Visual art, music unite in 'Seeing Jazz'

[Harold Betters]

Jazz will be the soundtrack for art, literature and Black History Month this evening at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild in the North Side.

Taken together, the music and the images will provide "jazz you can see and art you can hear," says Marty Ashby, program director at the Guild.

The event is a reception for artists of works in the "Seeing Jazz: A Tribute to the Masters" exhibit now on display at the Guild's Connie Kerr Gallery and the North Lobby.

The exhibit features works by famous artists such as Romare Bearden and Faith Ringgold and local creators such as John Ritter and Tina Brewer.

But the reception also will honor nine jazz performers who were selected as Pittsburgh Jazz Legends in November at the Guild's gala Downtown. Not only will the jazz stars be honored this evening, but they also will perform.

The jazz players are Roger Humphries, Harold Betters, Chuck Austin, Joe Negri, Cecil Brooks II, Nelson Harrison, James Johnson Jr., Gene Ludwig and John Wilson.