​“It seems that every 20 years or so, that song comes back to me,” Adderley says. “And I want everybody to know that Luther is still my buddy, still my boy, and I can't imagine him not having been a part of my life. And this song was so important. So, it's just kind of fun that this is my first single.” Accompanied by two long-time friends, bassist Belden Bullock and drummer Steve Johns, Adderley’s fleet-fingered version of “Superstar” changes the sonic zip code of the composition from its moody aura to a festive, Brazilian samba dance.
 
On Adderley’s new record scheduled for release in October, the pianist is also augmented by bassist Chris Berger and drummers Tommy Campbell, Dwayne Cook Broadnax and Vince Ector, playing a pleasing potpourri of standards arranged by the leader. Forthcoming tunes on the CD include “Old Devil Moon,” Dizzy Gillespie’s “Con Alma,” Stevie Wonder’s “You and I (We Can Conquer the World)” and Carole King’s “You Make Me Feel Like (A Natural Woman). The title track is an intricate, Burt Bacharach style selection. “It’s the only original song I have on an album full of covers,” Adderley remarks. On all the tracks, Adderley's protean and profound pianism is informed by Herbie Hancock’s masterful harmony, Chick Corea’s hypnotic touch and Joe Zawinul’s earthy grooves.
 
But the question remains: Why did it take so long for Adderley to record his first album as a leader? “When Luther passed away, and I started figuring out what I was going to do, Mary J Blige’s management called me around 2009-2010 to be her music director,” Adderley says. “I really listened to her whole output from the beginning, and I fell absolutely in love with her and all her music, but at the same time, I realized that I would be miserable running around the country on tour… If I don't want to work for Mary J. Blige, obviously, I'm not trying to stay in R&B at all, and I figured out that I'm going to go after jazz for the rest of my life.” To that end, Adderley led trios and quartets in a slew of gigs over the last 15 years in the metropolitan New York area, honing his improvisational skills.
 
Adderley’s road to jazz was more circuitous than direct, given his lineage. Born on May 23, 1955, in Quincy, FL, he briefly lived in Queens, NY until he was five, and relocated to Teaneck, NJ, where he and his sister grew up. Although his father did not pressure his children to pursue music, Adderley studied classical music heavily as a child, and at the age of 11, at the urging of Olga Adderley, Cannonball’s wife, Nat started taking advanced studies at the Juilliard School of Music Prep Division. Later, Nat enrolled at the High School of Music and Art.  “I was in a group in high school called Natural Essence and we released one record, In Search of Happiness, in 1973 before I went off to college.” Adderley had already gained valuable experience working with singer-songwriter Valerie Simpson, along with drummer Buddy Williams and bassist Francisco Centeno, and performed with Simpson at the Troubadour nightclub.
 
During his time at Yale University, where he majored in African-American Studies, Adderley played in a few local groups, performed with The Brothers Johnson on a West Coast tour produced by Quincy Jones, and opened for Natalie Cole in North Carolina, but he grew tired of the road, moved to Houston, where he worked as an accountant and played in a piano bar. Then Adderley got a call from an old high school friend named Luther Vandross, with whom he had worked in Listen My Brother, an ensemble composed of New York City kids who sang together at the Apollo Theater and on Sesame Street.
 
Vandross wanted Adderley to work on material for his eponymously named group, Luther, and that collaboration produced a minor hit, “The Second Time Around” in 1976. Five years later, Vandross sang his first major hit, “Never Too Much” on the Epic label debut. From 1981 to 2005, Adderley was an indispensable music director for Vandross. Adderley’s compositions include “Stop to Love,” “Wait for Love, “Make Me a Believer,” “Other Side of The World” and the Grammy-nominated “Give Me the Reason.” His arrangements include “Here and Now,” “So Amazing,” “If Only for One Night,” “If This World Were Mine,” “There’s Nothing Better Than Love” and “Anyone Who Had a Heart.” Adderley produced “My Favorite Things,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Going Out of My Head” and “The Closer I Get To You” (a Grammy-winning duet with Beyonce). Adderley has also worked with Johnny Gill, Aretha Franklin, Kirk Whalum and Jay Hoggard.
 
But as that door to Vandross has closed, a whole new world has opened for Nat Adderley Jr. “Jazz,” he says, “There’s nothing like it!”
 
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​Media Contact: Carolyn McClair, McClair PR
(212) 721-3341 | Info@CarolynMcClairPR.com

Presented by TRANSART & Cultural Services, Inc., the two-day festival commemorates a quarter of a century presenting the legacy, history and future of jazz, with an exciting mix of young and veteran musicians including trombonist Craig Harris’ Breathe on Saturday plus vocalist Jazzmeia  Horn, drummer/percussionist/bandleader Bobby Sanabria and his Big Band and Echoes of an Era, an all-star group that includes the festival’s artistic director and saxophonist Javon Jackson, drummer Lenny White, vocalist Lisa Fischer, pianist Orrin Evans, trumpeter Dr. Eddie Henderson and bassist John Patitucci, celebrating the legacy of the 1982 legendary jazz recording of the same name.
 
Greer Smith, festival founder, producer and recipient of the 2021 Jazz Journalist Association’s 2021 Jazz Hero Award, says “This year’s edition of the festival is an extension of the successful formula we have used to bring first class jazz to the Hudson Valley for a quarter of a century. We’ve presented jazz in Poughkeepsie as a living, breathing art form with generations of musicians expressing themselves throughout the jazz continuum. In addition to our annual Sunday afternoon of jazz, we are pleased to add a free concert on Saturday afternoon as our anniversary gift and thanks to the City and everyone who has supported us over the years.”
 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 3:00 - 4:00 pm (Doors open at 2:00 pm)
Craig Harris, Breathe
The Long Island-born, Harlem-based trombonist/composer Craig Harris has been one of the most comprehensive masters of his instrument for four decades. Citing J.J. Johnson, Miles Davis and John Coltrane as his prime influences, Harris’ body of work ranges from his tonal portrait of W.E.B. Du Bois to his critically-acclaimed soundtrack, Judas and the Black Messiah.  Harris comes to the Festival with a special presentation of Breathe, his work performed by a large ensemble of 50 musicians playing brass and woodwind instruments making a sonic statement of social significance.
 
“The whole concept of playing brass and woodwind instruments is that you have to breathe,” Harris says. “The breath is essential to everything. Breathe is about the ancient contemporary sonic offerings we play, which will inspire one to accept social justice past, present and future.”
 
The concert is free and open to the public. Lawn seating only – bring your own chairs and blankets.
 
SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 12:00 - 6:00 pm (Doors open at 11:00 am)
Jazzmeia Horn
A winner of both the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition and the Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition in 2013 and 2015, Horn burst on the jazz scene combining Betty Carter’s bebop fluency, and Sarah Vaughan’s elegant phrasing into her own distinct voice. She’s worked with an impressive array of jazz stars including Wynton Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon and James Morrison. Her four recordings as a leader include A Social Call, Love and Liberation and Dear Love, featuring the debut of Noble Force, her 15-piece big band, and Messages. No longer a rising star, Horn is a bright light in the galaxy of jazz constellations.
 
Echoes of an Era
In 1982, Chaka Khan, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White released Echoes of an Era, a straight-ahead, jazz masterpiece recorded in the digital fusion era. Under the direction of JITV Artistic Director Javon Jackson, a modern assemblage of musicians has gathered together to pay tribute to that album – Orrin Evans, the preeminent Philly post-bop pianist, composer and bandleader; Lisa Fischer, he electrifying Twenty Feet from Stardom uber vocalist; Dr. Eddie Henderson, a trumpeter whose hypnotic, melodic lines have soothed and grooved for five decades; John Patitucci, the bassist who held it down for Corea and Wayne Shorter d; and White, who brings his drum wisdom to this new group of musicians. For Jackson, this music represents how jazz transcends time and is always right on time. “I grew up on Echoes of an Era,” Jackson fondly recalls, “and I’m excited to hear how these musicians put their stamp on the music.”
 
Bobby Sanabria
Puerto Rican, Bronx-born, drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, educator eight-time Grammy-nominee, Bobby Sanabria is fluent in the languages of jazz and Latin jazz. His 10 albums as a leader include Afro-Cuban Dream: Live and in Clave!!!, West Side Story and Vox Humana. Prepare to dance and be entranced by Sanabria and his salsa big band.
 
For Greer Smith, this historic edition of JITV not only shows how far it has come; it also points toward the future. “I’m looking forward to the next 25 years,” she says.
 
TRANSART & Cultural Services, Inc. is a West-Park, NY-based non-profit arts organization dedicated to promoting awareness of the art, history and popular culture of people of African descent. The festival’s origins go back to an afternoon of music in the year 2000, when TRANSART received funding from the New York State Council on the Arts to commission Ahmad Jamal to write an original composition for the organization. Jamal composed “Picture Perfect,” inspired by the scenic beauty of the Hudson Valley, which he played in concert. In addition to the music, JITV also features films and other programs designed to increase dialogue dealing with jazz music, the musicians and the audience. The festival also includes providing jazz programs  in area public schools consisting of a series of workshops, master classes and traditional drum instruction. Festival news and artist profiles can be heard on WKNY, 107.9 FM and 1490 AM, www.radiokingston.org.
 
Jazz in the Valley is made possible in part with support from Lisa Jolin and The Jane W. Nuhn Charitable Trust. Support also comes from Dutchess Tourism, Inc. administered by Arts Mid-Hudson as well as from the City of Poughkeepsie.
 
TICKET INFORMATION
Discounted early bird tickets are $50.00 through August 1. Afterward, advance general admission is $60.00 and $70.00 at the gate. The cost for students with valid ID at the gate is $20. Chair seating is available under the Main Stage Tent. Bring lawn chairs or blankets for lawn seating. Tickets can be purchased online through the festival’s website at jazzinthevalleyny.org. For directions and more information about Jazz in the Valley, contact TRANSART at info@transartinc.org, (845) 943-2900, or log on to www.jazzinthevalleyny.org.
 
GETTING THERE
Car: Jazz in the Valley is just 90 minutes from New York City.
Train: Metro North has regularly scheduled service from Grand Central Terminal to Poughkeepsie. The festival site is across the street from the Poughkeepsie Metro North station.
 

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​MEDIA CONTACT:
Carolyn McClair Public Relations
(212) 721-3341 | Info@CarolynMcClairPR.com

Benét comes to the festival hot on the heels of his latest single, “Can’t Wait,” from his new album The Co-Star, his first full length project in eight years on his own JBR Creative Group record label. The album is a series of duets with R&B, pop and world music artists including Ari Lennox, Alex Isley, Chante Moore, Corrine Bailey Rae, Tamar Braxton, Judith Hill, Goapele, India.Arie, Jordin Sparks, Autumn Paige, SalDoce and Pia Toscano.
 
“If I look back on my entire career, I think my duets were some of the most powerful songs,” Benét tells RatetheRnb.com. “For the past 10 years, it’s always been in the back of my mind, like, ‘Yo, one of these days, I need to do a whole album where it’s all duets.’ This seems the perfect opportunity because I haven’t had a project out in like eight years.”
 
His singles, “Spend My Life with You” (with Tamia, 2000), “You’re the Only One” (2009), “Love & Life” (2009), and “Sometimes I Cry” (2012) earned Grammy nominations for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or a Group with Vocals, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best Traditional R&B Performance. Benét’s album Love & Life (2009) garnered four Grammy nominations in the categories of Best R&B Vocal Performance.
 
Thanks to the generous sponsorship of his performance by The Wilson Group (TWG), Benét will bring his soulful, jazz-fluent R&B artistry to the PIJF stage, bathing downtown Pittsburgh with his dope downbeats.
 
“The Wilson Group is a steadfast supporter of arts and culture in our region, and we are proud to be the presenting sponsor for internationally celebrated artist Eric Benet’s appearance at the 15th edition of the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival,” said Derrick Wilson, TWG’s CEO/Founder. “We at the Wilson Group look forward to another 15 years of superb music and art coming from the August Wilson African American Cultural Center.”

The 15th edition of the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival co-presented by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, produced by the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, takes place September 18 – 21, 2025 inside AWAACC with free concerts on Saturday and Sunday in front of the Center. In addition to the ticketed events featuring a Salute to George Benson with Dan Wilson and Jonathan Butler and the Taste of Jazz Party, the weekend’s artists include Branford Marsalis, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jazzmeia Horn, Etienne Charles & Creole Soul, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Tarbaby, Bilal, Obed Calvaire, Keith David, Be’la Dona, Kandace Springs, Ella Bric, Nathan-Paul Davis, Michael Mayo, John Shannon, Ekep Nkwelle and more.
​
SPONSORS
The 2025 Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival is co-presented by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, with generous support from the Mellon Foundation. Additional sponsors include The Wilson Group, UPMC and UPMC Health Plan, BMW of Pittsburgh, Visit Pittsburgh, Duolingo, and Carnegie Mellon University. Presenting Sponsor for the Libation Station Tent is Bacardi.
 
August Wilson African American Cultural Center's presentation of the Jazzmeia Horn Quartet is supported through a Chamber Music America Presenter Consortium for Jazz grant in collaboration with Jazz House Kids and DC Jazz Festival. A component of the Doris Duke Jazz Ensembles Project, Presenter Consortium for Jazz is funded by the Doris Duke Foundation.
 
Major support for AWAACC’s operations is provided by Richard King Mellon Foundation, Henry L. Hillman Foundation, Heinz Endowments, and the Allegheny Regional Asset District (RAD).
 
AWAACC’s programming is made possible by generous support from its donors. For a complete list, visit awaacc.org.
 
ABOUT HIGHMARK INC.
An independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Highmark Inc., together with its Blue-branded affiliates, collectively comprise the fifth largest overall Blue Cross Blue Shield-affiliated organization in the country with approximately 7 million members in Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia and western and northeastern New York. Its diversified businesses serve group customer and individual needs across the United States through dental insurance and other related businesses. For more information, visit  www.highmark.com. 
 
The Highmark Bright Blue Futures program‘s goal is to ensure healthier, brighter, stronger futures for all, and it focuses on improving access to care, quality of life, and economic resilience in the communities the enterprise serves. For more information, visit Highmark Bright Blue Futures.
 
ABOUT AUGUST WILSON AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTER
The August Wilson African American Cultural Center is a nonprofit cultural organization located in Pittsburgh’s cultural district that generates artistic, educational, and community initiatives that advance the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson. One of the largest cultural centers in the country focused exclusively on the African American experience and the celebration of Black culture and the African diaspora, the non-profit organization welcomes more than 100,000 visitors locally and nationally. Through year-round programming across multiple genres, such as the annual Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival, Black Bottom Film Festival, AWCommunity Days, TRUTHSayers speaker series, and rotating art exhibits in its galleries, the Center provides a platform for established and emerging artists of color whose work reflects the universal issues of identity that Wilson tackled, and which still resonate today.   
 
For tickets and more information on the 15th Anniversary edition of the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival co-presented by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, log on to https://pittsburghjazzfest.org.
 
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​This is more than just music to enjoy. It is also a powerful tribute to a strong young woman whose story touched Bobby’s heart. There have been more than 4,400 documented cases of Black Americans who were lynched by Caucasian mobs. It is estimated that 136 of them were women and girls. Mary Turner was one of them.
 
All three of West’s albums were released on the Soulville Records label, co-founded by his partner, visual artist Lori Precious, whose works have appeared at art galleries and museums worldwide. Together, they have collaborated to create this tribute, with Precious’ captivating, butterfly wing-inspired art donning the cover. She also has created 135 other works to pay homage to Turner’s fallen sisters.
 
Mrs. Turner was born Mary Hattie Graham in Brooks County, GA in 1885. She married Hazel “Hayes” Turner in the same county. On May 16, 1918, an abusive plantation owner, Hampton Smith, was killed. Turner was rounded up, falsely accused of killing Smith, and was lynched on May 18. The following day, Mary proclaimed his innocence, which angered the white mob, and took up arms to defend him before her horrific death. She had two sons and was eight months pregnant when they hung her, set her on fire and cut her child from her body. The baby fell to the ground and one of the members of the mob crushed the infant’s head into the Georgia clay moments before they riddled the mother with hundreds of bullets and killed her.*
 
Turner’s tragic odyssey was chosen for this album and artwork to symbolize the martyrdom of all these women lynched, not as anonymous victims but real people with names. As this dark door opens to the racial terrorism of American history, it also lets in the healing light of truth.
 
Precious’ series Requiem for Mary Turner was created in the tradition of artists Jacob Lawrence, Kara Walker and Elizabeth Catlett, artists who have depicted lynching through their art. Precious grew up in the 1960s, lived in Somalia where her father worked with USAID, and is an alumna of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Her works primarily featured the wings of butterflies, and she is partial to themes of veneration, often of women who have been made invisible. The centerpiece of Precious’ Requiem for Mary Turner is an intricate piece of amber-hued wings that radiate outward from the name, Mary Turner, surrounded by a wreath of “flowers” also made of wings. An additional 135 smaller pieces complete the series, each with the name in butterfly wings of the other women and girls.
 
The genesis of Requiem for Mary Turner emerged in 2002 when Precious was reading about the horrors of lynching and wondered if any women had been lynched. As compelling as that idea was, she felt that the subject was sacred ground.
 
“I didn’t think a white person should tread on it,” Precious remembers, “I kind of just put it away. But the idea never really went away.”
 
Still intrigued by the subject, Precious started to investigate. At the time, information on lynching was challenging to find. Through her research at the NAACP, the Ida B. Wells Foundation, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Precious discovered there were indeed women and girls who had been lynched, often for trying to protect their husbands and sons. In 2009 the publication of Crystal N. Feimster’s Southern Horrors: Women and the Politics of Rape and Lynching provided a more complete list of names for cross reference. When the Equal Justice Initiative opened in 2018, their extensive archive on lynching in America became an invaluable resource.
 
In 2018, Precious shared her ideas and research with Bobby West and Jesse Sharps (Horace Tapscott’s bandleader), thinking that as Black Americans they might want to do something with it because, as she explained, “it was not a white person’s story to tell.”
 
“To my surprise, they disagreed with me," Precious recalls. “They said, you have this awareness to tell the story. They kind of flipped the script on me. I said, Okay! And I said to Bobby, could I commission some music from you as a partnership? And he immediately said, yes.”
 
For West, who as a Black Southerner certainly knew of the horrors of lynching and is old enough to remember the murder of Emmett Till, learning about Mary Turner was a surprise. “When Lori commissioned me to do the work, ironically – because I consider myself a scholar on Black America – I didn't know who Mary Turner was. But I was immediately inspired,” West states.
 
Taking the biographical raw materials of his subject and translating them into an aesthetic statement, West produced a “sound portrait” of Mary Turner. “The music came to me through a spiritual process,” West recounts. “First, meditating on the incredible saga of this poor beautiful butterfly, I began to receive celestial messages and to experience inspired motivations. Then there was music that resounded from within me that I was put to task with notating, orchestrating these themes.”

There have been many vivid musical works about lynching, from the Black classical composer William Grant Still’s opus “And They Lynched Him From a Tree” to Billie Holiday’s immortal protest song “Strange Fruit.” Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concerts and Mary Lou Williams’ religious music were full of the pain and hardships of Black life. Supported by a symphonic orchestra fluent in both American and European classical genres, West’s Requiem is a moving and magnificent opus that features solemn yet soaring strings, a fanfare melody gently prodded by West’s chords, and woodwinds blowing their pointillistic airs from the bloodstained South of the 19th century to today.
 
The first musical sentence is based on the opening line of "The Lord's Prayer." As Mary contemplated her horrific fate by the racists who murdered her, it conjures the single most awe-inspiring sentence Jesus spoke. As he hung from a cross, “forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.” Using Mozart’s unfinished Requiem in D Minor as a model for the opus’ structure, West incorporates elements of gospel music to create an “aural biography because he “wanted the piece to end on a victorious, redemptive finale.”

To augment Requiem, West added to the album several more selections. Performed in various combo configurations, these songs further illuminate the life of Mary Turner – from the Baptist church cadences of “A Scene from Sunday,” a pleasing piano/vocal duet with the criminally overlooked singer Maxayn Lewis, who also turns in with West equally elegiac duo performances on the hymn “In the Garden” and “Move On Up a Little Higher.” There is the rousing Latin jazz rendition of Sting’s “Fragile” with shades of Ahmad Jamal and Ramsey Lewis, the abstract embers of the improvised “Spirit Move Sunrise” and “Spirit Move Sunset,” the French Impressionism of another West solo, “Lover’s Reflection On Still Water,” a Chopinesque reading of the pop standard “Never Let Me Go,” and the martial Charles Mingus-like New Orleans funeral dirge “March of the Uninvited.”   

In the final analysis, West and Precious resurrected Mary Turner with Requiem, transmigrating Turner’s spirit to a higher place. “I wanted,” concludes West, “to represent that she is free. She is free of all the burdens and tragedy of her short life. I wanted to create a finale that sounds like the ascension of her soul.”

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​ 
*For more information on Mary Turner, log on to The Equal Justice Initiative at https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/may/19.
 
 
Media Contact: Carolyn McClair PR
(212) 721-3341 | Info@CarolynMcClairPR.com

​PITTSBURGH, PA, May 16, 2025 – Foodies and jazz enthusiasts unite at the 15th Annual Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival (PIJF) co-presented by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield on Friday, September 19, at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center (AWAACC), for a very special tribute honoring Pittsburgh’s own George Benson followed by the Taste of Jazz Party, one of the city’s most highly anticipated events of the year.

Kicking off the evening at 8:00 pm will be an all-star tribute honoring guitarist/vocalist George Benson. Leading the salute is jazz guitarist Dan Wilson with special guest guitarist Jonathan Butler.*  Following the concert will be the festival’s annual Taste of Jazz Party held at the AWAACC at 9:00 pm. The party features dancing, live music and performances by gospel/jazz/soul-inspired pianist Theron Brown, the soulful vocalist T. Marie, dance music by Selecta and more.
 
The hottest restaurants in Pittsburgh are setting up shop in one of the country’s largest multidisciplinary art centers for a tasting party unlike any you’ve ever experienced. A feast for the senses, the Taste of Jazz Party features a diverse potpourri of flavors from 17 restaurants: Alihan’s, Barcelona Bar, Bistro to Go, Braddock’s Rebellion, Con Alma, Eddie Merlot’s, FL. 2, Fogo de Chão, Joinery, Morton’s The Steakhouse, Pizzaiolo Primo, Ritual House, Spirit and Tales, Talia, Taj Mahal, Vallozzi’s and Whisper.

“The fusion of the Friday night concert and the Taste of Jazz Party is a perfect reflection of the city’s rich cultural tapestry, combining world-class music with culinary excellence,” said Janis Burley, AWAACC President/CEO and PIJF founder.  We are excited to kick off the festival’s 15th anniversary with the tribute to George Benson and are excited to hear what Dan Wilson and Jonathan Butler cook up to celebrate Pittsburgh’s renowned living legend.”

TICKETS
Tickets to the George Benson Tribute and Taste of Jazz Party are $94 - $100 and are available here. Tickets to the Taste of Jazz Party only are $78 and are available here.  For tickets and more information about concerts at AWAACC, The Jazz Train™ and VIP packages for the free concerts on Liberty Avenue, please log on to pittsburghjazzfest.org.  All tickets are on sale now.

The 15th edition of the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival co-presented by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, produced by the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, takes place September 18 – 21, 2025 inside AWAACC with free concerts on Saturday and Sunday in front of the Center. In addition to Friday evening performances, featured artists include  Branford Marsalis, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jazzmeia Horn, Etienne Charles & Creole Soul, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Tarbaby, Bilal, Obed Calvaire, Keith David, Be’la Dona, Kandace Springs, Ella Bric, Nathan-Paul Davis, Michael Mayo, John Shannon, Ekep Nkwelle and more.

SPONSORS
The 2025 Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival is co-presented by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, with generous support from the Mellon Foundation. Additional sponsors include UPMC and UPMC Health Plan, BMW of Pittsburgh, Visit Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. Presenting Sponsor for the Libation Station Tent is Bacardi.
 
August Wilson African American Cultural Center's presentation of the Jazzmeia Horn Quartet is supported through a Chamber Music America Presenter Consortium for Jazz grant in collaboration with Jazz House Kids and DC Jazz Festival. A component of the Doris Duke Jazz Ensembles Project, Presenter Consortium for Jazz is funded by the Doris Duke Foundation.
 
Major support for AWAACC’s operations is provided by Richard King Mellon Foundation, Henry L. Hillman Foundation, Heinz Endowments, and the Allegheny Regional Asset District (RAD).
 
AWAACC’s programming is made possible by generous support from its donors. For a complete list, visit awaacc.org.
 
ABOUT HIGHMARK INC.
An independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Highmark Inc., together with its Blue-branded affiliates, collectively comprise the fifth largest overall Blue Cross Blue Shield-affiliated organization in the country with approximately 7 million members in Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia and western and northeastern New York. Its diversified businesses serve group customer and individual needs across the United States through dental insurance and other related businesses. For more information, visit  www.highmark.com. 
 
The Highmark Bright Blue Futures program‘s goal is to ensure healthier, brighter, stronger futures for all, and it focuses on improving access to care, quality of life, and economic resilience in the communities the enterprise serves. For more information, visit Highmark Bright Blue Futures.
 
ABOUT AUGUST WILSON AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTER
The August Wilson African American Cultural Center is a nonprofit cultural organization located in Pittsburgh’s cultural district that generates artistic, educational, and community initiatives that advance the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson. One of the largest cultural centers in the country focused exclusively on the African American experience and the celebration of Black culture and the African diaspora, the non-profit organization welcomes more than 100,000 visitors locally and nationally. Through year-round programming across multiple genres, such as the annual Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival, Black Bottom Film Festival, AWCommunity Days, TRUTHSayers speaker series, and rotating art exhibits in its galleries, the Center provides a platform for established and emerging artists of color whose work reflects the universal issues of identity that Wilson tackled, and which still resonate today.   
 
For more information on the 15th Anniversary edition of the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival Co-presented by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, log on to https://pittsburghjazzfest.org.
 
 
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* Please note: The 8:00 pm concert on Friday is a tribute performance; George Benson will not be in attendance.
 

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​Media Contacts:
Khalil Waldron: (412) 339-1009 | kwaldron@awaacc.org
Carolyn McClair | CMPR: (212) 721-3341 | cmcclair@awaacc.org

​ENGLEWOOD, NJ, April 28, 2025 – Singer Andrew W. “Andy” Bey, who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with his four-octave, vocal virtuosity, which encompassed his bellowing baritone and high flying falsetto, died on Saturday, April 26, at the Actors Fund Home in Englewood, NJ, surrounded by loving family and friends. He was 85 years old. His death was announced by his nephew, actor/singer Darius de Haas.

​Bey’s long artistic life ranged from his years as a child prodigy, singing in the family group, Andy and the Bey Sisters – Salome Bey and Geraldine Bey de Haas – his impressive sideman work with many jazz stars including Gary Bartz, Horace Silver, Stanley Clarke and Max Roach, as well as his own albums as a leader, including his 1974 Indian-influenced debut, Experience and Judgement, his 1996 album  Ballads, Blues & Bey, which drew critical acclaim as Bey’s breakout recording and established him as major jazz vocalist after years of obscurity. His album American Song garnered him a 2005 Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album. His final two projects released in 2013 and 2014, Grammy-nominated The World According to Andy Bey and Pages from an Imaginary Life, represented the zenith of his musical style, which usually featured Bey accompanying himself at the piano, interpreting American standard repertoire and pop artists like Nick Drake.
 
Writing in Jazzwise magazine, Kevin Le Gendre opined, “that baritone, paradoxically full and light, with its floating quality, has acquired more finesse over time, and on slow tempos it is exquisite, primarily because the control that Bey exerts over every single sustain or sotto phrase is faultless.”
 
Born in Newark, NJ, on October 28, 1939, Bey started playing piano at three. He attended Newark Arts High School, performed at the Apollo Theater and in the mid-fifties, he worked on the television show Startime Kids, which also featured Connie Francis and Joe Pesci. Bey recorded three LP’s with his siblings from 1961 to 1965 for the RCA Victor and Prestige labels: Andy and the Bey Sisters, Now! Hear! and ‘Round Midnight. Bey and his sisters embarked on a 16-month tour of Europe before disbanding in 1967. Influenced by Billie Holiday, Billy Eckstine, and Sarah Vaughan, Bey’s vocal talents were heard on Horace Silvers’ hard bop oriented LPs that included That Healin’ Feelin’: The United States of Mind/Phase 1 and Music to Ease Your Disease, Gary Bartz’s Afro-themed Harlem Bush Music recordings, Stanley Clarke’s fusion-formed Children of Forever, Max Roach’s martial classic, Members Don't Get Weary in the 60’s and 70’s and Bey’s own seminal recording from 1974, Experience and Judgment featuring his composition “Celestial Blues.”
 
As Ballads, Blues and Bey established Bey as a vocal force to be reckoned with, his quiet, yet dignified battle as an HIV-positive openly Gay man in the 90’s and beyond drew legions of admirers in and beyond the world of jazz.  His awards and accolades include winning the 2003 Jazz Vocalist of the Year Award from the Jazz Journalists Association and NPR’s  2014 Jazz Critics Poll award for Best Vocal Album for Pages from an Imaginary Life.
 
When most musicians in their years as an octogenarian show sign of slowing down, Andy Bey represented the opposite of that notion until his last years. “It kind of slows down, but it’s still kind of productive in a way, because you have something that you can be inspired by,” Bey said on an NPR Jazz Night in America in 2019 when he was 80. “The music is always inspiring.”
 
Andy Bey is survived by his sister Geraldine (Bey) de Haas and many nieces and nephews.
 
A memorial celebration of Mr. Bey’s life and musical legacy is being planned.
 
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For More Information:
Carolyn McClair Public Relations
(212) 721-3341 | Info@CarolynMcClairPR.com

​SAN DIEGO, CA, March 26, 2025 – Tenor saxophonist and flutist James Moody (March 26, 1925 - December 9, 2010), whose hit song, “Moody’s Mood for Love” made him a popular jazz giant for seven decades, is being honored for his 100th birthday with a new CD, James Moody 80 Years Young: Live at the Blue Note, March 26, 2005, recorded during his week-long 80th birthday celebration. The CD will be released internationally on May 16 on Origin Records.

Supporting Moody on this historic night were trumpeter Jon Faddis, flugelhornist Randy Brecker, clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, pianists David Hazeltine and Cedar Walton, bassist Todd Coolman, drummer Adam Nussbaum and trombonist Slide Hampton, with a brief introduction by jazz impresario George Wein.
 
“This live recording is a true tribute to the extraordinary talent surrounding Moody that night…,” Moody’s beloved wife and the CD’s producer, Linda Moody, fondly recalls. “…The energy wasn’t just onstage – the room was buzzing with jazz legends, sports figures, TV personalities, family, friends, and fans who all came together to honor this remarkable man. The Blue Note was alive with love, joy, incredible artistry and the unmistakable heartbeat of a community united in reverence for my husband.”
 
That reverence is aurally evident on James Moody 80 Years Young. The nine-track CD leads off with Wein’s “Introduction to James Moody.” Backed by Nussbaum’s in-the-pocket drumming, the solid bass tones by Coolman, the profound pianism provided by Walton and Hazeltine and a solid frontline featuring Hampton’s boppish trombone, Brecker’s fiery flugelhorn, D’Rivera’s Caribbean clarinet and Faddis’ dizzying trumpet flights, Moody’s melodious and moving, Charlie Parker-influenced tenor sax and flute lines reveal the fire and finesse that made him the standard bearer on those instruments for seven decades. Jazz classics “Ow,” “Bebop” and “Cherokee,” (three early up-tempo selections from Dizzy Gillespie’s late 40s big bands), along with Gillespie’s mid-tempo masterpiece “Birks Works,” find Moody in rare and riveting improvisational form, musically speaking the language of bebop with a 21st Century accent.
 
No performance by Moody was complete without his rousing rendition of “Moody’s Mood for Love – the Television Rap.” Moody recorded it as an improvised instrumental version of the Jimmy McHugh/Dorothy Fields ballad, “I’m in the Mood for Love,” in 1949 in Sweden. In 1952, King Pleasure presented an acclaimed version of it. It then became a hit throughout the United States when vocalese singer Eddie Jefferson put words to it and recorded it with Moody on the 1957 LP, Moody’s Mood for Love. Though it has been covered by a wide variety of artists over the years – from Aretha Franklin and Quincy Jones to George Benson and Amy Winehouse – it is, for all intents and purposes, Moody's song when he sings it, as the Blue Note audience approves, applauds and sings along when the band plays “Happy Birthday” to Moody.
 
But there’s more to Moody than hip bop solos. He is a natural showman with a razor-sharp comedic flair that comes through loudly and clearly on his gravelly vocals. It is evident on “Benny’s from Heaven,” a funny riff off the standard “Pennies from Heaven,” where a soldier comes home to his wife with a child not conceived by him. And there’s “Moody Speaks,” where Moody acknowledges the heavyweight boxer Joe Frazier, in the club, only to find out that Joe is a woman!
 
In addition to the physical CD, the album will be available on all digital platforms, with an added four bonus tracks. The extra tracks include the Harry “Sweets” Edison/Jon Hendricks love song, “Centerpiece,” laced with Roberta Gambarini’s vivacious velvet vocals; “Darben the Redd Foxx,” an old Moody-penned blues composition; “Polka Dots and Moonbeams,” which is imbued with Moody’s ballad brilliance; and the Sonny Rollins calypso “St. Thomas,” an excellent vehicle for Moody’s upbeat personality.
 
TRIBUTE CONCERT AND TOUR
Stay tuned for more information on a touring ensemble celebrating Moody’s 100th birthday. Tickets are available for a concert at the Blue Note Jazz Festival at New York’s Sony Hall, 235 W. 46th Street, on May 27 at 8:00 pm. Share in the Moody Love with Musical Directors Christian McBride and Renee Rosnes, Randy Brecker, Terri Lyne Carrington, Paquito D’Rivera, Elena Pinderhughes and Madeleine Peyroux and. For tickets, click here. For more information, call (212) 997-5123

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​ABOUT JAMES MOODY
Moody’s multi-faceted career stems from a life of adversity, challenge and artistic triumph. Born in Savannah, GA, Moody was raised by a single mother in Newark, NJ. Born partially deaf, he attended the Bruce Street School for Deaf in that city. Moody’s uncle bought him his first saxophone when he was 16, and he later graduated from Newark’s famed Arts High School, where Sarah Vaughan, Melba Moore and Wayne Shorter also matriculated. Moody’s early saxophone idols were Lester Young, Charlie Parker and Don Byas. He mainly played tenor saxophone and flute, and occasionally played alto sax. He was drafted into the Army in 1943 and played in an all-Black military band.
 
After his discharge from the Army in 1946, Moody led a group called The Modernists, and he later joined Dizzy Gillespie’s pioneering big band for two years. That initial association with Gillespie would last for decades. Moody was a part of Gillespie’s State Department big band that toured Asia, The Middle East and in Latin America in the mid to late 50’s. Moody later joined Gillespie’s small combos in the 60’s that included a young Kenny Barron on piano. Gillespie and Moody recorded a few critically- acclaimed albums, including Jambo Caribe, Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac, and Live at Royal Festival Hall with Gillespie’s United Nation Orchestra. Moody also worked with a wide variety of jazz stars including Art Farmer, Quincy Jones, Milt Jackson, Max Roach, Lalo Schifrin and Elvin Jones. Moody’s 45 albums as a leader include James Moody and his Modernists, Moody’s Mood for Love, Last Train from Overbrook, Flute n’ the Blues, Teachers, Something Special and Moody 4B. Moody also had a cameo role in Clint Eastwood’s 1997 movie, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”
 
In addition to his sensational career as a musician, Moody was a steadfast supporter of arts education. In 2005, he and his wife Linda founded the James Moody Scholarship at Purchase College. In 2011, Mrs. Moody founded the James Moody Scholarship for Newark, NJ, which partners with Jazz House Kids in Montclair and annually awards $10,000 toward college tuition to a Newark high school senior, who embodies the qualities expressed by Moody throughout his life and works through musicianship, creativity, leadership and community involvement.
 
In 1998, Moody received the NEA Jazz Master Award, and in 2000, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Berklee College of Music and an Honorary Doctorate from Florida Memorial College. Moody was a four-time Grammy nominee and a recipient posthumously in 2011. The TD James Moody Jazz Festival, founded in 2012, is named in his honor as a proud Newark native.
 
Whether you are a lifelong fan of James Moody, or just discovering him, the music of James Moody: 80 Years Young: Live at the Blue Note, March 26, 2005, features the artistry of a musician who loved music as much as he loved life.

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​Media Contact:
Carolyn McClair Public Relations
(212) 721-3341 | Info@CarolynMcClairPR.com

​New York, NY, NY,  April 16, 2025 – Jazzmobile, the first U.S. not-for-profit arts and cultural organization created just for jazz 60 years ago, continues its celebration of National Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM), and International Jazz Day, UNESCO’s global celebration of jazz, with a night of straight ahead jazz and down home swing with the world-renowned trombonist, vocalist, trumpeter and bandleader Wycliffe Gordon and his International All-Stars & Friends at Aaron Davis Hall, 129 Convent Avenue in Manhattan, on Wednesday, April 30, from 7:00 to 8:30 pm. The concert, in conjunction with the City College Center for the Arts, takes place on International Jazz Day, which caps off Jazz Appreciation Month. 

​General seating tickets are $20/$10 for students and seniors and are available here.
 
“Throughout the years, Wycliffe has been an audience favorite and powerful presence on many Jazzmobile bandstands,” says Robin Bell-Stevens, Director and Executive Producer of Jazzmobile. “His command of his instrument, his deep knowledge of the history and traditions of jazz, and his devotion to swing, exemplify what Jazzmobile is all about as we continue to celebrate our 60th anniversary.” 
 
This upcoming gig offers Gordon and his all-star friends a rare opportunity. “Several moons have passed since our last opportunity to perform together, so I'm extremely excited to perform with my group, The International All-Stars, at Aaron Davis Hall on April 30,” Gordon says. “Getting the opportunity to freely perform music from every period and idiom in jazz is a great feeling! This group – consisting of Adrian Cunningham on reeds and vocals, Ehud Asherie on piano, Yasushi Nakamura on bass, and Alvin Atkinson, Jr. on drums and cymbals – is a dream situation for me and the love we have for the music and for one another exudes from the bandstand.” 
 
At the concert, Gordon and his esteemed ensemble will perform selections from their first recording, I Give You Love. “It speaks to the sentiments we wish to share with all of our audiences and everyone that hears our music," Gordon relates. “From the early classics of New Orleans artists such as Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet, and Louis Armstrong to that of Ellington, Basie, Parker, Waller, Gillespie etc... "
 
A dominant musician on the trombone for four decades, the Georgia-born Gordon, was selected by Wynton Marsalis, to join many of his bands and ensembles, including Marsalis’ septet from 1989 to 1995, and he was a founding member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra from 1995 to 2000. Gordon played with a wide variety of musicians as a sideman including Paul Simon, David Sanborn, Dianne Reeves, Dizzy Gillespie and Branford Marsalis. Gordon’s albums as a leader include Hello Pops, Signature Series, Somebody New and Within These Gates of Mine.
 
Gordon’s commissioned works include creating new music for two of the prolific silent film director Oscar Micheaux “Body and Soul” (Jazz at Lincoln Center) and “Within Our Gates” (Jazzmobile, 2011); A Soldier’s Heart (Savannah Children’s Choir/ D-Day) and the Charles Henry Suite (Douglas Theatre/Macon Georgia). Gordon has taught on many college campuses including, the Peabody Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, The Juilliard School and Temple University. Gordon is a 6-time winner of DownBeat Magazine’s Best Trombone category, was selected Trombonist of the Year by the Jazz Journalist Associated 15 times and was awarded The ASCAP Foundation Vanguard Award in 2007. Gordon is also a gifted composer, arranger, trumpeter and vocalist.
 
Gordon and company come to the Aaron Davis Hall stage, like Louis Armstrong, in the cause of happiness. “This band is ready to perform the music with exuberance and style, and all with a smile,” Wycliffe said.
 
Jazzmobile’s Jazz Appreciation Month concerts also included a performance by the Saturday Jazzmobile Workshop (SJW) Youth Band, with special guests pianist Danny Mixon, vocalist Antoinette Montague and tenor saxophonist Patience Higgins at The Interchurch Center on April 2 and Charenee Wade Sings Miss Roberta with Love: A Tribute to Roberta Flack, on April 9, both at the Interchurch Center.
 
Jazzmobile is the oldest charitable organization created with a mission just for jazz. The organization presents, preserves, promotes and propagates America’s classical music. Through Free core programs, (Summerfest, Jazzmobile|Sessions, Saturday Jazz Workshops (SJW), lecture demonstrations) Jazzmobile presents world-class artists in underserved communities. Programs not only educate and entertain; but also contribute to these communities’ well-being. Programs are accessible for all, including families. As Jazzmobile celebrates 60 years of presenting free programs, the team is proud to have also inspired other organizations to create programs inspired by Jazzmobile’s founders, NEA Jazz Master Dr. Billy Taylor, Ms. Daphne Arnstein and with programs developed with NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Heath and other jazz greats of that era. This year SJW students are finalists in the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band competition at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
 
“While April is Jazz Appreciation Month, Jazzmobile is Jazz, and we celebrate 12 months a year,” says Robin Bell-Stevens.  Visit  www.jazzmobile.org for more information.
 
For more information on International Jazz Day, click here.

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The Last Poets

​PITTSBURGH, PA – The August Wilson Cultural Center proudly presents Poetry Unplugged: Always August, an electrifying evening of spoken word, music, and artistic expression, supported by Citizens. Taking place on Friday, April 18, at 7:00 PM, this highly anticipated annual event will take place in honor of what would have been August Wilson’s 80th birthday, celebrating his enduring legacy through the voices of today’s most influential spoken word artists.

Contact: Carolyn McClair Public Relations
​(212) 721-3341 | Info@CarolynMcClairPR.com