man William Randolph Hearst, who took such umbrage at the depiction of Kane that he prohibited any mention of the film in his many newspapers.
Welles’ tale is both grand and small in scale, exploring the vast power of the American publishing industry (something worth revisiting in the run-up to another election year) and the lasting, sad legacy of individual human regrets. As with Richard Connell’s narrative, there is a good reason we return, again and again, to this story.
At Forbes Library, 20 West Street in Northampton. Free.
— Jack Brown