PROGRESSIVE MUSIC COMPANY

AFRO-AMERICAN MUSIC INSTITUTE CELEBRATES 36 YEARS

BOYS CHOIR AFRICA SHIRTS
 
 
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/building-today-for-tomorrow/x/267428

 Pain Relief Beyond Belief

                         http://www.komehsaessentials.com/                              

 

PITTSBURGH JAZZ

 

From Blakey to Brown, Como to Costa, Eckstine to Eldridge, Galbraith to Garner, Harris to Hines, Horne to Hyman, Jamal to Jefferson, Kelly to Klook; Mancini to Marmarosa, May to Mitchell, Negri to Nestico, Parlan to Ponder, Reed to Ruther, Strayhorn to Sullivan, Turk to Turrentine, Wade to Williams… the forthcoming publication Treasury of Pittsburgh Jazz Connections by Dr. Nelson Harrison and Dr. Ralph Proctor, Jr. will document the legacy of one of the world’s greatest jazz capitals.

 

Do you want to know who Dizzy Gillespie  idolized? Did you ever wonder who inspired Kenny Clarke and Art Blakey? Who was the pianist that mentored Monk, Bud Powell, Tad Dameron, Elmo Hope, Sarah Vaughan and Mel Torme? Who was Art Tatum’s idol and Nat Cole’s mentor? What musical quartet pioneered the concept adopted later by the Modern Jazz Quartet? Were you ever curious to know who taught saxophone to Stanley Turrentine or who taught piano to Ahmad Jamal? What community music school trained Robert McFerrin, Sr. for his history-making debut with the Metropolitan Opera? What virtually unknown pianist was a significant influence on young John Coltrane, Shirley Scott, McCoy Tyner, Bobby Timmons and Ray Bryant when he moved to Philadelphia from Pittsburgh in the 1940s?  Would you be surprised to know that Erroll Garner attended classes at the Julliard School of Music in New York and was at the top of his class in writing and arranging proficiency?

 

Some answers  can be gleaned from the postings on the Pittsburgh Jazz Network.

 

For almost 100 years the Pittsburgh region has been a metacenter of jazz originality that is second to no other in the history of jazz.  One of the best kept secrets in jazz folklore, the Pittsburgh Jazz Legacy has heretofore remained mythical.  We have dubbed it “the greatest story never told” since it has not been represented in writing before now in such a way as to be accessible to anyone seeking to know more about it.  When it was happening, little did we know how priceless the memories would become when the times were gone.

 

Today jazz is still king in Pittsburgh, with events, performances and activities happening all the time. The Pittsburgh Jazz Network is dedicated to celebrating and showcasing the places, artists and fans that carry on the legacy of Pittsburgh's jazz heritage.

 

WELCOME!

 

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Duke Ellington is first African-American and the first musician to solo on U.S. circulating coin

    MARY LOU WILLIAMS     

            INTERVIEW

       In Her Own Words
Two families devastated by overdoses

  • GeoffreyEatman
  • hindman

Long before Sean F. Hindman, 30, fatally overdosed, his parents talked about how they might handle his obituary, and decided that if drugs took him, that is what they would write.

On Monday, the end they had long feared came to pass. "My wife found him," said John Hindman, a government contractor from Whitehall, shortly after leaving Cremation & Funeral Care, in Peters, on Friday. "She came home from work and she found him in his bedroom, and she called me immediately. And she said four words -- five words -- 'Come home. Sean is dead.'"

The obituary, published Wednesday, said he "lost his battle with addiction." Even a year ago, obituaries like that were a rarity. No more.

"It was with no compunction or reservation that we put that down," said Mr. Hindman. "So many people live in denial about this, but everybody knows."

Similarly, the Friday obituary of Geoffrey Eatman, 34, noted that he "died of an accidental overdose at his Brookline home."

"It needs to be destigmatized. It needs to be talked about more," said his sister, Heather Eatman.

Both families stood by young men who used drugs, including prescription opioids, starting in their teens, gravitated to heroin in recent years and went through cycles of rehab and relapse. The Hindmans finished their public goodbyes Friday, and the Eatmans are receiving family and friends at the Schepner- McDermott Funeral Home, in Crafton, today.

That won't end the process, of course.

"I will never be the same again, and my family will never be the same again," said Ms. Eatman. "You're just gutted."

Neither young man fit the old stereotype of an addict.

Mr. Eatman worked in restaurants, most recently Meat & Potatoes, Downtown, six or seven days a week. A community theater actor as a child, he wrote music and played piano, mostly for family.

His music "had a real sweetness to it, but was also very sad," said Ms. Eatman. "I thought there was always a fight within him between the hope and the sadness."

He was treated for depression, but never got out from under the cloud. Always shy, he “wasn't comfortable in social situations unless there were substances," said his sister.

"I think a lot of people turn to substances to try to ease that pain," said Ms. Eatman. "It's not their intention to end up dead. At some point the addiction takes over and it becomes no longer optional to choose the substance or not."

He started using heroin years ago, and began to inject it six to nine months ago. A few months ago, he enrolled in a rehabilitation facility, then transitioned to outpatient treatment and Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

Apparently, he got drunk on Sunday, smoked some marijuana and decided a little heroin would feel great, said Ms. Eatman.

"As far as we know, his tolerance was down, he didn't take that into account or something, and this is what happened," said Ms. Eatman, a graphic designer. When their mother, Celia Nourse Eatman Kupersanin, couldn't reach him, she called police. They found him on a couch in his basement with a needle nearby.

Sean Hindman, as a boy, almost obsessively played soccer -- for neighborhood recreational teams, the Baldwin-Whitehall High School, and the highly competitive Beidling Soccer Club. "Loved to swim, loved doing skateboard, and generally just liked having a good time with his friends," said his mother, Mary Frances Hindman.

He also liked the opioid pills he tried at parties in his late teens.

After graduation, he got an associate degree and became an electrical technician, working for contractors who did the wiring at the National Energy Technology Laboratory in South Park.

"In 2011, heroin came into the picture,” said Mr. Hindman. For five years, he was on and off the drug.

After Sean died, the family heard from a friend he met in rehabilitation who told them he was "’clean and sober because of Sean pushing me during our time in rehab together,’" said Mr. Hindman. "That reinforced our decision to be public about this."

On Wednesday, Gov. Tom Wolf will convene a joint session of the General Assembly to address the overdose crisis, which took 3,383 Pennsylvanians’ lives last year.

Mr. Hindman said the state government needs to "come together and talk about the change that's needed." Drug overdoses are killing more people annually, he noted, than automobile accidents ever did -- even before seat belt laws.

He suspects, though, that the real roots of the epidemic are deep, and there may not be a seat belt solution.

"What is causing large segments of our population to feel so disconnected, disenfranchised, downtrodden that they would totally disconnect themselves from the reality of life via opioids?" asked Mr. Hindman. "We're not unique. Just look at the devastating effect it's having on the fabric of our society, and the ability of people to move ahead with their lives."

Rich Lord: rlord@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1542. Twitter @richelord.

Read OVERDOSED: How doctors wrote the script for an epidemic. Email the team at overdosed@post-gazette.com, and read the OVERDOSED blog for more on the Post-Gazette's investigation, readers' stories, and the latest news about the drug epidemic. 

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