Groovagitilicians: Here I am at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston 130 Mass Ave on Friday evening 05/11/01 at 7:30PM ...I am eagerly awaiting the 2001 Berklee commencement concert. Holy sh#t What an incredible beginning. There was audibly absolutely NO COUNT OFF! It just started. Just like that! Antony Gray on bass ... Jennie Laws among the back up singers... The video set up is incredible.

Note: the mentioning of various musicians in not planned in any particular order. The ordering of the names is NOT any indication of my musical opinion of their performance. :-) Incredibly relaxed and professional. Maybe I am partial to these performers because many of them are my students.

Ben Kolber on the drums.

Great looking and great sounding... Juri Shigeta on keyboards.

Laars Haake on sax...
Wow . Now that the initial shock is over let me check the program...Juri is particularly noticeable, Jennie laws is thoroughly entertaining and in character. smooth and sensual. wow the back up singers make a cool exit revealing a ripping Jeff Beck-like guitar solo from Takuya Takeshi. whoo hoo! brilliant staging. I couldn't even see him five minutes ago. ...

Did I leave out the names of any performers? Here they are:

Vocals: Nia Allen, Jeans Aquino, Jana Berman, Andrea Capozzoli, Laura Clapp, Renee Herman, Jason Joseph, Claude Kelley, Jeannie Laws, Holly Michener, Alisa Miles, Chrissi Poland, Dave Quinones, Eric Wainaina, Ben Ward, Brandi Williams, Kevin Wood,

Drums: Ben Kolber, Akira Nakamura

Bass: Antony Grey

Percussion: Alyosha Batteiro

Piano: Dave Shrewsbury, Hiromi Uehara

Synthesizer: Juri Shigeta

Vibes: Warren Wolf

Guitar : Michael Ruzitschka, Takuya Tanaka

Alto Saxophone: Lars Haake

Tenor Sax: Gilad Ronen

Baritone Sax: Luis Rodriguez

Trumpet: Jon Boutin

Trombone: Colleen Glenney, Kari Harris.

Israeli tenor player, Gilad Ronen, gets a drum and sax duet. Nice showcase. This tune is in three four. Unusual. Very nice now solo sax. wow free time ....two against nature... Tom Stein arranged this... excellent! This concert is dedicated to the music of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker.

Gilad Ronen on tenor multi phonics .. wow I like this... great arranging. Thoughtful and creative. "Do it again" Charismatic lead vocals - wow a relaxed electric piano solo from Juri Shigeta to contrast with her gyrations on stage. lol, she has on Bootsy Collins style glasses.cool!

Book of Liars featuring vocalist Chrissi Poland.. totally cool. Suave presentation cool " navel bar". Nice low range. It's nice that the video screen lists who the featured vocalist is. Cool video designs and colorful lighting add to a professional, creative atmosphere. This camera angle for the trombone solo is unusual and effective..you can see Colleen Glenney from a dog's eye view if you wil... Chryssi builds up a suave climax. lol you know a "ground up" view! :-)

Uh, wow, some of these costumes are, uh, really risqué :-)

Uh, I guess this back up singer from the Phillipines is not shy at all, whew! Nice vibes solo from Warren Wolf. I hear shades of Roy Ayers pentatonic flurries. "Hey nineteen"... sweet male vocals.

Wow! this is a seamless transition into the presentation of awards and congratulations that characterize a commencement concert.

Not boring or affected.

Larry Linkin, Walter Becker, Donald Fagin and others will be the honorary doctorate recipients during the commencement ceremony 05/12/01. President Lee Elliot Berk, this is wonderful. Susan Berk, Gary Burton, Alan Mcklean, board of trustees chair Vivian Beard, vice chair Timothy White, billboard endowed scholarship fund...Each year scholarship Billboard is highly regarded. Senior at Rolling Stone previously 107 year history catch afire Bob Marley,Timothy White appears.

Bow tie's not a clip on and the hair is not really Grey he says!

lol at Billboard we are capitalists but making music is about better expressing their better selves. Money alone means absolutely nothing. Nice point from T imothy White of Billboard. (former drummer)

His mom said "be the last good person."...she was right everyone wants justice from others -Plato's republic calls justice- "restraint when it conflicts with the well being of others" momentum of conscience courage inspires others. Then betterment becomes an issue then a need then revolution if beauty then no force can stop it from becoming a reality!

Very sincere speech.

Alissa Miles, from Richmond, Viginia is the winner. She participated in the reverence Gospel Ensemble early on in her Berklee career, and singer's nite with Phil Wilson's rainbow band. Singer's showcase and commencement concert 2002 . She previously studied music ed and business. Works with children's choirs, 100 voice children's gospel choir. Billboard scolarship award $11,700.00. speech...sincere... thanking God didn't know anyone. Alysa decided to go through any door that opened. She's not necessarily looking to be a big star. she's just as happy singing as teaching . Alysa's advice: "follow your heart sing from your heart". Her elementary school teacher inspired her and showed how powerful teaching can be. soooo touching... :-) :-) yaaay

Brilliant the way they stuck the speeches painlessly in between the music. Just brilliant.

Laura Clapp, Black Friday, the backround singers are moving smoothely and nicely. Juri is still going nuts. Kari Harris trombone; nice rise out of the audience. Yet a different frontal off to the side camera angle. Energetic climax short and sweet blues Jason Joseph sweet male vocals. Ben lays it down on drums with taste , simplicity and good time. Laars Haake takes a sweet solo on the changes on this one. The audience digs it. The four make vocalists included Jason Joseph and Claude Kelley nice four part harmony. The lyrics seem to reflect trying to make sense of Berklee... the falsetto is beautiful from Dave Quinones. Nice work from Eric Wainana. "move to manhattan go to the coast".

Gilad Ronen saxophone!... nice staging: the vocalists are watching the soloist Luis Rodriguez does his part with out egotism waiting 'til time to play his background baritone sax part. "still then try to hold on to my dream"... nice. old school. wow, uh, Miss Jeans Aquino seems to have done a costume change. Guitar solo from Michael Ruzitschka. Kevin Wood did not stand out during his last feature, and this time so far he's not standing out either. It's the battle of the smiles onstage. Very entertaining and engaging. It's not to affected. Seems relaxed and natural. Kevin is very laid back. He is not a show off, that's for sure. Nice dancing by the backround vocalists ! Jurie has donned wingsandrea capozzoli Pretzel logic this one is a blues

Juri will fly away, perhaps? Tonight her hair is purple... another angle on the trombonist Colleen again .This time more close up. nice part playing from shade-clad John Boutin on trumpet. Alyosha Barreiro seems a little distant on this number vocals are characterized by some earnest and not objectionable scatting ...

Another seamless transition into introducing and congratulating the people who will recieve honorary degrees at the commencement ceremony Saturday May 12, 2001.

Ben Ward cousin Dupree vocals have a little bit of feistiness. Cool!

Piano solo from Dave Shrewsbury. Nice. Reminds me of Rocket man Elton John.

Aja Hmm Eric Wainana ...Nice male vocals. -from Kenya. Nice harmonies sweet male vocals instumental is spirited yet legato and smoothe, I cant just feel a nice drum solo coming up. Akira and I worked intensely on this solo. Gave him three frm's to practice... lol lessee what he does. Ben Kolber plays percussion on this one. Wow, Akira opted to use a transcription of the Gadd solo off the record... nice. More drumming samba stuff come on push the envelope...nice . Josie this is funky.

Michael on guitar seems a little cold seems like he's preoccupied with reading the music... I empathize... :-) Aquino does yet another costume change :-) Sounds good looks relaxed Everyone seems to be having soo much fun!

Nice ground-up view of another solo on guitar by Michael Ruzitschka

I believe the sound was rich and wonderful. The instrumentation didn't change for the whole concert very drastically... Of course, there were minor problems here and there. On Charle Magne, Rrikki Vaiana and Brandi this dress is beautiful. Soft and very very beautiful singing melismatic. Nice.

The bass drum is nice and punchy... the snare is weak in the mix in my opinion. Beautiful girl and excellent singer .

Peg Alisa Miles Peg comes on strutting confidently. She has a friendly demeanor and nice melisma Juri has some kind of halo on now I admit it: it's so relentless, I totally dig it! She pushed the envelope and made it work. Go Laars Haake