Internationally themed jazz seminar brings in big names

Nathan Davis knows how to draw a crowd – after all, he’s been doing it for more than 30… Nathan Davis knows how to draw a crowd – after all, he’s been doing it for more than 30 years.

The 37th annual Pitt Jazz Seminar and Concert began this Tuesday. It is the largest running series of jazz lectures in the country.

Davis, the head of Pitt’s jazz studies program, has arranged for nine jazz musicians to come to Pitt for nearly a week of lectures on the subject.

The event began yesterday and will run until Saturday. The week of lectures will end Saturday with a concert at the Carnegie Music Hall at 8 p.m.

This year’s lecture series is called “Jazz Around the World.”

Consisting of many international artists, the series has also been to France, Brazil and Jordan as part of a community outreach program.

“The idea was to get the top jazz artists in the world to come to Pitt’s campus and talk about what they do,” Davis said.

Some of the lectures will focus on international music and others will show documentaries, according to a press release. Many of the lectures will be held in the William Pitt Union.

The seminars and lectures are nearly always recorded, Davis said. They are put on audio and visual tapes and then stored in Pitt’s archives.

“We have one of the greatest archives of musicians,” Davis said, adding thatin the past, organizations like National Public Radio have contacted him for additional information about musicians from Pitt’s archives.

Some of the international musicians who will be at Pitt this week are Israeli guitarist Yotam Silberstein, who won a musician-of-the-year award in Israel; Peter King, a saxophonist who was voted the best jazz musician in England; and Benny Golson, a legendary saxophonist.

Others include pianist Monty Alexander and trumpet player Randy Brecker.

Davis is a jazz musician as well, and he will play in this year’s concert. He plays the soprano saxophone and has toured with all of the musicians at this year’s seminar.

“Before I came to Pitt, I toured and played with them,” Davis said. “I’m an active musician – I never call any booking agents or managers.”

Davis expects the concert to draw around 1,800 audience members. It has been selling out for nearly 30 years, Davis said, and it is on track to sell out again this year.

Half of the seats are set aside for Pitt students, said Davis, and the other half are set aside for the community. The concert tickets cost $18, but students can purchase them for $8 in the William Pitt Union.