PITTSBURGH, PA — Beginning Thursday, May 2nd, 2024 at 7:00 PM at Alphabet City, City of Asylum presents the 20th annual celebration of Jazz Poetry Month. Jazz Poe
Originally held outdoors on Sampsonia Way, and attracting audiences of up to 1,000 people, the event has evolved over time and this year’s celebration features more than 50 regional, national, and international musicians and poets coming together on stage at Alphabet City.
Jazz Poetry Month 2024 brings together never-before-seen collaborations between writers and musicians, both new and returning to the Alphabet City stage. Among the celebrated artists is fan favorite and award-winning saxophonist, James Brandon Lewis, who will be headlining the festival for his fourth year in a row. City of Asylum will also be welcoming artists including JUNO Award-winning jazz pianist Andy Milne, Spanish flugelhorn player Milena Casado, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Rae Armantrout, and the University of Pittsburgh’s 2023–2025 Center for African American Poetry & Poetics fellow, Richard Hamilton.
“For 20 years, City of Asylum’s Jazz Poetry Month has championed creative partnership and cultural exchange, offering audiences stunning collaborations between writers and musicians,” says Caro Llewellyn, Executive Director of City of Asylum. “I am thrilled to welcome the people of Pittsburgh who join us in person for this year’s programs— and people from all over the country who can join us online—to celebrate the 20th anniversary of this one-of-a-kind festival that has grown so beautifully with the community that created it.”
Jazz Poetry 2024 features artists from India, Jamaica, Ukraine, Suriname, Algeria, Argentina, Sudan, Mexico, Romania, Palestine, Vietnam, Cuba, Spain, Canada, and more.
“This year, we’re also looking forward to special performances in visual vernacular and ASL by Deaf poets and storytellers Jeremy Lee Stone and Justin Perez,” says Darin Lee, Program Manager at City of Asylum. “Our 2024 lineup showcases the magic that occurs when Pittsburgh’s rich local talent and extraordinary artists from all over the world come together to create something new.”
All Jazz Poetry Month programs are free to the public and will take place across the month of May at City of Asylum’s Alphabet City venue in the North Side, with both in-person and livestream tickets available.
The 2024 Jazz Poetry Month lineup:
(All programs take place at Alphabet City, 40 W. North Ave., Pittsburgh, PA):
Thurs. 5/2: James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Olena Boryshpolets, Amit Chaudhuri, Shara McCallum, Toi Derricotte
Thurs. 5/9: Rakiem Walker Quartet, grace (ge) gilbert, Ladan Osman, Anouar Rahmani, Astrid Roemer
Mon. 5/13: Leslie DeShazor Quintet, Fatimah Asghar, Jeremy Lee Stone, Rania Mamoun, Andrés Neuman
Thurs. 5/16: Milena Casado Quartet, Rae Armantrout, Oleksandr Frazé-Frazénko, Richard Hamilton, Yahya Ashour
Sun. 5/19: Andy Milne’s Unison Trio, Noah Arhm Choi, Jonathan Moody, Justin Perez, Monica Sok
Tues. 5/21: Roger Humphries’ RH Factor, Mónica de la Torre, Sahar Muradi, Volodomyr Rafeyenko
Sun. 5/23: Alex Harding & Lucian Ban’s Blutopia Quintet, Quan Barry, Quincy Scott Jones, Jorge Olivera Castillo, Rajiv Mohabir
More information about the artists, upcoming performances, and reservations is available at cityofasylum.org/jazz-poetr
Jazz Poetry Month is made possible by the generous support from the Allegheny Regional Asset District, National Endowment for the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Opportunity Fund, and the Ford Foundation. Media sponsorship courtesy of WZUM.
About City of Asylum:
City of Asylum builds a just community by protecting and celebrating freedom of creative expression. We provide sanctuary to writers and artists in need of sanctuary, so they can continue to create and their voices are not silenced. We offer a broad range of free literary, arts, and humanities programs in a community setting to build social equity through cultural exchange.
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