Jazz artist to take the stage for Music at Midday
John Shannon, a Pittsburgh-based jazz musician, will perform for St. Vincent College's Music at Midday program on Friday.
Pittsburgh-based jazz musician John Shannon聽will perform for St. Vincent College's Music at Midday program at noon on Friday.
A Pittsburgh-based jazz musician will take the stage during Friday鈥檚 Music at Midday concert series sponsored by St. Vincent College.
Guitarist, singer and songwriter John Shannon will perform聽in the Verostko Center for the Arts on the St. Vincent campus at noon, with the performance livestreamed to www.facebook.com/SaintVincentCollege.
Shannon began a life in music at the age of 6, when he picked up his father鈥檚 guitar in his Pittsburgh home. Studying jazz with local college professors at an early age, he eventually connected with Pittsburgh jazz giants Eric Kloss and Dwayne Dolphin before embarking for Boston and the Berklee College of Music, where he studied with the likes of Hal Crook, Mike Goodrick and Wayne Krantz. While in college, he began touring with his instrumental group Walking Vision Trio.
Shannon eventually moved to New York City, where he joined a diverse music scene and played across many musical genres. As musical director for folk singer Sonya Kitchell, Shannon performed on late night television and toured the country extensively. As a guitarist for jazz-fusion phenom Hiromi, he toured heavily through Europe and Japan. World music and hip hop were also a part of Shannon鈥檚 music fabric in New York, as he performed with the likes of Indian tabla player Harsh Kale and hip-hop legend Big Daddy Kane.
In 2008, he released his first of three international records, 鈥淎merican Mystic,鈥� on the ObliqSound record label. He subsequently followed this release with the albums 鈥淪ongs of the Desert River鈥� and 鈥淭ime Was A Lie.鈥� During this time, Shannon also composed and played guitar for films, documentaries and the award-winning television show 鈥淟ouie,鈥� starring comedian Louis C.K.
After leaving New York to tour Australia while running the music for an immersive variety circus show out of Las Vegas, Shannon landed back in the U.S. and went back on the road with his rock 鈥榥鈥� roll band theShift, whose single 鈥淒reams鈥� went to number one on the charts in South America.
Shannon then took a break from his touring schedule and returned to Pittsburgh to open up Con Alma, a live jazz band and restaurant, intended to provide a home for the strong local jazz scene. He is also currently working on a second solo guitar record of improvisations and is producing and playing on a compilation album of musicians from the current Pittsburgh jazz scene.