Frank Vignola's Birdland Guitar Trio with special guest Jimmie Highsmith, Jr. Special Event

Performance Dates

June 22, 2023 4:30 PM

Location

Highmark Theatre & Forbes Avenue Plaza

350 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Click here for Google Maps

Performance Times
Thursday 4:30pm

Ticket Price
$25 (includes your first drink!) 

Frank Vignola, born December 30th, 1965, is one of the most extraordinary guitarists performing before the public today. His stunning virtuosity has made him the guitarist of choice for many of the world’s top musicians, including Ringo Starr, Madonna, Donald Fagen, John Lewis, Tommy Emmanuel, Lionel Hampton, the Boston Pops, the New York Pops, and guitar legend Les Paul, who named Vignola to his “Five Most Admired Guitarists List:” for the Wall Street Journal.  

Frank Vignola is one of the most popular and sought after guitarists on the international music scene. His dynamic genre-spanning music has brought him to 21 countries on three continents – and still growing – performing in some of the world’s most illustrious venues, including the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall, The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, New York’s Lincoln Center, The Blue Note, and the world’s oldest indoor concert hall, Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Italy. 

Vignola has recorded over 30 CD’s as a leader and has been a guest on hundreds of recordings. Vignola has written over 18 educational music books, recorded the critically acclaimed, “Vignola Plays Gershwin” CD, and recorded 3 DVD’s for Mel Bay Publications. He has also produced over 50 full length video teaching courses for TrueFire.com, for all levels. His on-line One on One private lessons and online Jazz Studio continue to thrive, having reached thousands of jazz guitar enthusiasts all over the globe. 

Currently, Frank Vignola holds residency every Wednesday night at the world famous Birdland Jazz Club Theatre in New York City. “Frank Vignola’s Guitar Night” has featured some of the finest talent on the planet including Mike Stern, Pasquale Grasso, Janis Siegel, Ken Peplowski, Bill Charlap, Houston Person and many more. For more: https://www.frankvignola.com/ 

Jimmie Highsmith, Jr. 

Jimmie, or as friends call him Tjari, was born September 18, 1967 in “Flower City” Rochester NY. Critically acclaimed, Grammy Nominated and award winning Saxophonist Jimmie Highsmith Jr., has shared the stage with and opened for multiple Grammy Award winners, including Najee, Alicia Keys, Víctor and Joseph Wooten, Chris Botti, Grover Washington Jr., and Wynton Marsalis just to name a few. In the last 20 years he has recorded 11 top selling smooth jazz CD’s that have sold thousands worldwide with his 6th CD "The Anthology of Sound" receiving a Grammy Nomination.. Jimmie has also been honored to record with several other musicians, singers and rappers on their projects. Jimmie Highsmith Jr’s sax work represents some of the best in the Smooth Jazz Genre. June 1st was proclaimed by then Mayor Robert J. Duffy "Jimmie Highsmith Jr Day" in Rochester NY. For more: https://www.jimmiehighsmithjr.com/ 

About MCG Jazz 

MCG Jazz is a social enterprise of Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, a subsidiary of Manchester Bidwell Corporation, a non-profit arts and learning center in Pittsburgh, PA.  

Through our guiding principles:  environment shapes behavior, people are assets and creativity fuels enterprise, and our mission to preserve, present and promote jazz, we aim to strengthen the Pittsburgh jazz community and contribute to the overall cultural and artistic diversity of the region.  

The MCG Jazz concert series – one of the longest running subscription-based jazz performance series in the county –has been a safe place for artists to share their art and discuss relevant issues of the time. Our recording label produces distinctive albums from a wide variety of artists, our educational programs serve elementary, middle and high school aged students in urban and rural communities, and our archives of audio/video recordings, photographs, interviews and individual artist collections exists as a model for learning for future generations to help grow the audience for jazz and enhance the artform and its creators.  

For more information, please contact MCG Jazz at 412-322-0800 or visit our web site at www.mcgjazz.org.