Grammy Awarding Multi-Instrumentalist Nicholas Payton, Trumpeter Keyon Harrold , Saxophonist Gerald Albright and Hometown Tenor Saxophonist Chelsea Baratz Perform at the 13th Annual Pittsburgh Intern

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Pittsburgh's tenor sax great Stanley Turrentine and trumpet king Sean Jones have set a high bar for fellow practitioners at the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival Presented by Citizens (PIJF) to follow. Trumpeters Nicholas Payton and Keyon Harrold and tenor saxophonist and Pittsburgher Chelsea Baratz, have met that bar with their inventive and individual artistic expressions.

The New Orleans-born, Grammy award-winning multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, producer, arranger, essayist, and social activist Nicholas Payton is a provocative and protean force in modern music. His trumpet tones range from the gutbucket to the galaxy, augmented by his ingenious self-accompaniment on keyboards, and his deft skills as a drummer. A child prodigy on trumpet and an alumnus of the famed New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA), Payton has played with everyone from Ron Carter, Clark Terry and Elvin Jones to George Coleman, Butcher Brown and Orrin Evans. Payton's 20+ albums as a leader include Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Payton, which won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Solo in 1997, his epic, 2-CD, 2017 release The Afro-Caribbean Mixtape, and his 2022 recording The Couch Sessions. Payton, who describes himself as a musician who plays "Postmodern New Orleans Music, " coined the term Black American Music or #BAM to encompass the wide range of improvisational musical genres created by Black people in the United States. Payton utilizes that concept to "…draw from the wellspring of all the great Black ancestors who inspired me to play this music in the first place. And to hopefully keep that energy, that spirit." Payton will bring that soulful, syncopated spirit to the Highmark Stage on Sunday, September 17, 4:45 pm.

Nine-time Grammy-nominated saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Gerald Albright burst on to the scene in 1982, with his powerful sax solo on Patrice Rushen's hit "Forget Me Nots, " and went on to become one of the most engaging and show-stopping musicians in contemporary/smooth jazz. A master of the tenor, alto and soprano saxophones, Albright draws from Grover Washington, Jr., Pittsburgh's Stanley Turrentine, Cannonball Adderley's improvisational style and Maceo Parker's rhythmic sound, and he's an exceptional bass player, too! Albright played with the best and brightest in the business, including Quincy Jones, Phil Collins and Peabo Bryson. His 20+ recordings as a leader include Just Between Us, Sax for Stax and Slam Dunk. Albright comes to Pittsburgh hot on the heels of his 2022 EP, G Stream 2: Turn it Up. Come to Highmark Stadium on Sunday, September 17, at 2:15 pm and witness Albright's sax appeal first hand.

Trumpeter Keyon Harrold moved to New York City from his hometown of Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, much in the same way Miles Davis moved from East St. Louis to the Big Apple in the 40s. You can hear the influences of Davis' indigo trumpet tones on Harrold's work on the biopic Miles Ahead starring Don Cheadle, and his first album, The Mugician (a mix of musician and magician), which also features the legendary MC Pharoahe Monch. Harrold encompasses the soul of jazz and swagger of hip-hop on his collabs with Robert Glasper, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Rihanna and Beyoncé, to name a select few. Joining Harrold's quintet on the Highmark stage on Sunday, September 17, at 7:15 pm will be Monch and the Baltimore vocalist, Mumu Fresh, adding her vivid and vibrant vocals to Harrold's moving and melodious mix.

Like her predecessor, Stanley Turrentine, tenor saxophonist Chelsea Baratz – the pride of Upper St. Clair High School, who played her first jam session at the Crawford Grill when she was 13 – left Pittsburgh and moved to New York City to fulfill her jazz destiny in 2005. She's made quite a name for herself, working with Orrin Evans, Maurice Brown, Nicholas Payton, Brandee Younger, Aretha Franklin and many others. She released her 2009 debut CD, Faith and her 2020 single, "The Promise." Hailed by ReverbNation as "a new voice on the saxophone, " Baratz is blessed with a robust tenor sound that comes through in rich, tonal colors, whether she's playing the music of Sam Rivers or Fela. Her homecoming on Sunday, September 17, at 1:00 pm promises to be a swinging affair.

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