The weekend
of June 15-17, 2018, marks a pivotal milestone for the 8th annual Pittsburgh
International Jazz Festival presented by Citizens Bank. Other sponsors include:
Highmark, Advanced Auto Parts, North Coast Brewing, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust,
Big Y Group, Richard King Mellon Foundation and Flyspace Productions. Partners
include Kente Arts Alliance, Courtyard Marriot, Drury Hotel, Acrobatique
Creative, Downbeat Magazine, Jazz Times Magazine, Entertainment Cruise
Productions, and Clarke Public Relations. A signature program of the African
American Cultural Center at the newly relaunched August Wilson Center, the
Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival will continue to be helmed by Janis
Burley Wilson, the new president & CEO of the AACC, who created and
directed the jazz fest since its founding in 2011.
The
Pittsburgh Jazz Festival line up includes: Marcus Miller, Gregory Porter,
Shemekia Copeland, Kenny Garrett, Polly Gibbons, Terri Lyne Carrington, Cory
Henry & the Funk Apostles, Emmet Cohen with special guest, Tootie Heath,
Donny McCaslin, Pedrito Martinez, Miguel Zenon, Jose Alberto, Ambrose
Akinmusire, Orrin Evans, Noel Quintana, DJ Selecta, the University of
Pittsburgh Jazz Ensemble and more.
MARCUS MILLER
As a
multi-instrumentalist, Marcus is highly proficient as a keyboardist,
clarinetist/bass clarinetist and, primarily, as a world-renowned electric
bassist, topping critics' and readers' polls for three decades. His résumé as
an A-list player brims with over 500 recording credits as a sideman on albums
across the spectrum of musical styles: rock (Donald Fagen and Eric Clapton),
Jazz (George Benson, Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Sample, Wayne Shorter and Grover
Washington, Jr.), pop (Roberta Flack, Paul Simon and Mariah Carey), R&B
(Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan), hip hop (Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg), blues (Z.Z.
Hill), new wave (Billy Idol), smooth jazz (Al Jarreau and Dave Koz) and opera
(collaborations with tenor Kenn Hicks and soprano Kathleen Battle). As a film music
pro, Miller rose from writing the go-go party classic "Da Butt" for
Spike Lee's "School Daze" to becoming the go-to composer for 20+
films (from the documentary "1 Love" to the animated children's fable
"The Trumpet and The Swan" to the Eddie Murphy/Halle Berry classic
"Boomerang"). As a producer, writer and player, he was the last
primary collaborator of jazz legend Miles Davis, contributing the composition
and album "Tutu" to the canon of contemporary jazz music. The breadth
of his collaborative talents were best showcased in his work with the late,
great soul man Luther Vandross, contributing to well over half of his albums as
a producer, composer and/or player on a string of hits capped by "Power of
Love/Love Power" for which Marcus won his first Grammy, 1991's R&B
Song of the Year.
GREGORY PORTER
For Gregory
Porter, the influence of Nat King Cole on his life and music runs deep, a
through-line that reaches back into some of his earliest childhood memories,
and culminates in the release of the two-time GRAMMY-winning vocalist's
stunning fifth studio album Nat King Cole & Me, a heartfelt tribute to the
legendary singer, pianist, and Capitol recording artist. "He was one of a
kind. He left such great music - such beautiful things to listen to that you
can't help but be influenced by that extraordinary timbre, style, and ultimate
cool," Porter enthuses. After his role in the Tony-nominated musical It
Ain't Nothin' But the Blues - but before rising to international acclaim in his
solo career thanks to his mellifluous baritone, poignant originals, and
invigorating concerts - Porter dramatized his deep appreciation for Cole in a
semi-autobiographical musical, Nat King Cole & Me, which premiered in 2004.
KENNY GARRETT
More than
any other artist in traditional jazz today, saxophonist/composer/arranger Kenny
Garrett and his band are known to entice audiences to want to get up and
groove. Be it in Spain where a man from Cameroon leaped up and broke out some
African moves then was joined by a young break-dancer, or in Germany where a
clearly classically trained ballet dancer was brought to his feet; in Poland
where a fan literally jumped from the balcony onto the stage to dance, or at a
festival in Barbados where music lovers got on up and grooved in the rain to "Happy
People," the spectacle is always the same: the spirit takes over and the
movements come naturally. It is this spirit that Garrett has instigated and
witnessed from stages around the world that fills Do Your Dance!-the
saxophonist's fourth for Mack Avenue Records.
"I look
out and see people waiting for the songs that they can party to and express
themselves," confirms Garrett, the nine-time winner of DownBeat's Reader's
Poll for Alto Saxophonist of the Year. "Do Your Dance! was inspired by
audiences moved to rise from their seats and 'lift a foot!' Some are reluctant
to participate because they think that others are better than they are. I tell
them, 'Do your dance.' That means even if you have to 'stay pocket,' do the
Funky Four Corners or the Nae-Nae, don't worry about what the other person is
doing. Let it all hang out and 'do your dance!' On the title track we combine
the spirit of a `70s-style beach get down with just a touch of hip-hop-ever in
search of the link between the two. I had it playing while I was talking to my
daughter on Facetime. When it got to the end with that new vibe, she smiled and
I thought, 'Uh huh-gotcha!'"
TERRI LYNE CARRINGTON
Celebrating
40 years in music, three-time GRAMMY® Award-winning drummer, producer and
educator, Terri Lyne Carrington started her professional career at ten years
old, being the youngest person to receive a union card in Boston, MA. She was
featured as a "kid wonder" in many publications such as People,
EBONY, and Modern Drummer magazines, among others. After studying under a full
scholarship at Berklee College of Music, Carrington worked as an in-demand
musician in New York City, and later moved to Los Angeles, where she was a late
night TV drummer for the Arsenio Hall Show and Quincy Jones' VIBE TV show.
Throughout
her extensive touring and recording career, she has worked with luminary
artists such as Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Al Jarreau, Stan Getz, David
Sanborn, Woody Shaw, Cassandra Wilson, Dianne Reeves, John Scofield, Esperanza
Spalding, Yellowjackets, and countless others. Carrington is also the first
female artist to win a Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. In 2005,
Carrington returned to her hometown where she was appointed professor at her
alma mater, Berklee College of Music. Currently, she holds the position of
Zildjian Chair in Performance, Berklee Global Jazz Institute. She is also the
Artistic Director for both the Beantown Jazz Festival and Berklee Summer Jazz
Workshop, and Co-Artistic Director of The Carr Center, Detroit, MI.
SHEMEKIA COPELAND
Whether
she's belting out a raucous blues-rocker, firing up a blistering soulshouter,
bringing the spirit to a gospel-fueled R&B rave-up or digging deep down
into a subtle, country-tinged ballad, Shemekia Copeland sounds like no one
else. With a voice that is alternately sultry, assertive and roaring,
Shemekia's wide-open vision of contemporary blues, roots and soul music
showcases the evolution of a passionate artist with a modern musical and
lyrical approach. The Chicago Tribune says Copeland delivers "gale force
singing and power" with a "unique, gutsy style, vibrant emotional
palette and intuitive grasp of the music." NPR Music calls her
"fiercely expressive."
Copeland's
return to Alligator Records with Outskirts Of Love (she recorded four albums
for the label from 1998 through 2006) finds her at her most charismatic,
performing roots rock, Americana, and blues with power and authority, nuance
and shading. Produced by The Wood Brothers' Oliver Wood, Outskirts Of Love is a
musical tour-de-force, with Copeland rocking out on the title track, taking
charge in Crossbone Beach, honoring her father, the late Johnny Clyde Copeland
with her Afrobeat-infused take on his Devil's Hand, tackling homelessness on
Cardboard Box and showing off her country swagger on Drivin' Out Of Nashville.
She puts her stamp on songs made famous by Solomon Burke (I Feel A Sin Coming
On), Jesse Winchester (Isn't That So).
EMMET COHEN TRIO FEATURING ALBERT "TOOTIE' HEATH
Multifaceted
American jazz pianist and composer Emmet Cohen has emerged as one of his
generation's pivotal figures in music and the related arts. A recognized prodigy, Cohen began Suzuki
method piano instruction at age three, and his playing quickly became a mature
melding of musicality, technique, and concept.
Downbeat observed that his "nimble touch, measured stride and warm
harmonic vocabulary indicate he's above any convoluted technical
showmanship." In the same spirit,
Cohen himself has noted that playing jazz is "about communicating the
deepest level of humanity and individuality; it's essentially about
connections," both among musicians and with audiences. Possessing a fluid technique, an innovative
tonal palette, and an expansive repertoire, Cohen plays with the command of a
seasoned veteran and the passion of an artist fully devoted to his medium.
The younger
brother of Percy and Jimmy Heath, Albert "Tootie" Heath has long been
a top hard bop-based drummer with an open mind toward more commercial styles of
jazz. After moving to New York (1957), he debuted on record with John Coltrane.
Albert Heath was with J.J. Johnson's group (1958-1960) and the Jazztet
(1960-1961), worked with the trios of Cedar Walton and Bobby Timmons in 1961,
and recorded many records as a sideman for Riverside during that era. He lived
in Europe in 1965-1968 (working frequently with Kenny Drew, Dexter Gordon, and
backing touring Americans), and, after returning to the U.S., he played
regularly with Herbie Hancock's sextet (1968-1969) and Yusef Lateef
(1970-1974).
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