We may have some rain for a good part of the weekend - but jazz is already in bloom in Pittsburgh, and some great tidings of the music is in our future.
April includes Sean Jones for Kente Arts at the New Hazlett, April 26th with a cast of talents from Baltimore, where he now teaches at the Peabody Institute. We visit with Sean about music, teaching and his northeast Ohio roots and Pittsburgh connections.
MCG Jazz season announcement is out - the lineup for the series that starts in September includes musical returns from Kurt Elling Bela Fleck, The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Take 6, Bob James, the New York Voices with Paquito D’Rivera, the John Pizzarelli Trio, Artist in Residence Tamara Tunie and much more.
We also have the public reveal of the Pittsburgh Jazz Festival - downtown in September, including Branford Marsalis, Dee Dee Bridgewater Kandace Springs, Jazzmeia Horn, Keith David, Etienne Charles & Creole Soul Ensemble, a special tribute to Pittsburgh’s own George Benson, led by guitarist Dan Wilson, and much more
Salsamba springs up - Latin Jazz Sounds for the Washington Jazz Society, April 23rd at the Loft Conference Center in Southpointe (Canonsburg) - George Jones, Eric Susoeff, Thomas Wendt, Paul Thompson, Eric DeFade. We also hear from Ellen Pieroni & the Encyclopedia of Soul - playing on tour at Con Alma, April 19.
Also in April, the National Endowment for the Arts, in collaboration with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, honors the 2025 NEA Jazz Masters at a series of public events April 24-26, 2025, in Washington, DC. There will be a tribute concert Saturday April 26, which we’ll have on the WZUM.org website to view, and a broadcast on the air Sunday night April 27th just after the Billie Holiday Series, No Regrest. The 2025 award recipients are: Marshall Allen, Marilyn Crispell, Chucho Valdés, and the 2025 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy Gary Giddins.
Oh - and Diana Krall is coming back too - July 2nd at Heinz Hall!
Also on the docket - Pianist Craig Davis has an outing at the Stifel in Wheeling, April 12th. That same night, Howie Alexander brings his trio to the Indiana Theater - in a show that will also feature the Community Youth Choir - plus Stefon Harris visits the Greer Cabaret with his band Blackout.
Don Aliquo plays at Con Alma, VOMA in Johnstown April 19 and a pairing with his son, Saxophonist Don Aliquo, Jr at the Greer Cabaret Lounge - Tuesday April 15th.
And, after an unexpected cancellation last year, Pittsburgh finally gets to hear guitarist, singer and songwriter Raul Midon - Monday April 14th at City Winery in the Strip.
There’s much more to see life in Pittsburgh during April, Jazz Appreciation Month - find it at the Jazz Central Calendar at WZUM dot org!
The Scene - Thursday night at 6, Friday and Saturday at noon, Sunday at 5 on WZUM.
Paquito D’Rivera