This weekend was to be a big gala to celebrate and sustain Con Alma, the Pittsburgh Jazz Club - but the serious weather on tap for Sunday has rescheduled that Sean Jones event for THIS Sunday to a Orrin Evans led event for NEXT Sunday, February 1st from 5-9pm.

There is a special event coming on MONDAY January 26th that should miss the weather weekend - Pittsburgh Jazz Legends hosted by Marty Ashby as Prime Stage Theatre and MCG Jazz bring four Pittsburgh Jazz Legends to the stage on the stunning set of Freedom House. One night only, Historical music in a Historical space.

The Monday Night Special also features historic video clips and images from the MCG Jazz PBS documentary on Pittsburgh and live performances from:

Roger Humphries - Drums; Dwayne Dolphin - Bass; Max Leake - Piano; Mark Jackovic - Saxophone

The concert highlights the Jan. 23-Feb. 1 world premiere run of Freedom House: Giving Life a Second Chance, an original Prime Stage Theatre play by L.E. McCullough dramatizing the 1967 creation of Freedom House Ambulance Service, America’s first mobile emergency medical unit staffed by professionally-trained paramedics from Pittsburgh’s Hill District.

As we look to the west to find what the weather may bring to us, we also look overseas - as the world has been busy with the DAVOS summit, and this weekend, Thomas Wendt has a special program on MCG Jazz regarding the US State Department tours of Dizzy Gillespie. Important music, important international outreach.

Which got us to thinking about Willis Conover and Voice of America. The future of Voice of America is, today, in doubt - but the influence journalistically and culturally has been dramatic - and jazz is a prominent part of that influence

Jazz brings musical forces from around the world together, then feeds them back through the language of music in unexpected ways.

On April 30, International Jazz Day comes around, again - the 15th - and this year, to be held in Chicago. It’s also just the day after Duke Ellington’s Birthday on April 29.

But, as we snuggle in for a winter weekend, why let Duke Ellington wait?

We celebrate those sounds with music from all over the world, including some our our first international jazz artists - Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli.

Willis Conover and Duke Ellington, Howard Theater, 1940’s

Plus, we celebrate the spread of jazz on the radio - including internationally with hosts like Willis Conover of Voice of America.

After World War II and into the start of the Cold War, jazz was a remarkably important American export, and Willis Conover was one of the key voices, sharing music and introducing the music and the stars of jazz, world wide.

As an example of this - we share the last interview by Conover with Duke Ellington from the University of North Texas archives from September 1973, just as Duke was finishing his autobiography, “Music is My Mistress.”

Also - we share the September 1973 version of Herbie Hancock’s jazz hit, Watermelon Man. That was recorded the same month as Duke Ellington’s interview with Willis Convover.

Thursday night at 6, repeated Saturday at noon and Sunday at 5 on “THE SCENE” on WZUM - All on the radio on WZUM!

Scott Hanley, WZUM