Lit Fridays

LIT Friday welcomes Colter Harper for a conversation about his book Jazz in the Hill: Nightlife and Narratives of a Pittsburgh Neighborhood. In it, he dives into the rich history of Pittsburgh jazz clubs, highlighting their roles as sites of entrepreneurialism, placemaking, labor organizing, and critical listening in the storied Hill District Neighborhood.

Lit Friday is a virtual program offered by the August Wilson African American Cultural Center via Facebook and Youtube, hosted and produced by the Literary Curator, poet, and art writer Jessica Lanay. Lit Friday hosts writers, artists, and thinkers of the African Diaspora for conversations on their latest works and how they intersect with contemporary cultural and political happenings.

Colter Harper is a musicologist, musician, and teacher. His book Jazz in the Hill: Nightlife and Narratives of a Pittsburgh Neighborhood (University Press of Mississippi, 2024) delves into the history of Pittsburgh jazz clubs as sites of entrepreneurialism, placemaking, labor organizing, and critical listening in the storied Hill District neighborhood. His research has appeared in journals including Jazz Perspectives, South African Music Studies, International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives, African Performance Review, and Fretboard Journal. Colter is a versatile guitarist and composer who owes a great deal to Pittsburgh’s musical community as well as his experiences traveling, performing, and studying in West Africa, Brazil, and Europe. In 2007, Colter joined the multi-platinum selling, world music influenced rock band Rusted Root as a guitarist, percussionist, and vocalist. He recorded on the band’s latest albums; Stereo Rodeo and The Movement, and performed with the band nationally until the summer of 2013. In 2018, Colter served as a Fulbright Scholar in the University of Ghana where he created a music production teaching facility for the Department of Music. Colter is currently an Assistant Teaching Professor in the University at Buffalo’s Department of Music where he develops courses in popular music and music technology. https://www.colterharper.com/about