Gallery Closure Notice: The galleries at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center will be closed to the public on Saturday, March 7, 2026, for a private event. Regular gallery hours will resume Sunday, March 8, 2026.
- This event has passed.
For the final new episode of The Vinyl Report, we spend time with Mensah Wali and Art Blakey’s Drum Suite. Mensah Wali relocated to Pittsburgh in 2005, but his history with Art Blakey goes back much further. Growing up in Brooklyn, NY, Wali was an eyewitness and “earwitness” to much of the golden age of Jazz. He took in all of the incredible culture that was in the air in 1950s Brooklyn. One of the early albums he connected with was Pittsburgh born drummer Art Blakey’s 1956 masterpiece, Drum Suite. During this episode, Wali describes how he came to Blakey’s music and the incredible impact it had on his journey in Jazz.