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BNY Mellon presents JazzLive is presented by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust in partnership with MCG Jazz

Lynn Speakman (alto saxophone/flute) has been a performer, composer, arranger, and music educator for over 25 years. Her career has given her the opportunity to perform with bands such as the Christian McBride Big Band, Gerald Wilson and His Orchestra, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Wycliffe Gordon Big Band and many small groups. She was a member of the DIVA Jazz Orchestra while in NYC, which she had the opportunity to tour, perform, and record with. Lynn is also an experienced music educator and has taught at the Stanford Jazz Workshop for 17 years as well as Calhoun School and Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Middle School Jazz Academy in NYC, Detroit Civic Youth Jazz in Michigan, and Center of Life Jazz and Judah Project in Pittsburgh. In addition to teaching and performing, Lynn spends much of her time composing and arranging as well as transcribing and engraving music for her own band, her students, and for a large list of clients in NYC, where she resided for 7 years. She currently lives in Pittsburgh, PA and is active on the music scene there, both as a sideman and with her own band, the Lynn Speakman Quartet.

Roger Humphries began playing professionally at the age of fourteen. He led his own group at Carnegie Music Hall when just sixteen. "I've had a love for music as long as I can remember." He was encouraged by his older brothers Lawrence Jr. and Norman who were musicians at that time. Additionally, Roger's son Roger Jr. and Norman's son Gregory have followed in their footsteps as professional drummers. After playing with various groups around the country, Humphries decided to organize his own group in 1972 which he calls RH Factor and in 1996 he assembled Roger Humphries' Big Band. Roger gives special thanks to Dr. Harry Clark, principal of The Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) who has allowed him to have such a beautiful experience teaching the kids at the school, and also to Dr. Nathan Davis who gave him an opportunity to teach and shares lives with students at the University of Pittsburgh. Roger has influenced the careers of a number of his students and musicians also through participation in a number of clinics such as the Slippery Rock University Summer Jazz workshop, Mellon Jazz Masters Class and Concerts, and the teaching goes on especially on the stage.