Join us for an evening of conversation and jazz as we welcome author John Gennari who will discuss his new book, The Jazz Barn: Music Inn, The Berkshire, and the Place of Jazz in American Life

 The Jazz Barn explores the cultural significance of venues like the Berkshire Music Barn and later the Lenox School of Jazz to tell a surprising story about race, culture, and place. John Gennari explores how a predominantly white New England town became a haven for African American musicians and reveals the Berkshires as an important incubator not just of American literature and classical music but also of the Modern Jazz Quartet and Ornette Coleman’s “new thing.” The Berkshire Music Barn became a crucial space for the mainstreaming of jazz. Richly illustrated with the photographs of Clemens Kalischer, among others, The Jazz Barn demonstrates that the locations where jazz is played and heard indelibly shape the music and its meanings. 

 Rachel Ambaye, a Boston-based jazz vocalist, composer, and recording artist, will perform during the program. She will be accompanied on piano by Domas Zeromskas.