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Arts and culture will feature prominently on Riverlife’s Shore Thing this summer, including live jazz every third Saturday morning of the month. It’s jazzjAM, in partnership with the August Wilson African American Cultural Center. This event is part of the Shore Thing Performing Arts Series presented by The Charity Randall Foundation. jazzjAM is supported by Citizens. Howie Alexander took up the piano when he was 15, and 27 years later, with performances with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Poogie Bell, Ciaro, and the likes of Stanley Turrentine on his resume, the Duquesne University graduate performs as sideman or headliner at clubs and concert venues from Pittsburgh to Monaco. He has been a piano instructor at the Afro-American Music Institute since 1994 and is now Artistic Director. Alexander cites a trio of mentors: Dr. James Johnson Jr. of the Afro-American Music Institute in Homewood; guitarist Jimmy Ponder, with whom Alexander had his first professional gig at the age of 17; and Nelson Harrison, former trombonist with the Count Basie Orchestra.

Step-free access to Shore Thing is available via the Northside Public Fishing Dock at Allegheny Landing. For more information about accessibility on the riverfronts, please contact Riverlife’s Accessibility Coordinator, Maria Riley, at maria@riverlifepgh.org or 412-258-6636, ext. 107.