Sean Jones, Thomas Wendt, Howie Alexander, Selecta and DJ Big Phill Set For Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival

The Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival (PIJF) has always spotlighted homegrown, home-nurtured talent, and the tradition of featuring musicians with ties to the city continues with Sean Jones, Howie Alexander, Thomas Wendt, Selecta and DJ Big Phill and more. Co-presented by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, the 14th annual PIJF returns to its roots with free concerts on Liberty Avenue between 10th and 7th Streets downtown and paid events at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center (AWAACC), 980 Liberty Avenue.  

Thomas Wendt, Friday, September 20, Taste of Jazz, AWAACC, 9:00 pm

Pittsburgh legends Art Blakey, Kenny Clarke and Roger Humphries set a mighty high bar for modern jazz drummers. Thomas Wendt stands poised to meet that bar. A drummer since the age of 14, and a graduate of The Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Wendt studied with Humphries, Joe Harris and Kenny Washington. He's worked with a diverse range of local and international musicians including Joe Negri, the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra, Sean Jones, Hubert Laws, Dwayne Dolphin, Donald Byrd and Paquito D' Rivera. Wendt currently serves on the faculty at the Afro-American Institute in Homewood and is an Adjunct Professor of Jazz Percussion at Duquesne University. Give the drummer some, when you see Wendt performing at the Taste of Jazz.

 

Selecta, Friday, September 20, Taste of Jazz, AWAACC, 9:00 pm

In 1988, a 15 year-old kid named James Scoglietti started DJing on the Pittsburgh radio station WPTS. Now known as Selecta, he's one of the country's premier turntablists. Named “Best Hip-Hop Radio Personality” in 1998 by In-Pittsburgh News Weekly, Selecta has worked with The Roots, De La Soul, KRS-One and many other hip-hop stars. He currently hosts Grand Groove, a weekly funk & soul-based radio program broadcasting from Pittsburgh's NPR-affiliate, WYEP, every Friday from 6:00 - 8:00 pm. Currently, he is a fixture on Twitch as Selecta720 with close to 20K followers. Put on your dancing shoes when Selecta spins at the Taste of Jazz.

 

DJ Big Phill, Friday, September 20, Taste of Jazz, AWAACC, 9:00 pm  

Chosen as the Best Club DJ 2023 by the Pittsburgh City Paper, DJ Big Phill (Phillip Thompson) is arguably one of the most ubiquitous turntablists in the city. His patented mix of R&B, funk and hip-hop, has heads bobbing from Lawrenceville to Homewood. Hailing from Penn Hills, Phill grew up near local DJ legends Supa C and Assassin, was mixing Al Green records, and started DJing on a regular basis at college. Phill is heading an aggregation called The Union: an assemblage of Pittsburgh's finest DJs, which includes Selecta. Phill has performed at the Three Rivers Festival, a sold-out Penguins hockey game and at the PIJF. Phill won the Man of Excellence Award from the Pittsburgh New Courier and was included in Pittsburgh's 50 Years of Hip-Hop Celebration. Also don't miss his first gallery exhibit, Collections in Black: A Celebration of Black Comic Book Culture, at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, July 26, 2024 - January 12, 2025.  DJ Big Phill will move the crowd at the Taste Of Jazz party.

 

Howie Alexander, Saturday, September 21, 2:15 – 3:15 pm, Outdoors

Keyboardist and educator Howie Alexander, a graduate of Taylor Allderdice High School and Duquesne University, counts jazz guitarist Jimmy Ponder and Dr. James Johnson, Jr. of the Afro-American Music Institute (where Alexander taught piano, and serves as Artistic Director) as seminal influences. Alexander also worked with drummer Poogie Bell, The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and with Pittsburgh tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine. Alexander composed a silent film suite for the 1920 Oscar Micheaux motion picture Within Our Gates at the 2023 Black Bottom Film Festival. Alexander returns to the festival, playing grooves, notes and tones that would make Ahmad Jamal smile. Alexander is also a 2024 AWAACC B.U.I.L.D. Artist in Residence. His residency is made possible by the Richard King Mellon Foundation.

 

Sean Jones, with Christopher Coles, Saturday, September 21, AWAACC, 10:00 – 11:15 pm, AWAACC | Sunday, September 22, 7:15 – 8:15 pm, Outdoors

 

Though he's originally from Warren, Ohio and currently works in Baltimore as the Richard and Elizabeth Case Chair of Jazz at Johns Hopkins University's Peabody Conservatory and is the Artistic Director of Carnegie Hall's NYO Jazz ensemble, trumpeter, composer, bandleader, educator Sean Jones has called Pittsburgh home ever since he came to the city in 2004. Jones taught at Duquesne University for 10 years, led the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra, played in the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra from 2004 to 2010, and was a member of the SFJazz Collective.

A well-rounded improviser who has worked with Marcus Miller, Dianne Reeves, Nancy Wilson, Steve Turre and Gerald Wilson, Jones has eight recordings as a leader, including his 2017 release, Live from Jazz at the Bistro. An artist who has performed at the PIJF several times, Jones returns to the stage on Saturday as part of saxophonist Chris Coles' Nine Lives Project, a 16-piece, multimedia opus dedicated to nine African-Americans who were killed in a racist church shooting in a Charleston, South Carolina church in 2015 and as a leader of his own group on Sunday. As Jones was quoted in the Pittsburgh City Paper in 2014, “Pittsburgh will still always be home, and I'll always have a connection to it as long as the city will have me.”

 

Jazz programming partners like downtown jazz club, Con Alma, will feature Pittsburgh-based and regional talent throughout the festival weekend, including renowned bassist Dwayne Dolphin Fo'Tet, on September 19, saxophonist, Bobby Selvaggio on September 20, followed by Reggie Watkins Group. Jason Kush Quartet will be followed by Paul Thompson's tribute to Wayne Shorter on September 21, and David Throckmorton Quartet will play on September 22. Con Alma owner, acclaimed guitarist John Shannon, will be sitting in with bands throughout the weekend.  More information for prices and times can be found at www.conalmapgh.com. 

 

For more information and tickets for concerts at AWAACC and VIP packages for the free concerts, please log on to https://pittsburghjazzfest.org.

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