Per Capita, Pittsburgh likely has the best local jazz scene in the US (I’ve previously lived in NY and Boston). Check out the calendar of Con Alma (two locations), Kingfly Spirits, and City of Asylum.

There’s also a healthy amount of punk, electronic, and experimental music happening, too. The Government Center record shop has live music a few times a week. Many of the people driving underground efforts are students/faculty/alums of CMU and music/art programs at Pitt who have a ton of institutional support to make stuff happen in the community.

The PSO is a great orchestra with new programs every week, too. Right up there with the Houston symphony (keeping with the TX theme here…) if you ask me.

>I just had no sense of if there was a local music scene to be heard of.

Local scene.. yeah. I'm not tuned into the jazz scene but I'll take those at their word saying it's happening. Punk has always seemed fairly healthy here, although not my scene either so can't judge it well. Agree with others who said we have a strong classical core as well. The strength of the area is the schools... Chatham, CMU, Point Park, Duquesne, Pitt... all bring things in and host smaller events. Chatham's baroque program is the only one I visit with any frequency.

There's a decent investment into our cultural district, Pittsburgh Sympathy and some other theaters. So we have a lot of local professional talent.

The folk/bluegrass/acoustic scene is a bit hit and miss, especially compared to somewhere like Nashville or Austin. Folk Alley is based out of Kent, OH though, which isn't too far and they bring some acts in. Pittsburgh's annual Arts Fest brings in some good acts for a couple of weeks, so you could look up past events to see the schedules for that.

Pittsburgh isn't the melting pot that it once was, but there's still a strong influence from the Russian Jewish population so that adds some flavor. Not that we have a big klezmer scene or anything but there are players around.

Our open mic scene is nothing to brag about, but it's healthy enough to go out and contribute and make it better. Check out Mr. Smalls & Funhouse. Some random singalong fun at the Northside Elk's lodge banjo night (mostly tenor banjos and Americana). The Quakers sometimes host some performances and singalongs. Other occasional events hosted by local museums like the Warhol.

Where Pittsburgh is lacking is with touring bands bothering to stop by.. we tend to be flyover country for a lot of bigger acts so if you want to catch a lot of larger tours you'll need to travel. This is a double edged sword though, as it's a fairly easy drive to Philly, DC, Delfest (Cumberland), Columbus, Cleveland, Chautauqua, Buffalo, and Toronto.. and the trip to Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago, or Detroit isn't terrible either. We're a good hub to a lot of other cities if you have a weekend to travel for shows and events.

Covid has shut a lot down and we're still crawling back to life. Acoustic Music Works in Squirrel Hill used to regularly host some cool little intimate acts. They're our local Collings dealer so you might want to reach out to them and ask about the music scene here. Oh, and we have a local mandolin orchestra too!

Beyond that.. keep an eye on the local NPR music stations. WYEP and WKSU (Kent, OH) and see if they are actively promoting anything.

We're a smaller city.. the music scene here is lacking compared to other places I've lived (San Diego, Seattle, Chicago). But for the size of the city, it's relatively healthy.

I will say there are a lot of bars just about any where you’d end up that host local live bands, a lot of them are talented.

Thunderbird usually your best bet then. I’ve seen an interesting show at the Warhol once - Malian blues group. Was totes the wrong (blue haired) crowd and venue or would have otherwise been a hoppin show.