Pittsburgh's illustrious musical history

[h_curtis]

Originally Posted by gg

Damn really? I wish I could see the Buzz Poets as well. Loved that band.

LOL....that explains so much.

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by BUILD PENN SQUARE

How Mary Cardwell Dawson and her opera company influenced Pittsburgh’s music scene

https://www.wesa.fm/arts-sports-cult...hs-music-scene

"A vine-covered, boarded-up Queen Anne-style mansion sits on Apple Street in Pittsburgh’s Homewood neighborhood. While the building might not look like much now, it was once home to the National Negro Opera Company, the first and the longest-running Black opera company in the U.S. And its creator, Mary Cardwell Dawson, was the leader of a movement to make classical music more accessible to Black audiences in Pittsburgh and around the country.

Although her life was defined by multiple cities, Pittsburgh community members are trying to give her musical legacy and activism a permanent home in Pittsburgh."

“She [was] adopted by Pittsburghers, very well-respected,” Black said. “Her music school, as far as I know, had one famous pupil. And that was the jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal, and he remained close to her throughout his life.” Jamal, a graduate of Westinghouse High School, began lessons with Dawson at age 7 and has been a jazz band leader for six decades."

This beautiful home is currently under construction for a complete historic make over.

[cat1116]

Originally Posted by guy2073

They just played at the music fest in the north side last month

Darn, maybe if I lived in the area I could have been there.

[svband76]

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

This beautiful home is currently under construction for a complete historic make over.

Yes, great that this is happening. Hopefully no grey paint will be involved and a true historic renovation will occur.

[BUILD PENN SQUARE]

rest in power

Pittsburgh native Ahmad Jamal, measured maestro of the jazz piano, dies at 92

https://www.wesa.fm/2023-04-16/pitts...ano-dies-at-92

"Jamal was born Frederick Russell Jones in Pittsburgh on July 2, 1930. When he was 3 years old, his uncle challenged him to duplicate what he was playing on the piano, and the youngster actually could. He began formal studies of the piano at the age of 7 and quickly took on an advanced curriculum. He told Eugene Holley Jr. of Wax Poetics in a 2018 interview, "I studied Art Tatum, Bach, Beethoven, Count Basie, John Kirby, and Nat Cole. I was studying Liszt. I had to know European and American classical music. My mother was rich in spirit, and she led me to another rich person: my teacher, Mary Cardwell Dawson, who started the first African-American opera company in the country."

Jamal grew up in a Pittsburgh community that was rich in jazz history. His neighbors included the legendary pianists Earl Hines, Errol Garner and Mary Lou Williams. As a youth, Jamal delivered newspapers to the household of Billy Strayhorn. When Jamal began his professional career at the age of 14, Art Tatum, an early titan of the keyboard, proclaimed him "a coming great." During a tour stop in Detroit, Jamal, who was born to Baptist parents, converted to Islam and changed his name."

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by BUILD PENN SQUARE

rest in peace

Pittsburgh native Ahmad Jamal, measured maestro of the jazz piano, dies at 92

https://www.wesa.fm/2023-04-16/pitts...ano-dies-at-92

"Jamal was born Frederick Russell Jones in Pittsburgh on July 2, 1930. When he was 3 years old, his uncle challenged him to duplicate what he was playing on the piano, and the youngster actually could. He began formal studies of the piano at the age of 7 and quickly took on an advanced curriculum. He told Eugene Holley Jr. of Wax Poetics in a 2018 interview, "I studied Art Tatum, Bach, Beethoven, Count Basie, John Kirby, and Nat Cole. I was studying Liszt. I had to know European and American classical music. My mother was rich in spirit, and she led me to another rich person: my teacher, Mary Cardwell Dawson, who started the first African-American opera company in the country."

Jamal grew up in a Pittsburgh community that was rich in jazz history. His neighbors included the legendary pianists Earl Hines, Errol Garner and Mary Lou Williams. As a youth, Jamal delivered newspapers to the household of Billy Strayhorn. When Jamal began his professional career at the age of 14, Art Tatum, an early titan of the keyboard, proclaimed him "a coming great." During a tour stop in Detroit, Jamal, who was born to Baptist parents, converted to Islam and changed his name."

A life well lived!

[gg]

Originally Posted by BUILD PENN SQUARE

rest in power

Pittsburgh native Ahmad Jamal, measured maestro of the jazz piano, dies at 92

https://www.wesa.fm/2023-04-16/pitts...ano-dies-at-92

"Jamal was born Frederick Russell Jones in Pittsburgh on July 2, 1930. When he was 3 years old, his uncle challenged him to duplicate what he was playing on the piano, and the youngster actually could. He began formal studies of the piano at the age of 7 and quickly took on an advanced curriculum. He told Eugene Holley Jr. of Wax Poetics in a 2018 interview, "I studied Art Tatum, Bach, Beethoven, Count Basie, John Kirby, and Nat Cole. I was studying Liszt. I had to know European and American classical music. My mother was rich in spirit, and she led me to another rich person: my teacher, Mary Cardwell Dawson, who started the first African-American opera company in the country."

Jamal grew up in a Pittsburgh community that was rich in jazz history. His neighbors included the legendary pianists Earl Hines, Errol Garner and Mary Lou Williams. As a youth, Jamal delivered newspapers to the household of Billy Strayhorn. When Jamal began his professional career at the age of 14, Art Tatum, an early titan of the keyboard, proclaimed him "a coming great." During a tour stop in Detroit, Jamal, who was born to Baptist parents, converted to Islam and changed his name."

Fascinating life. Seems like such great times for music back then. Odd what happened to the music scene in general. He travelled around quite a bit. Left Pittsburgh behind.

[BUILD PENN SQUARE]

Lauded jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal never lost love for his hometown of Pittsburgh

https://pg-share.newsslide.com/b8b11...-ca3ab803bfa2/

"By 7, he was training with Mary Cardwell Dawson, a North Carolina native who studied music at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and was running the Cardwell Dawson School of Music in Homewood. She was also the founder of the National Negro Opera Company.

His musical interests stretched beyond jazz to such classical composers as Ravel and Debussy. His studies continued at Westinghouse High School, where he was a few years behind Pittsburgh piano legends Billy Strayhorn and Erroll Garner.

By 14, he was playing professionally in Pittsburgh union halls and nightclubs. “I’d do algebra during intermission, between sets,” he told Down Beat magazine. Pianist Art Tatum declared the teenage Jamal “a coming great.”