‘Fly Us to the Moon’ with Benny Benack III at Andrew Carnegie Free Library

Staff and board at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall are still walking on air following the grand opening of Library Park on April 23. Dreams really do come true!

We had perfect summer weather for the opening. Earlier that week we’d had snow; temperatures plunged back to the 40s the following week. We launched festivities with the stirring drone of Evan Burlew’s highland pipes. (Is there a lyrical way to describe bagpipes?) The BGVs brought the day to a rousing close with Motown and more.

In between, hundreds of people streamed up through the park to enjoy crafts, games, food, Double Dutch, environmental activities, ham radio, and the Library and Music Hall, itself.

Library Park connects the ACFL&MH with Main Street below. It converts our grounds from a barrier to a welcome mat to participation. Pick up ice cream or lunch on Main Street, and enjoy them on one of our Park benches, mosaic or otherwise. Then come inside to discover all the Carnegie Carnegie has to offer. Be sure to come back sometime between sundown and sunrise. The park’s lighting is magical.

Enough basking. This column is about looking forward, and we have our sights set on June 10, when trumpet player, vocalist and showman Benny Benack III comes to the music hall to Fly Us to the Moon.

New York-based “BB3” is a third-generation Pittsburgh Jazzman. Benny follows in the illustrious footsteps of his trumpeter-bandleader grandfather and saxophonist-clarinetist father. No need to name them!

A virtuosic horn player, Benny and his trio will perform standards à la Gershwin and Kearns, interspersed with the improvisational/free jazz styles of Thelonious Monk and Ornette Coleman. He promises to leaven the evening with a dollop of “pure Pittsburgh.” Given Pittsburgh’s rich jazz legacy, that can cover a lot of ground.

Not only a terrific horn player, Benny delivers a song with soul and panache. As a special treat, he’s invited chart-topping vocalist and sax player Michael Stephenson to join him on June 10.

Benny loves coming home to perform in Pittsburgh, but says, “I so excited about playing in Carnegie Carnegie Hall! I’ve heard such great things. This will be an amazing experience not only for the audience, but for me, my trio and my special guest the inimitable vocalist and saxophonist Michael ‘Sonny Step’ Stephenson, straight from New York!”

Benny’s performance will be followed by a lively after-theater party (food and drink included) throughout the ACFL&MH’s beautiful historic landmark facility. Weather permitting, the party will spill out into Library Park.

Fly Us to the Moon is the ACFL&MH’s first benefit since 2019. Covid shuttered the music hall in March 2020. And it will be our last benefit before closing the music hall later this year for ambitious restorations. Upgrades include replacing the hall’s knob and tube wiring and new dimmable house lights, restoring water-ravaged plaster and artful painting, replacing our 120-year-old stage floor, and sound and light upgrades that align the hall with professional industry standards.

Air conditioning will make Carnegie Hall a year-round venue, as celebrated for its comfort as its acoustics and ambience.

While the music hall is closed, the ACFL&MH will keep audiences coming with an eclectic roster of performances in the Studio, our intimate alternate venue with a club vibe.

Restoration of the music hall will be the crowning achievement of “Completing the Carnegie Carnegie.” As a benefit, ticket prices for Fly Us to the Moon are steeper than usual. But June 10 will be some enchanted evening of fabulous jazz, food, drink and helping to make Carnegie Carnegie Hall the finest mid-size venue in the region. Practically a bargain!

Fly Us to the Moon takes place at 8 p.m. June 10. Visit www.CarnegieCarnegie.org for tickets and information or call me at 412-276-3456, ext. 8.