The 52nd annual Pitt Jazz Seminar continues through the weekend with a lineup spearheaded by piano legend Dave Burrell and saxophonist Tia Fuller.
The 82-year-old Burrell, a native of Middletown, Ohio, studied at the Berklee College of Music and moved to New York in 1965, where he became a pioneer in the city’s free jazz scene. He was active as a leader and sideman, playing alongside such greats as Marion Brown, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp and David Murray.
His compositions for the theater included the 1979 opera “Windward Passages,” featuring a libretto by his wife, Monika Larsson, and the 1999 piece “Holy Smoke” with choreographer Eva Gholson.
While composer-in-residence at the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia, he wrote a number of pieces inspired by archival documents and other materials, including “Bill of Sale for a Slave” (2007), “Syllables of the Poetry of Marianne Moore” (2008), and “Western Extension of the United States of America 1811” (2009).
The pianist is gifting to the Pitt Jazz Archive the Dave Burrell Archive, which consists of 24 linear feet of posters, recordings, programs, photographs, correspondence, scores and contracts that document his career from the 1960s through the present.
On Thursday, there will be a Chamber Ensemble Concert at Frick Fine Arts Auditorium followed by a panel discussion that will include Burrell and Larsson.
Fuller will be the focus of two weekend concerts, the Saturday event being a tribute to Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. The saxophonist is a member of Beyonce’s touring band, a performer in the Pixar film “Soul” and a faculty member at the Berklee College of Music.
“With the theme of ‘We are All Jazz Messengers,’ our event seeks to invoke the spirit of Pittsburgh drummer and bandleader Art Blakey, whose Jazz Messengers were devoted to spreading the word of jazz and its powers to enlighten and delight audiences,” Aaron Johnson, assistant professor and interim director of the Jazz Studies Program, said in a statement.
Following Jazz Week, the Pitt Jazz Studies Program is cosponsoring a debut U.S. performance by QWANQWA, an Ethiopian ensemble, at Alphabet City, 40 W. North Ave., North Side. The concert is at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 9.
Pitt Jazz Week schedule:
Tuesday, Nov. 1
8 p.m.
Bellefield Hall Auditorium
315 S. Bellefield Ave.
52nd annual Pitt Jazz Concert
The Dave Burrell Trio featuring Hamid Drake (drums) and Joshua Abrams (bass) along wit Nicole Mitchell (flute).
There will be a presentation of the Dave Burrell Archive at this event.
Wednesday, Nov. 2
7:30 p.m.
Cathedral of Learning, Room G24
Film Screening: “We Knew What We Had: The Greatest Jazz Story Never Told” (2018)
Written and directed by Jeff Sewald. Producer Marty Ashby will introduce the film and answer questions afterward.
Thursday, Nov. 3
7:30 p.m.
Frick Fine Arts Auditorium
650 Schenley Drive
Chamber Ensemble Concert followed by Dave Burrell Panel
Conceptions and Expansions: A Discussion of the Music of Dave Burrell
A panel of jazz musicians and scholars will include Burrell; his wife, Monika Larsson; John Szwed; David Murray; Ted Daniel; and Pitt Associate Professor of Jazz Studies Michael Heller.
Friday, Nov. 4
7:30 p.m.
Bellefield Hall Auditorium
Feature Artist Concert with Tia Fuller
Fuller will perform with Pittsburgh musicians Roger Humphries (drums), Alton Merrell (piano) and Jeff Grubbs (bass).
Saturday, Nov. 5
7:30 p.m.
Bellefield Hall Auditorium
Pitt Jazz Faculty Concert featuring Tia Fuller.
Faculty performers will include Mark Strickland (guitar), Irene Monteverde (piano), Ralph Guzzi (trumpet), Yoko Suzuki (saxophone), James Johnson III (drums). Non-faculty bassist Tony DePaolis will join them in a performance of the music of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.
First Published: November 1, 2022, 4:09 p.m.