Music

Day two of the annual Tanglewood Jazz Festival. A change in the weather brought out a great crowd on the lawn for the afternoon concert. It headlined the Count Basie Orchestra with Eddie Daniels and Bob James featuring their Broadway Boogie. This closes the season in Lenox.

Grammy winner, and arguably the greatest jazz singer on the planet, Kurt Elling headlined the Saturday evening performance of the two day, Labor Day weekend Tanglewood Jazz Festival. There were sets by emerging artists, Brandon Wright and Kelley Johnson during dining sets in the Jazz Cafe. The packed Ozawa Hall enjoyed the afternoon live broadcast by John Pizzarelli and his clan.

When not collecting social security, or hanging out at the senior center shooting pool Crosby, Stills and Nash are out on tour. They brought their dino rock to Tanglwood last night to a sedate, not sedated, audience. Nice way to end a summer in the Shed.

Concerts begin with Boston favorite Catie Curtis, Christine Lavin, Larry Carlton, and The Matt Haimovitz Trio

There's nothing like listening to Beethoven's Ninth at Tanglewood. Kurt Masur ended BSO season at Tanglewood. Indeed an Ode to Joy.

All I can say is WOW!

In addition to the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, in Great Barrington, the enormously popular Met Live in HD series of broadcasts has now been expanded to the Northern Berkshire Audience. The series, which is sure to sell out, as it has at the Mahaiwe for the past two seasons, will start on October 9 with Wagner's Das Rheingold.

The remarkable singer, cabaret artist, actress, and painter, Ute Lemper, utterly captivated the audience last night at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield. It was a rich and diverse global excursion as she performed in five languages; English, her native German, Spanish, French and even Yiddish. The material spanned Brecht/ Weil and Jacques Brel to lyrics by the beat poet Charles Bukowski. Out there.

As the summer season of 2010 winds down it is time yet again to swing in the Wood. The a nnual Tanglewood Jazz Festival returns to Lenox for he last hurrah of summer on September 4 and 5. Get a groove on before heading back to school and work.