Pittsburgh Jazz Heroes
Gail Austin and Mensah Wali, a married couple, were retirees when they incorporated the Kente Arts Alliance as a 501(c)3 organization in 2007, to present high-quality jazz and other music of the African diaspora in Black neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, which they regretted didn’t have entertainment options comparable to the city’s Downtown Cultural District. They’ve changed that, slowly, steadily, definitively.
For the first concerts they booked (of Louis Hayes Cannonball Adderley Legacy band – the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette proclaimed it “Best Jazz Show of the Year”), Wali (who had jazz world contacts) and Austin (who learned to write grants), depended on their own finances, promotion and grassroots fundraising, but over 14 years they’ve gained support. A devoted fan base attends concerts held at The New Hazlett Theater and The Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, and funding comes from BNY Mellon Foundation, Highmark (health insurers), The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments and PNC Charitable Trusts, among other entities.
The pair choose who to present based on their complementary tastes, emphasizing artists with strong African affiliations – Randy Weston, Cyrus Chestnut, South African pianist Nduduzo Makhathini and trumpeter Hugh Masekela, among others. They’ve shined a spotlight on social justice issues, presenting Charenée Wade’s project featuring the works of Gil Scott Heron, and trombonist Craig Harris, whose on-going project “Breathe” memorializes victims of police violence. Kente’s “Color of Strings” concert paid homage to both iconic bassist Ray Brown and women quilters of the deep south.
This is retirement? Besides productions, they maintain an informational website and during the pandemic produced “Kente at Home“ livestreams, reluctantly at first but with increasing enthusiasm as the events – featuring playing including Lakecia Benjamin, Dwayne Dolphin and Orrin Evans, video’d at social distance inside a tent set outdoor s– were enjoyed more widely than they’d expected.
“We missed hearing music live!” Gail explained why they tried the format during an Alternative Venues for Jazz presentation she and Mensah did in January 2022. It didn’t take much for Jazz Heroes Gail Austin and Mensah Wali to agree that streaming live music as an expression of the African diaspora was indeed fulfilling Kente Arts Alliance’s mission.
By Dr. Nelson Harrison, Photo by Ryan Loew/90.5 WESA
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