New Black Eagle Jazz Band Reunites With Duke Robillard at Berkshire Gateway Jazz Weekend Festival at First Congregational Church

After a three-year hiatus, one of the longest-standing, best-known and highly-respected traditional jazz groups, The New Black Eagle Jazz Band returns to the Berkshire Gateway Jazz Weekend on June 17. They will be performing for the first time in nearly a decade with legendary blues guitarist Duke Robillard.

The concert is one of two headline events at the 6th annual Berkshire Gateway Jazz Weekend. Other activities include documentary film screenings, al-fresco jazz in the park, beer and wine tastings, an art show, and a jazz brunch. Events take place in downtown Lee, Massachusetts, known as The Gateway to the Berkshires. ...

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After a three-year hiatus, one of the longest-standing, best-known and highly-respected traditional jazz groups, The New Black Eagle Jazz Band returns to the Berkshire Gateway Jazz Weekend on June 17. They will be performing for the first time in nearly a decade with legendary blues guitarist Duke Robillard.

The concert is one of two headline events at the 6th annual Berkshire Gateway Jazz Weekend. Other activities include documentary film screenings, al-fresco jazz in the park, beer and wine tastings, an art show, and a jazz brunch. Events take place in downtown Lee, Massachusetts, known as The Gateway to the Berkshires.

Celebrating its 45th anniversary in 2016, the band has dozens of audio recordings and DVDs to its name, including one that garnered a Grammy nomination. Of their prowess and creativity, the late N.Y. Time critic John S. Wilson wrote that the band is "So far ahead of other traditional bands...there is scarcely any basis for comparison."

In 2009, the Black Eagles teamed-up with famed guitarist Duke Robillard for a recording called “Nothing But the Blues.” After many years, they are reunited exclusively for the Berkshire Gateway Jazz Weekend.

Duke Robillard had his first band in high school, and he was fascinated from the beginning by the ways in which jazz, swing, and the blues were linked. In 1967, he formed Roomful of Blues, and the band was tight enough and tough enough to accompany two of its heroes, Big Joe Turner and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson on recordings and in live appearances. The Grammy-nominated guitarist won The Blues Music Awards (formerly W.C.Handy Awards) for "Best Blues Guitarist" four times.

Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 on the day of the event, and can be purchased online at www.BerkshireGatewayJazz.org, where schedule updates are posted regularly.

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