BNY Mellon Presents JazzLive

JazzLive Legacy Award

The JazzLive Legacy Award is given to a regional jazz artist who represents the community of professional players and singers who contribute to the jazz scene in Pittsburgh. The BNY Mellon Presents JazzLive series has allowed the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust to showcase hundreds of these regional performers in the heart of the Cultural District since 2004. This award gives the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust the opportunity to recognize the jazz artists whose legacy and significance in this industry will never be forgotten.

2018 Recipient - Roger Humphries

Born in the late 1940s, Roger was 3-1/2 year old when his family first discovered his talent for playing drums. He began playing professionally at the age of fourteen, and he led his own group at Carnegie Music Hall when just sixteen. Roger grew up in a time when the jazz scene in Pittsburgh attracted talent from all over the world. Throughout his career Roger has performed at Carnegie Music Hall, the Village Gate and Apollo Theater in New York; Shelly Manne’s Manhole in Los Angeles; the Jazz Workshop in Boston; Ronnie Scott’s in London and many other venues all over the world. He’s performed with the likes of Ray Charles, Horace Silver, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Shaw, Nancy Wilson, Stanley Turrentine, Freddie Hubbard and many more. Roger has served on the faculty of the Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA). He has also taught at the University of Pittsburgh and Slippery Rock University. He has influenced the careers of numerous students and musicians. Roger continues to perform regularly in Pittsburgh and has been a JazzLive Tuesday fan favorite since the series began.

Roger Humphries, was awarded the inaugural JazzLive Legacy Award at the world premiere of “An Evening with the Musical Compositions of Mister Rogers,” one of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Jazz Appreciation Month concerts, on April 17, 2018.

JazzLive is a year-round FREE live jazz series taking place at the Backstage Bar, Theater Square, and Katz Plaza. Open to the public, this popular Pittsburgh Cultural Trust music series showcases some of the region’s finest jazz musicians every Tuesday from 5pm – 8pm in the heart of the Cultural District.