An Oregonian reports on her first high-class Boston bash.

By Mare Wakefield
Class of 2003
(November 15, 2001)

	Photo by Bob Kramer

If you can imagine that event crammed into one night, trade the tie-dyed hippies for Boston's elite in formal attire, and the Oregon woods for the Harvard Club of Boston, you have a sense of Berklee's Encore Gala. Every year Berklee hosts the Encore Gala as a fundraiser for Berklee City Music, an education outreach program for talented urban teens. Last month, at the 2001 Gala, more than $340,000 was raised. For a newcomer to New England, as well as to Berklee, the gala was a grand introduction to a high-class party, Boston style.

My night started at the registration desk, where my coworkers and I worked checking in guests and directing them to their respective tables. It was a great spot for unobtrusive people watching and wardrobe ogling. Many participants could have walked off a fashion runway and the formal attire gave the festivities an added level of excitement.

Before dinner the guests mingled in the Harvard Club lobby, sipping champagne and munching on fancy hors d'oeuvres. Berklee faculty member Suzanna Sifter treated everyone's ears to some lovely jazz standards and piano improvisations. Some folks also wandered over to check out the items up for bid at the silent auction: musical treasures like a Gibson Chet Atkins electric guitar; a limited edition Simon and Garfunkel video cassette; Zildjian cymbals autographed by Vinnie Colaiuta; and numerous books, CDs, paintings, prints, vacation getaways, and much more.

Overjoyed, featuring, from left, Dee Lavender, Nicole Hurst, and Alisa Miles, performs in the Rainbow Room.

Photo by Bob Kramer

Then came the call to dinner, in itself an event. A small chorus of horn players stood at the top of the stairs and played an elaborate summons bringing to mind King Arthur's court. The guests took their seats and were served a steak and fish dinner, garnished with fresh asparagus and grilled peppers.

Everyone was treated to dinner music during the meal. The Superstar Ballroom featured jazz performed by Berklee faculty members Larry Baione on guitar, Richard Evans on bass, Steve Heck on piano and Dave Weigert on drums. The City Music Room in the Boston Ballroom was home to Berklee faculty member Charles Chapman on guitar, and the Berklee-a-Go-Go featured faculty member Nancy Morris playing piano and singing contemporary hits. After I finished with registration, I wandered in to hear Morris play a few bars of Paul McCartney's "My Love Does It Good."

But it was after dinner that the party really began. The Harvard Club opened three floors and more than a dozen rooms for the event, and there was music happening everywhere, all night long. My friends from the registration table and I started off in the Go-Go Room with the Berklee Tower of Power Ensemble, a collection of students performing funk and soul hits from the '70s and beyond. Before long the performers had the audience up and dancing, and it was quite a sight to see Boston's finest gettin' down with their bad selves against a backdrop of portraits featuring George Washington and other distinguished founding fathers and Harvard grads.

Next stop for us was the Rainbow Room on the second floor. There we were witness to some passionate and uplifting gospel singing by Overjoyed, the nine-voice Berklee gospel ensemble directed by Dennis Montgomery III. The students took turns soloing over gospel songs while Montgomery played piano. One of my favorites was a tune in which the singers described what they were thankful for. The line "for keeping my loved ones safe" rang especially true with our recent national events, and I'm sure I'm not the only listener who got chills during that piece. On the group's final song Montgomery led the vocalists through two false endings, only to kick back in both times with a key change and the repeated phrase, "Yes, I will praise you my lord."

	Berklee trustees Don Rose (left) and John Doelp examine the auction items.
	Photo by Bob Kramer

Pausing only for a second to grab coffee and one of the scrumptious desserts laid out on tables all over the club, we wrangled our way into the third floor's World Music Gallery for the Berklee Salsa Ensemble. Three vocalists fronted a band with piano, bass, drums, guitar and numerous brass and percussion instruments. The room was full of musicians, dancing audience members and festive Latin sounds. One couple was displaying some eye-catching salsa moves on the floor. The band did some traditional salsa tunes, and finished off its set with a medley of songs made famous by the hit Cuban group, Buena Vista Social Club.

Our final stop for the evening was at the Blues Revue for a taste of Al Kooper and the Funky Faculty, featuring Berklee faculty members Bob Doezema on guitar, Kooper on keyboards and vocals, Tom Stein on bass, Larry Finn on drums, Daryl Lowery on saxophone, and Jeff Stout on trumpet. The group performed classic rock hits while listeners sang along enthusiastically. It was a great way to end our action-packed evening.

Downstairs, before leaving, I spoke with two of the evening's attendees: Terry Wadsworth of Wellesley, Mass., and Kristin Michl of Weston, Mass. Both women were guests of the Ascent Venture Partners, who sponsored the City Music Room. When asked what they enjoyed most about the gala, they both said it was the music. "We've been impressed by the talent that comes back year after year," said Wadsworth. "There's so much variety, and always the best instrumentalists and vocalists around."

Michl agreed. "The Gala is Boston's best kept secret," she said, "it really captures the passion of what Berklee's all about."

Hailing from Eugene, Oregon, Mare Wakefield has been performing her contemporary folk songs throughout the Northwest for the past six years. She has released three CDs of original music and plans to graduate from Berklee in 2003 with a degree in Songwriting.

Links of Interest
•	Encore Gala 2000 Read all about the first Gala of the new millenium, dubbed by The Boston Globe as "one of the hottest fundraisers in town."
•	Encore Gala 1999 A few celebrities and more than 1,200 others attend Gala '99.
Gala Audio
•	Cereal Gala (10:11) Listen: slow | fast Each Gala attendee received a disc of student music. The CD's opening track, "Cereal Gala," was written by jazz composition student Nicholas Sorin and performed by the Greg Hopkins Concert Jazz Orchestra.

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