A Grand Summer For Swing…
MLWI is excited to celebrate our first collab with The Adam Lee Morgan Jazz Orchestra. This summer event is a bridge that connects the past with the present and is a Pittsburgh proud collaboration.
Revitalizing The Big Band Works of Mary Lou Williams
Schenley Plaza | 4100 Forbes Ave | Pittsburgh
Saturday, July 26th
6:30PM - 9:00PM
This event is free and open to the public so bring a blanket or a chair and get ready to swing!
Adam Lee-Morgan started down his swing path in the 2nd grade when he started playing clarinet, and his grandmother bought him his very first record, which happened to be a Benny Goodman record. He added on the saxophone two years later and never looked back.
Growing up as a jazz musician, the addition of Lindy Hop to his life was a natural one. Adam started dancing in 1997 just a few months before the infamous GAP ad and was dancing five nights a week.
In 2001 he moved to Beijing, China where he started the Lindy Hop scene and led a 17-piece big band, the Beijing Big Band. In 2010 he returned to the USA to do a Master’s degree in Music Education at NYU, and a few years later moved back to his home state of California, where he taught high school band and was the bandleader and music director for the LA Swing Barons, focusing on the Kansas City big band style. It is through that work that his love and appreciation for Mary Lou Williams’ composing and arranging began.
He presently is working on his Ph.D. in Jazz Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, teaches band at Chatham University and the Afro American Music Institute.
About Adam
Members from the MLWI team will share stories and speak a bit about Pittsburgh’s Jazz Legacy.
Bobbie Ferguson
Bob Studebaker
Scott Hanley
Gerald Ferguson
Kenneth Haselrig
Program + Music
Select songs from Adams transcription project that will be performed.
“The Lady Who Swings the Band Cloudy”
“Lotta Sax Appeal”
“Steppin Pretty”
“Little Joe From Chicago”
“Froggy Bottom”
“Toadie Toddle”
This event is free and open to the public is presented by The Adam Lee-Morgan Jazz Orchestra and in collaboration with the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, the Mary Lou Williams Institute, and the Afro-American Music Institute.
Pittsburgh Proud
This summer some of our board and committee members are super excited about showing up at select summer concerts series.
AAMI Presents… Jazz OnThe Loading Dock (every 1st Saturday)
Phipps Conservatory Presents… Jazz In The Garden (select dates from July- September)
City of Pittsburgh Presents… Reservoir of Jazz (Sundays in August)
Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival… (September 18th-21st)
WZUM’s Jazz Central is a great resource for staying up to date with what’s happening this summer, and year-round in Pittsburgh!
Pittsburgh, It’s A Great City for Summer
Summer is here so we wanted to share a few books for all ages, interests and devices that celebrate Aunt Mary’s life and music!
