Bill Evans on Screen at Alphabet City

The documentary Bill Evans: Time Remembered gets a special showing in Pittsburgh, Tuesday March 6 at 7pm at Alphabet City. The film's creator, Bruce Spiegel, is a Pittsburgh native. He's come back to share the film and hold a Question and Answer session afterwards.

Film Director Bruce Spiegel came to his love of jazz early, and recalls times hearing jazz greats at the Crawford Grill and the Hurricane as a youth. Television and film became his career, and he then spent decades in New York City, including many years with the CBS program "48 Hours."

Still, Spiegel had more stories to tell, and the hard-to-know Bill Evans became a mission. 8 years and more than 40 interviews later, Spiegel has shaped a new understanding of one of the most influential pianists in modern jazz. 

As Spiegel told WZUM's Scott Hanley, there were many stories to hear from a wide variety of people in Bill Evans' life, from family to friends to musical legends. Several of those legends have since passed, making some of these insights even more valuable and poignant. 

Paul Motian, Billy Taylor, Tony Bennett, Jon Hendricks, Jim Hall, Bill Charlap, Eric Reed, Bob Brookmeyer, Chuck Israels, Warren Bernhardt, Marty Morell, Gene Lees, Jack DeJohnette, Gary Peacock, and Joe LaBarbera are just some of the people that Spiegel talked with as he learned more of the story of Evans' life, his influence and his great personal struggles.

Alphabet City will host a screening of Bill Evans: Time Remembered, presented by the director of the film, Bruce Spiegel. The film will be followed by a Q&A with the director.  

RSVP free tickets at  http://www.alphabetcity.org/events/bill-evans-time-remembered/

Joe Policastro brings Screen Sounds to the North Side

Thursday night, March 1, the Joe Policastro Trio comes to Alphabet City for a show to highlight their new release "Screen Sounds" (as heard on WZUM).

Bassist Joe Policastro is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, but has spent the past 15 years in Chicago. He's a much sought after sideman and arranger and composer, too, including a project highlighting the musical legacy of Gerry Mulligan with the Mulligan Mosaics Big Band.

The Trio is a creative, working unit, in residence 3 nights a week in Chicago at the club Pops for Champagne in Chicago, but touring widely, too.

The Joe Policastro Trio features Policastro on bass; Dave Miller, guitar; Mikel Avery, drums and auxiliary percussion. The show at Alphabet City is free, but visit the web site to RSVP.

101.1 FM Maintenance - On Air Interruptions over the next few days

WZUM AM/FM has three different transmitter sites, and they all need tending to from time to time. This week, our newest site for 101.1 FM in Pittsburgh is getting some attention, and that means there may be some times when we are temporarily off the air. We'll be back on as soon as possible. You can still listen via the internet at wzum.org.

Our apologies for the inconvenience.

Mandela, an Audio History, Sunday afternoon at 1 on WZUM

Sunday, February 25 at 1pm, join WZUM for an audio documentary from Radio Diaries. Mandela, an Audio History is the award-winning radio series documenting the struggle against apartheid through intimate first-person accounts of Nelson Mandela himself, as well as those who fought with him, and against him.

Recognized as one of the most comprehensive oral histories of apartheid ever broadcast, the series weaves together more than 50 first-person interviews with an unprecedented collection of rare archival recordings, some of which had never been heard before.

Here a special one-hour version, Sunday afternoon, February 25 at 1pm on WZUM. The complete 5 part series and other materials can be found at MANDELA: An Audio History - The Stories