MCG Jazz Celebration
The youth organization, Center of Life’s jazz band, played as nearly 300 guests arrived for the Pittsburgh Jazz Celebration at Heinz Hall on Tuesday evening. The gala reception and concert to support MCG Jazz (Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild Jazz program) also honored inductees Harry Clark, Raymond DeFade, Ken Cook and Dwayne Dolphin as the new class of Pittsburgh Jazz Legends. Executive producer of MCG Jazz, Marty Ashby, inducted the legends.
A concert followed hosted by singer Gloria Reuben and featuring Roger Humphries, David Budway, Sean Jones and new legend Mr. Dolphin. Also performing were Ramsey Lewis, Kurt Elling and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra bassist Jeff Grubbs. The trailer and clips from a new documentary about jazz in Pittsburgh, which will air on WQED this fall, “We Knew What We Had,” were shown during the concert. Among those jazzed up were Bill Strickland, Frank Cunimondo, Joe Negri, James and Gail Frederick, Susanne Wilkinson, Dr. Miki Fato and Dr. Carl Snyderman, Nancy Lynches and David Marrangoni, Judith and Steve Thomas, Amy and Clancy Atkinson, and the Smithsonian’s Ken Kimery. —