John Burgh All-Stars with Lisa Bleil, Benny Benack II and Eric DeFade

Celebrate the end of Summer in Foxburg on the beautiful Allegheny with a night of fabulous entertainment and dancing to the John Burgh All Stars featuring versatile songstress Lisa Bleil and Pittsburgh’s hottest, legendary instrumentalists - clarinetist/saxophonist Benny Benack II and Grammy winner saxophonist Eric DeFade with Robert Insko on bass, and Joey Waslousky, drums on Saturday, September 6, 2025 at 7:30 PM in Lincoln Hall. Beer and wine for sale. Dancing at the back of the hall.

John Burgh and Lisa Bleil

With overtones of a “big band”, John and Lisa and their phenomenal musicians will perform romantic ballads, swinging tunes from The Great American Songbook, smooth jazz, Dixieland, contemporary favorites and Rock ‘n Roll.

Adults $25, Members $20, Students $5.  Beer and Wine sold (cash bar).   Call to Reserve 724 659-3153 – to pay by cash or check at the door or buy online at alleghenyriverstone.org .

Allegheny RiverStone Center for the Arts is grateful for the very generous gift of Tom and Nancy Hovis, ARCA’s Vice President and President respectively, sponsoring the return of their longtime friend John Burgh with Lisa Bleil and musicians.

ARCA fans will remember that the John Burgh ALL STARS with Lisa Bleil headlined ARCA’s outdoor concerts at RiverStone Estate in 2017 and 2018 with the audience dancing into the night.  They also have appeared together in a blazing night of New Orleans Jazz in Lincoln Hall in 2019 with Benny Benack II and Benny Benack III.

JOHN BURGH was first introduced to the Pittsburgh music scene in 1982 when he joined the Harold Betters Band playing five nights a week at the South Hills Sheraton. He also played for many years with the Billy Price Band, touring Europe in 2003 and has played and recorded 5 albums with the rock group Gathering Field, playing Hammond B3 organ.

John also was a long-time member of the Balcony Big Band. Many will remember his performances over the last 30 years with Lisa Bleil, combos and swing bands in Pittsburgh venues and in the Oil City/Franklin area.

LISA BLEIL has performed with both the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra and is known for her performances on the Emmy-winning PBS series “Live From Studio A.” She also can be seen on the PBS specials ”Rock, Rhythm & Doo-wop” and “Red, White & Rock” performing with Frankie Avalon, Frankie Valli, Connie Francis and Englebert Humperdink, among others. She currently serves on the Commercial Music faculty of Seton Hill University, and previously taught at West Virginia University, and the City Music Center at Duquesne University.

BENNY BENACK, JR. is a legend in the Pittsburgh jazz and night club scene and an ARCA favorite - a band leader well known for his virtuosic musicianship and charismatic audience appeal.  The Benny Benack Band plays everything from jazz, swing, big band, Dixieland, Rhythm and Blues and Rock ‘n’ Roll – with wonderful vocals from the Great American Song Book and more.

Benny hails from a celebrated Pittsburgh jazz family, as his father, Benny Benack, was a Pittsburgh band leader and at the forefront of the Pittsburgh jazz scene in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. His son, Benny Benack III, is following in his father and grandfather’s footsteps with an international career as a jazz trumpeter and vocalist, named “#1 Rising Star Male Vocalist of the Year’ in 2024 by Downbeat Jazz Magazine.  Benny Jr has appeared in Lincoln Hall several times with John Burgh, with his own band and with BB3’s New York City band.  BB2 (Benny Jr) was featured on Benny III’s 2025 album release - “This is the Life.”

An in demand performing artist and studio musician for over thirty years of professional experience, ERIC DEFADE has toured internationally with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and the Artie Shaw Big Band. Eric is a two-time Grammy Award winner for performances on Nancy Wilson’s jazz albums.

For the past ten years, Eric has been a featured performer for the ‘My Music’ series on PBS. This program is internationally broadcast and features such artists as Patti Labelle, Isaac Hayes, the Temptations, Robert Goulet, Wild Cherry, the Platters and the Commodores. He has played with music greats Rosemary Clooney, Josh Groban, the New York voices, Gary Burton, John Scofield, Dave Liebman, Ahmad Jamal and Benny Golson.

In addition to a year round performance schedule, Eric is an artist\lecturer in saxophone and director of jazz ensembles at Carnegie Mellon University, visiting artist at the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School, adjunct  professor of saxophone at Seton Hill university, director of jazz studies at CMU pre-college, music chair of the Henry Mancini Arts Academy and clinician for the Pennsylvania Arts on Tour Program.

As autumn is peeking through the summer splendor in the beautiful Allegheny-Clarion River valley, arrive early for a riverside supper and make it a night to remember with world class artistry in Foxburg’s Lincoln Hall.

See you in September!