A Look at the 2025 Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival

 

Jazz on Liberty Avenue at the 2025 Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival Courtesy Photo

Over the weekend, Liberty Avenue never sounded so good. A couple blocks on one of Pittsburgh’s main thoroughfares were blocked off to set the stage for the 2025 Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival.

With twin stages on both ends of the Liberty venue, 18 different jazz bands took turns jiving the crowd over a two-day period. After catching the Taste of Jazz Party on Friday evening, I managed to jump back on board around 1 pm on Sunday and caught all the jazz artists except one in a music marathon that ran from the afternoon into the evening.

Vendors with Grandma Joan's Food Truck as Part of the StrEAT Festival Credit all Photos: Dave Zuchowski

As I made my way down Smithfield to the festival, food trucks had already set up with their offerings as part of the International StrEAT Festival. At the end of the line, Grandma Joan’s Southern Style Food Truck caught my way enough to make me want to capture the enthusiasm of the vendors on camera.

Erin Gayles at the Registration Desk

Checking in at the nearby August Wilson African American Cultural Center, I was greeted by Erin Gayles, usually a rental coordinator for the Center, but serving as a registrar that day. Her smiling face was a welcoming one and my first experience with the staff, which, throughout the day, were amazingly helpful, courteous informative, savvy and well mannered.

I arrived too late to hear Nathan-Paul & The Admirables, the 12:30 kick off band. Per their website, “the band calls on many of the feel-good muses of groove music such as Kool and the Gang, J-Dilla, James Brown, Erykah Badu, Mile Davis, Herbie Hancock and many more.”

Jazzmeia Horn at the Festival

In jumped into the fray at 1 p.m.  just before Ekep Nkwelle took to the stage. The musical marathon continued throughout the day with John Shannon, Obed Calvaire Haitian Project, the astounding Jazzmeia Horn, followed by Ella Bric, who won the Producer of the Year" award at the 2018 Latin Grammy Award  - the first woman to achieve this honor.

Deborah Swan, granddaughter of Leon Hefflin Sr

For a break from the music, I went inside the August Wilson Center to hear a presentation by Deborah Swan, granddaughter of Leon Hefflin Sr., who spoke on the history of the first large scale outdoor jazz festival, the Cavalcade of Jazz. Held in the Benedum Foundation Gallery on the 2nd Floor, her presentation opened my eyes to the work of this African American impresario who filled Wrigley Field in Los Angeles as early as 1945 with musicians like Lionel Hampton and Count Basie.

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

Back outdoors, just before the close of Christone “Kingfish” Ingram’s concert, I headed down Liberty to the second stage, where Dee Dee Bridgewater was scheduled to start at 7:45. I’m glad I arrived early because I managed to get a front row, center seat for Dee Dee’s entire concert.

Dee Dee Bridgewater

The jazz diva inserted a lot of narrative into her performance and told the audience a short story of her acting appearance in the film “The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh,” a movie I’d never heard of. Her second husband, Gilbert Moses directed the 1979 sports/fantasy comedy at a time when his marriage to Dee Dee was dissolving. In her concert the vocalist said a lot of footage of her in the film ended up on the floor of the editing room.

Interestingly, the film has developed a sort of cult following and was shot at the old Civic Arena and Moon Township. Beloved former mayor, Richard Cliguiri is included in a cameo shot along with appearances by many NBA basketball stars like lead actor Julius Irving.

Bilal

The festival closed at 8:45 concert with Bilal, a singer, songwriter, and producer who, according to Wikipedia “blends genres like jazz, soul, hip-hop, and classical, and is known for his wide vocal range and magnetic live performances.

Dr. Felicia Snead (Standing) and Friends in a sponsor/donor booth outside the August Wilson Center

When the lights went down, I was frazzled to the bone, but so glad I managed to catch most of the extraordinary musicians/artists who played their souls out for the Pittsburgh audiences. I was also amazed to see that all of the outdoor concerts were free of charge and held in a comfortable setting with chairs aplenty. Liberty Avenue never sounded so good.