Charlie Parker - “Bird” - the innovative saxophonist and composer and a key leader in the development of Bebop in the 1940’s was born August 29, 1920 in Kansas City, Missouri. We celebrate with a number of rare musical finds, plus some special links. Also, more on the restoration of the film Jazz on a Summer’s Day with Sandra Schulberg, President of IndieCollect, the non-profit that has made the film shine, again.

Thursday at 6, Sunday at 5, Friday and Saturday at noon.

It’s another Listeners’ Choice this week on the MCG Jazz Spotlight Show.

A new round of musical favorites offered up by MCG Jazz listeners and concert attendees - and broad and far-reaching as jazz, itself.

Marty Ashby and Renee Govanucci discovered new gems and old favorites as suggested by listeners:

• Shorty Rogers; Johnny Mercer & Bobby Darin; Gerg Karukas; New York Voices; Ahmad Jamal; Freddie Hubbard; Branford Marsalis with Kurt Elling; Johnny Hartman with Gerald Wilson, and more!

• Friday and Sunday night at 6, Saturday afternoon at 1 on WZUM

Jazz on a Summer’s Day is a musical and visual treat from the Newport Jazz Festival, 1958, released in 1959.

In Pittsburgh, the Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville is the online presenter for this new release.

Also - tune in for details on how to get a free stream code for the film from the Row House Cinema and WZUM - and a link to a great film on groundbreaking vocalist Jackie Paris, plus a Lee Morgan film that’s still available on Netflix, now.

Jazz and the movies for a summer’s day or night - on the Scene on WZUM

Thursday at 6, Sunday at 5, Friday and Saturday at noon.

This week on the MCG Jazz Spotlight Show, actress and vocalist Gloria Reuben is guest host with Marty Ashby. They discuss Gloria’s musical influences, her career and the impact of the pandemic.

Gloria shares her favorite songs, from Shirley Horn and Sarah Vaughn, to music from her two MCG Jazz recordings, and songs from a full-length ballet that Gloria performed with the Charlotte Ballet in 2016.

Friday and Sunday night at 6, Saturday afternoon at 1 on WZUM

John Scofield's Musical Friends and a delay on that Thelonious Monk Palo Alto High School Recording from 1968

"Spirit to Spirit: A Portrait of Pittsburgh Jazz in the New Century," with text by Abby Mendelson and photographs by David Aschkenas.

On this episode of the Spotlight, Marty Ashby visits with Abby and David for stories and music connected to the book and the Pittsburgh Jazz Scene of today

We’ve spent a lot of time, lately, looking back to the jazz scene in 1959 and 1960. This week, we look back just a year, to the first week in August, 2019.

Thursday night at 6, Friday and Saturday at noon, and Sunday at 5 on “THE SCENE” - a radio journey back to last year’s late summer jazz scene in Pittsburgh.

The summer’s heat has led to a lot of jazz, hot and cool over the years. Join Marty Ashby and Renée Govanucci for a reading of the jazz temperature through the years in the the MCG Jazz Spotlight - Friday and Sunday at 6, Saturday at 1pm.

From commemorating the birthdays of guitarists Charlie Christian and Kenny Burrell, drummer Louie Bellson and trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis to landmark recordings by Miles Davis, Count Basie and Max Roach, and the first-ever recording of “In the Mood” by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, August 1st, 1939.