|
Geoff Muldaur at Berkshire Museum
Blues singer Geoff Muldaur performs on Friday, March 7 at 8 p.m. in this season's final Originals in Song performance at the Berkshire Museum, 39 South St. in Pittsfield. Geoff Muldaur is one of the great voices to emerge from the folk, blues and folk rock resurgence of the 1960s. His reputation as a master arranger and deft guitarist, not to mention his rich, signature voice, has led to recordings with such accomplished musicians as Richard Thompson, Bonnie Raitt, David Sanborn, Jerry Garcia and Lenny Pickett.
Guitarist Richard Thompson says, "There are only three white blues singers, and Geoff Muldaur is at least two of them." During the 1960s and '70s, Muldaur made a string of highly influential recordings as a founding member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, which revived songs from the 1920s and '30s. He went on to record with his wife at the time, Maria Muldaur (of the popular song "Midnight at the Oasis"), and Paul Butterfield's Better Days. His 1970s recording of "Brazil" became the title song for Terry Gilliam's film of the same name.
Through the 1980s and '90s, Muldaur dropped out of performing almost entirely, turning up sporadically as an arranger, producer and studio musician. During this period he also composed scores for film and television, garnering an Emmy in the process. Muldaur returned to the road in 1997, and a year later produced his first album in 16 years, The Secret Handshake, which met with high critical acclaim.
Both The Secret Handshake and his latest album, Password, feature Muldaur's strong musical passion for Southern blues and gospel music. According to the New York Times, Muldaur's distinctive arrangements of classic, often obscure American songs, as well as his own unique compositions, "succeed not because he copies the timbre and inflections of a down-home African-American but because his voice—reedy, quavering, otherworldly—is so unusual that the 1920s and '30s blues he sings becomes little more than a context jumping point."
Muldaur's recent performances have included Lincoln Center in New York, the Getty Art Center in Los Angeles, Royal Festival Hall in London, as well as folk and blues festivals in Rhode Island and California, Canada, Ireland and Norway. He can be heard regularly as a guest on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion and has been featured on a variety of National Public Radio shows including Weekend Edition and All Things Considered.
Advance tickets for the March 7 concert are $15 for members and $18 for non-members; all tickets are $20 at the door. For more info call 413-443-7171, ext 10.
|
|
)