This week on the MCG Jazz Spotlight show, Marty Ashby shines light on Paul Desmond’s music and career.

Included in the show are excerpts from a 1976 interview with Paul Desmond. Great collaborations with Don Sebesky, Jim Hall and Ed Bickert. Also, the 1950 Dave Brubeck Octet - and the last performance by the Brubeck Quartet, recorded in Pittsburgh.

The MCG Jazz Spotlight show - Friday and Sunday at 6pm and Saturday at 1pm on The Pittsburgh Jazz Channel WZUM.

July jazz birthdays and an extra helping of Vince Guaraldi with Kate Borger on Rhythm-a-Ning - Friday morning at 10, Saturday morning at 11, on WZUM.

Public radio colleague Jim Cunningham, the voice of WQED, is guest hosts in this week's MCG Jazz Spotlight Show alongside Marty Ashby. These two have a magnetic conversation and play a raft of Jim's jazz favorites, including Dave Brubeck, Ella Fitzgerald, Wynton Marsalis, Weather Report and Charlie Parker.

The MCG Jazz Spotlight on WZUM - Friday and Sunday nights at 6, and Saturday afternoon at 1.

Kate Borger brings a collection of warm and satisfying sounds to bear - including a duck (O Pato) with Karrin Allyson this week!

Rhythm a Ning - with Kate Borger - Friday at 10am, Saturdays at 11 on 1550 AM • 88.1 FM • 101.1 FM WZUM and WZUM.org

A 3rd Anniversary of Jazz Con Alma (with Soul) in Pittsburgh on the Scene - on WZUM

Also - the Roger Humphries Jazz Boatride is back - August 28th - Hendrik Meurkens has a new big band release - AND will be back in Pittsburgh in July - and Stephen Phillip Harvey’s new CD release event with his Jazz Orchestra and Sean Jones is Friday July 8th at the Oaks Theater in Oakmont.

Modern Big Bands with guest host and MCG Jazz's lead usher, Ken Quinn.

Ken joins Marty Ashby to share sounds of “modern” big bands, and discusses some of his favorite recordings.

The MCG Jazz Spotlight on WZUM - Friday and Sunday nights at 6, and Saturday afternoon at 1.

Stephen Phillip Harvey is a native of Rochester, PA, now living in Maryland, but back home for a special concert for the launch of his new Jazz Orchestra release, SMASH! We hear some of the sounds, and Harvey’s unusual story behind his discovery of jazz and composition.

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

Gene Ludwig is remembered in this week’s MCG Jazz Spotlight Show on WZUM.

Guided by a 1998 MCG Jazz Archives Interview conducted by Dwayne Dolphin, Gene Ludwig shares stories, from hearing Jimmy Smith for the first time, to the time he flipped a coin to decide whether or not to become a musician full-time.

The MCG Jazz Spotlight on WZUM - Friday and Sunday nights at 6, Saturday afternoons at 1.