UPDATE: Another free summer concert in the park, this time featuring my resurrected fusion band, Aurora.
Just a quick update about these three (FREE!) upcoming gigs. It’s been a busy summer and it’ll be cool to relax and see some good friends.
- Pittsburgh Jazz Legacy CD Release Party ~ Thursday, July 29, 2010 ~ 8:00 – 9:30pm
Stick around after for the Roger Humphries Jazz Jam Session
CJ’s Restaurant and Lounge
2901-2911 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15201
412-642-2377
Reservations suggested
- Citiparks Bach, Beethoven and Brunch ~ Sunday, July 18 ~ 10:30 am – noon
Pittsburgh Guitars presented by MCG Jazz
Mellon Park
Fifth and Shady Avenues, Point Breeze/Squirrel Hill
Free
- Monroeville Jazz Festival ~ Saturday, July 17, 2010 ~ 3:00 – 9:00pm
Boyce Park Wave Pool North Parking Area
Free with a non-perishable food donation for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank
Line-up: (all local musicians)
Center of Life Youth Jazz Band
Etta Cox – Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald
Mike Tomaro – Tribute to Benny Goodman (I’m playing in this band)
Eric Mintel Quartet with Donna Bailey – Tribute to Dave Brubeck
As Charles “Teenie” Harris’ photography poetically illustrate, Pittsburgh has been home to a long line of great jazz artists. Masters such as Roy Eldridge, Billy Eckstein, Art Blakey, Mary Lou Williams, George Benson and others were not only great performers but leaders, educators, composers and arrangers. Their influence is heard throughout the world and their legacy lives on through the tenacity and commitment of organizations like MCG Jazz and its Pittsburgh Jazz Legacy Project.
Pittsburgh has been at the epicenter of jazz since the 1930s when all the great big bands of the era would stop in the city, for as long as a month, to perform on their way from New York City to Chicago. The significant number of Jazz Legends who got their start in Pittsburgh is due, in part, to this exposure. Over the past century, cultural diversity coupled with robust philanthropic support for the Arts in the Pittsburgh region has laid the foundation for jazz to flourish and has produced many of the greatest Jazz Masters the world has ever known.
With support from BNY Mellon, MCG Jazz is excited to announce the release of a new CD by the 21st Century Swing Band entitled, Pittsburgh Jazz Legacy. The 21st Century Swing Band features nine of Pittsburgh’s finest musicians with special guests Roger Humphries, John Wilson, Maureen Budway and Joe Negri. Each of the 15 songs is dedicated to a specific Pittsburgher whether it is Stanley Turrentine, Henry Mancini, Dakota Staton or Ray Brown.
