MCG Jazz’s Marty Ashby has uncovered some gems by the great trumpeter, fluegelhornist, composer and arranger Shorty Rogers. From Shorty Rogers & His Giants, to collaborations with André Previn, Chet Baker, Mel Tormé, Carmen McRae and even Tarzan.

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

Tune into "Rhythm-a-ning" Friday morning at 10 and Saturday from 11 to noon to hear a musical celebration of the January 25 birthdays of composers Antonio Carlos Jobim and Benny Golson.

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

Donora's Jae Sinnett at Jazz Congress in NYC, Mary Lou with Deanna and the Manhattan Transfer's Farewell

The Scene - Thursday at 6pm, Sunday at 5pm, Friday and Saturday at noon on WZUM.

The Jazz Congress Reconvenes in NYC with Many Pittsburgh Delegates

The Scene - Thursday at 6pm, Sunday at 5pm, Friday and Saturday at noon on WZUM.

MCG Jazz Spotlight Hour - with guitarist Kaki King

Marty Ashby is celebrating guitarists coming to MCG Jazz with music by Mark Strickland, Diego Figueiredo, Pasquale Grasso, and Kaki King – who will join Marty in studio to give insight into her unique work.

"This is Triumphant Music" - Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Inaugural JazzFest Berlin, 1964.

Dr. King’s Essay on the importance of Jazz to humanity and the Civil Rights movement was not a speech, but it was written at the request of the festival organizers. The words are powerful .

An excerpt:

Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down.

And now, Jazz is exported to the world.

2024 looks to be part of a new “roaring 20’s” of a sort. Back then, as the economy was coming back from the Great War and the 1918 Flu pandemic, the music scene in Pittsburgh was a part of that “roar.”

Yet, many of the artists from that era in Pittsburgh are not remembered, today.

Pianist and historian Tom Roberts is working to lift some covers on that forgetting - and finding new artists from 100 years ago that deserve to be heard - including the Russin brothers and the Humphries brothers.

The Scene - Thursday at 6pm, Sunday at 5pm, Friday and Saturday at noon on WZUM.

2024 has just begun - and new things are on the horizon for the Pittsburgh Jazz scene. Some of them have not be fully revealed, so we’ll be working to keep up with the updates and the days and weeks roll by.

For the early start of it - we take a visit with guitarist and musical curator John Shannon of Con Alma.

The Scene - Thursday at 6, Sunday at 5, Friday and Saturday at noon.