On the Record – Big Bands and The Swing Era

On the Record: Listening & Liner Notes is a four-part series bringing Carnegie’s own Reggie Watkins into conversation with the music that made jazz what it is. Equal parts listening party and guided discussion, each session explores a different era of jazz history through the recordings themselves.

Reggie Watkins is a trombonist and composer known for his powerful tone, expressive phrasing, and deep roots in the jazz tradition. He has toured and recorded with icons including Maynard Ferguson and Orrin Evans’ Captain Black Big Band, and leads his own Pittsburgh-based quartet through a body of work that honors the heroes and history that shaped him. Watkins has spent decades not just playing the music but sharing it, and On the Record is a natural extension of that commitment.

In this session, Big Bands and The Swing Era, Watkins explores the era when jazz grew into something bigger, the orchestras, the bandleaders, and the records that defined a sound and captured a generation. Come ready to listen, ask questions, and find out what it sounded like when jazz ruled the room.

On the Record: Listening & Liner Notes is a four-part series. Explore all the sessions:
1. Blues and Early Jazz — Thursday, June 11
2. Big Bands and The Swing Era — Thursday, July 9
3. Be Bop and Hard Bop — Thursday, August 27
4. Free Jazz and Fusion — Thursday, September 17