Thursday Night Jazz: Colter Harper Quintet Celebrates the Music of Brazilian Singer-Songwriter & Activist Caetano Veloso

Photo Credit: Doug Lever. Photo Courtesy: Colter Harper.

Musician, ethnomusicologist, and author of the incredible ode to Pittsburgh’s jazz history Jazz in the Hill, Colter Harper takes to the Alphabet City stage this summer to celebrate the life and music of Caetano Veloso.

Veloso was a noted member of the Tropicália arts movement who brought together jazz, American pop music, and Brazilian pop music in a time when democracy was collapsing in 1960s Brazil. The then–military dictatorship in Brazil saw Veloso’s work as subversive, and he was ultimately imprisoned and exiled. But even this could not snuff out the impact of his work and legacy—Veloso later returned to Brazil and won nine Latin Grammys and two US Grammys.

Featured musicians:

Colter Harper: guitar, percussion, vocals

Kelsey Robinson: vocals, percussion

José Luis Martins: piano

Tony DePaolis: bass

Lucas Ashby: percussion, drums

About the Artist:

Colter Harper is a musicologist, musician, and teacher. His book Jazz in the Hill: Nightlife and Narratives of a Pittsburgh Neighborhood (University Press of Mississippi, 2024) delves into the history of Pittsburgh jazz clubs as sites of entrepreneurialism, placemaking, labor organizing, and critical listening in the storied Hill District neighborhood. His research has appeared in journals including Jazz Perspectives, South African Music Studies, International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives, African Performance Review, and Fretboard Journal. Colter is a versatile guitarist and composer who owes a great deal to Pittsburgh’s musical community as well as his experiences traveling, performing, and studying in West Africa, Brazil, and Europe. In 2007, Colter joined the multi-platinum-selling, world music–influenced rock band Rusted Root as a guitarist, percussionist, and vocalist. He recorded on the band’s latest albums, Stereo Rodeo and The Movement, and performed with the band nationally until the summer of 2013. In 2018, Colter served as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Ghana, where he created a music production teaching facility for the Department of Music. Colter is currently an assistant teaching professor in the University at Buffalo’s Department of Music, where he develops courses in popular music and music technology.

About Your Visit: 

The in-house restaurant, Cucina Alfabeto, is open for dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. Please visit OpenTable or call 412-435-1111 to make a reservation.