2009 BERKS JAZZ FEST

The 2009 Berks Jazz Fest is scheduled for March 27 through April 5, 2009 in Reading, PA., and it will feature a stellar line-up of musicians. It’s actually more of a Jazz, Soul, Funk, and Blues festival when you consider the caliber of acts who are set to appear. It’s a list of who’s who in the business…Anat Cohen, Andy Narell, Average White Band, Barry Daniellian, Bela Fleck, Billy Price Band feat. Fred Chapellier, Bobby Franceschini, Bobby Lyle, Boney James, Brian Bromberg Quartet, Brian Culbertson, Chieli Minucci & Special EFX, Chuck Loeb, David Benoit, David Mann, Derek Trucks Band, Gerald Albright, Gerald Veasley, Jason Miles, Jeff Kashiwa, Joe Banamassa, Joe McBride, Jonathan Butler, Karl Denson, Kenny Blake, Kim Waters, Kirk Whalum, Maysa Leak, McCoy Tyner Quartet, Mike Mattison, Mindi Abair, Mitch Forman Najee, Nelson Rangell, Nnenna Freelon, Paul Jackson Jr., Peter White, Phil Perry, Phoebe Snow, Pieces Of A Dream, Rachel Z, Randy Brecker, Reggie Young, Rick Braun, Richard Elliot, Sherrod Barnes, Susan Tedeschi, Soul Summit II, Soul Survivors, Steve Cole, Steve Ferrone, Steve Smith & Vital Information, Take 6, Tim Price, Victor Wooten, Warren Hill, and Wayman Tisdale.

One of the highlights of the Berks Jazz Fest is on Saturday, April 4, when East Bay Soul, an all-star rotating collective led by former Tower of Power trumpet great Greg Adams and famed soul singer Phil Perry, joins forces with saxophonist Michael Paulo and trumpeter Lee Thornburg. The 2 p.m. double-header at the Reading Crowne Hotel will kick off with a performance by Bay Area-based guitar star and Berks Jazz Fest favorite Joyce Cooling. East Bay Soul is a combination of instrumental soul funk and rhythm and blues vocals built on a design to discover new achievements rather than extend the past. Wide ranging and forward thinking, East Bay Soul is set to lead this new soundscape with a sharpened expertise from being on countless stages worldwide.

Adams says: “We draw from my funk and R&B background with Tower of Power and the influence it’s had over my sound and the sound that I gave to TOP through those 25 years I was in the band. Taking that sound and bringing it into 2008, we’re creating an all new ‘Metro Jazz,’ really a new approach of a melting pot of contemporary urban rhythm and sound and combining all the sounds from the city. The ethnic sounds of the trials of tribulations, the hard fought, the victories, sweetness and sadness. It comes through in the music in all forms. It’s world, it’s metro, it’s edgy, it’s urban.”East Bay Soul’s horn section is headed up by the Grammy- and Emmy-nominated Adams (whose most recent solo release is 2006’s Cool To The Touch), Michael Paulo (longtime saxman for Al Jarreau, Peter White, Patti Austin, Jeffrey Osborne and Rick Braun who has a solo career extending back to 1989) and Lee Thornburg (former member of Supertramp, TOP and The Tonight Show band who has also worked with Tom Petty, Bonnie Raitt and Ray Charles).The ensemble’s original lyrics are crafted and sung in stunning fashion by Phil Perry, one of the finest R&B/urban jazz vocalists in contemporary music who won 2007 Soul Tracks Male Vocalist of the Year. Perry’s latest Shanachie release is Ready For Love.