Ron English, with his Washburn guitar, 2007. Photo by Derek English.

This month “Jazz at JAPC” presents the Ron English Quartet. Jazz guitarist Ron English has enjoyed a long and varied music career, with roots wide and deep in blues, Broadway, bebop, avant-garde, funk, Motown, and gospel. Ron started out playing a sort of roadhouse jazz and blues mix in various organ trios, including his long time employer and collaborator Lyman Woodard.

In the mid-60s Ron joined the Detroit Contemporary 5 which was the house band of the Detroit Artists Workshop Society, an arts collective spearheaded by legendary poet and activist John Sinclair. In the 70s, he played with CJQ, led by Charles Moore and pianist Kenny Cox, exploring more post-bop and avant-garde paths and was featured on CJQ’s “Locations” and Lyman Woodard’s “Saturday Night Special”.

From the 70s on into the 90s, Ron toured and recorded with Michigan jazz artists Lyman Woodard, Phil Ranelin, Wendell Harrison, Kenny Cox, the Jimmy Wilkins Orchestra, the Austin-Moro Big Band, and Eddie Russ, with whom he toured Europe. He also toured backing the Four Tops, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, and the Supremes’ Mary Wilson, and recorded with Gladys Knight and the Pips.

Ron currently teaches guitar, jazz theory and ensemble classes in the Continuing Education program at Marygrove College. He previously taught in Jazz Studies programs at Oakland University and Michigan State University.

Michael Aguilar-Christy, Deacon
Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church
8625 E. Jefferson Avenue at Burns
Detroit, Michigan
313-530-8245
christywalker_mc@hotmail.com

(left to right): Yana Levovna, Leah Darany, Jessalyn Brooks, Anne Marie Damman,
Jaye Stellini, Kirsten Knisel. Photo by Charles Nowak

In celebration of the 77th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition, Magenta Giraffe Theatre Company of Detroit joins forces with Kuhnhenn Brewing Company of Warren to present a raucous Jazz Age night of food, drinks and entertainment at Cliff Bell’s on April 24, 2010, from 8:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Admission is $75, or $140 per couple, and includes free-flowing Kuhnhenn brews (13 different beers to choose from!), gourmet hor d’oeuvres, live music, an energetic floorshow and improvisational bits throughout the evening. Tickets priced at only $35 are available and include entry, entertainment and two beer tokens. Patrons must dress in 1920s garb and be prepared to dance, drink and speak easy! Cliff Bell’s is located at 2080 Park Ave., Detroit, MI 48226. Tickets may be purchased by visiting www.kbrewery.com or by calling Kuhnhenn Brewing Company at 586-979-8361.

The evening’s entertainment will features 100% local talent. The floorshow, coordinated and choreographed by MGT Artistic Director Frannie Shepherd-Bates, includes Jessalyn Brooks, Anne Marie Damman, Leah Darany, Kirsten Knisely, Yana Levovna and Jaye Stellini. Jazz singer Bethany Caldarona will perform with musicians Dave Dionese, Michael Fiedler, John Garland, Alex Hill and David Woitulewicz. Improvisational performances directed by MGT Educational Director Lisa Melinn will feature Dyan Bailey, Dawn Bartley, Dave Davies, Alan Fox, Matt Gannaway, Lisa Melinn, Peter Werthman and Ken Wood.

For additional information on Speakeasy Night, contact Julie Kuhnhenn or visit www.kbrewery.com.

Sonny Rollins

American Jazz tenor saxophonist and improviser Sonny Rollins will make his solo debut at Orchestra Hall on Apr., 6, 2010 at 8 p.m. Rollins is one of the few surviving icons of the golden era of jazz, having collaborated with such legendary jazz contemporaries as John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Max Roach. The concert, part of the Bank of America Paradise Jazz Series, will be preceded by the Civic Jazz Live! featuring the DSO’s Civic Jazz Orchestra in The Music Box at 6:30 p.m.

Walter Theodore “Sonny” Rollins was born in Harlem, New York on Sept., 7, 1930, of parents native to the Virgin Islands. His older brother Valdemar and sister Gloria were also musically inclined, but only Sonny veered away from classical music after his uncle, a professional saxophonist, introduced him to jazz and blues. By the time he was out of school, Rollins was already working with big-name musicians such as Bud Powell, Fats Navarro, and Roy Haynes.

In the 1950 and 60s, Rollins played in the Max Roach–Clifford Brown Quintet, one of the most definitive hard-bop ensembles of its day. He recorded The Bridge in 1961 with Jim Hall and Bob Cranshaw, led a quartet with trumpeter Don Cherry and drummer Billy Higgins, and recorded with his idol Coleman Hawkins. He also received a Grammy nomination for his score for the popular film Alfie. He won his first performance Grammy for This Is What I Do (2000), and his second for 2004’s Without a Song (The 9/11 Concert), in the Best Jazz Instrumental Solo category (for “Why Was I Born”). Sonny, Please was nominated for a best jazz album Grammy in 2006. In addition, Sonny received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in 2004. Most recently, he was named best tenor saxophonist in the 2008 Down Beat Critics’ Poll and the Jazz Times Readers’ Poll, and by the Jazz Journalists Association in their June 2008 awards event.

Tickets for Sonny Rollins on Apr. 6 range in price from $22 to $73 with a limited number of box seats available for $108. Tickets may be purchased and/or reserved at the DSO Box Office (3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit), by calling the DSO at (313) 576-5111 or by visiting www.detroitsymphony.com.
PERFORMANCE
Bank of America Paradise Jazz Series
Sonny Rollins
Sonny Rollins, saxophone
Orchestra Hall
Tue., Apr. 6 at 8 p.m.
Selections to be announced from the stage
The DSO does not appear on this program
Concert preceded by Civic Jazz Live! Featuring the Civic Jazz Orchestra in The Music Box at 6:30 p.m.

Palmer Woods Music in Homes continues its series of jazz, classical and world music concerts in historic mansions, castles and cool homes. On Saturday, March 27 at 8 pm, let Palmer Woods Music in Homes hypnotize you with the music of flute, oud and tablas—some of the best traditional Middle Eastern music in the world!

Lebanese-born flutist Nadim Dlaikan and oud player Abdu Karim Bader, National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellows, have performed across the globe, including on the stage of the prestigious Kennedy Center. These international masters join with superb tabla player Mustapha Atat to share the beautiful melodies and engaging rhythms of their ancestors.

Enjoy this rare opportunity in the aura of an elegant, spacious Palmer Woods manor. A reception with delicious theme-related foods is included. (More biographical information on the artists at http://palmerwoods.org/music-in-homes/musicians-2009-2010).

Tickets and info on www.Palmerwoods.org

Future Concerts: The series continues with concerts every month in cool homes and regal mansions:

Sat., April 24, 8 pm
La Inspiracion
Led by Puerto Rican-born congero Ozzie Rivera and music director-pianist Bill Meyer, Orquesta La Inspiracion is the hottest Latin band in the Motor City.

Saturday, May 22, 8 pm
Flutist Eric Lamb
Pianist Paul Vasile
Celebrate Spring with Mozart, Schubert, Doppler, Bach, Debussy, Barber and Saint-Saens. These classic masters come to life with Lamb and Vasile’s masterful interpretations.

Fri. & Sat., June 25-26, 8 pm
Sunday, June 27, 2 pm
Spencer Barefield & Friends
@ Frank Lloyd Wright-Turkel home
Acclaimed jazz guitarist A. Spencer Barefield joins with Juno award winner bassist Dave Young and drummer Djallo Keita to team up with three of Detroit’s jazz greats.

Friday: Rayse Biggs Tribute to Trumpet Masters
Biggs, a dynamic horn player who’s worked with Freddie Hubbard and Dizzy Gillespie, will play their works and that of Miles Davis, Lee Morgan, Clifford Brown and more.

Saturday: Sax Virtuoso David McMurray
Recording artist and sideman to Bob James, Kid Rock and Kem, McMurray will play Barefield originals and works by Monk, Mingus, Coltrane and more.

Sunday : Horn Master Wendell Harrison
This Sun Ra alumnus and cofounder of the legendary Tribe, has worked with jazz giants Grant Green, Eddie Harris and many others. Recently he’s been performing with Carl Craig and Tribe.

Joan Belgrave – Vocals
Marcus Belgrave- Trumpet
Gayelynn McKinney- Drums
Marion Hayden-Bass

and Featuring: Sullivan Fortner- Piano
Sullivan Fortner, A native of New Orleans, was a member of the Oberlin Jazz Septet (OJS), the Conservatory’s elite student jazz ensemble. Two tours with the OJS (in January 2006 and January 2007) included performances as part of the Richmond (Virginia) Jazz Society, Twins Jazz Club in Washington, D.C.; Ortlieb’s Jazzhaus in Philadelphia; Café Bolero in Jacksonville, Florida; the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia, the Jazz Factory in Louisville, Kentucky, with the OJS at the Detroit International Jazz Festival and at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. With his trio, the Bop Stop in Cleveland. A regular at Snug Harbor in New Orleans, and throughout Louisiana performing jazz and gospel. At the Rubin Museum of Art NY,NY , and with such luminaries as  Marcus Belgrave, Albert “Tootie” Heath, Benny Powell and Slide Hampton,  he currently tours with grammy nominated Roy Hargrove and Stephan Harris….

Virgil Carr Center – 311 E Grand River- Detroit MI  
Ticket info: 313-965-8430 (Bill Foster or Oliver Ragsdale) 
admission price $10  students Middle school/High School $5

February 27-May 8, 2010

Gil Rinke hands up a poster to Bob Tarnacki as part of the preparation for the
And Still They Prospered: Living Through the Great Depression series.

What did it take to not only survive the greatest economic challenge this country has ever faced but to rise up from that challenge and create a new industrial superpower? What strategies did people learn? What hopes sustained them?

And Still They Prospered: Living Through the Great Depression – a program series at Macomb Community College’s Lorenzo Cultural Center running Feb. 27-May 8 – examines the economic, social and cultural changes that took place during the 1930s and how these shifts laid the foundation for future prosperity in the Motor City and beyond.

The series will feature exhibits from the Smithsonian Institution and the Michigan State University Museum; more than 40 presentations providing a comprehensive look at the people and the times; and a performance of Forgotten, a “jazz-blues opera” that tells the story of a mysterious death at the Ford Rouge Plant during the effort to organize a labor union there.

“Many of the lessons that were first learned in the 1930s are being re-examined and reapplied today,” said Geary Maiuri, dean of Community & Student Enrichment at Macomb. “Through the And Still They Prospered series, we have an opportunity as a community to look back at not only the challenges of the 1930s and the Great Depression, but how those times became a springboard from which great things were launched.”

Highlights of the series at the Lorenzo Cultural Center include:

* David Kennedy, Stanford University professor emeritus and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression & War, who will offer a vivid account of how Americans coped with the Great Depression. Kennedy’s March 11 presentation will begin at 7 p.m., with a Meet & Greet opportunity at 5:30 p.m. Tickets to the presentation only are $15 or $5 for seniors, students or military; tickets including the Meet & Greet are $30.
* Forgotten at 7:30 p.m. March 26. The musical drama relates the story of the Rev. Lewis Bradford, a Methodist minister and advocate for the homeless and the unemployed who worked at the Rouge Plant. At the plant, he advocated for fair and just treatment of the workers before he died from injuries in an unexplained “accident” at the plant in November 1937.
* Columbia University professor Alan Brinkley, whose latest book, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was published in January 2010, will identify aspects of Roosevelt’s New Deal program that have left a lasting legacy. Brinkley’s presentation will begin at 7 p.m. April 29, with a Meet & Greet option at 5:30 p.m. Tickets to the presentation are $15 or $5 for seniors, students or military; tickets including the Meet & Greet are $30.*
* Presentations highlighting some of the key local personalities of the times, including Henry Ford, Detroit Mayor Frank Murphy and Detroit Tigers great Mickey Cochrane.
* A look at the artistic accomplishments of the decade, including the role of the Works Progress Administration in Detroit, the Diego Rivera murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts, key movies of the decade, the Art Deco movement and the Detroit jazz scene.
* An April 21 presentation on the Henry Ford Trade School, a new approach to high school created by Henry Ford, focused on preparing graduates for technical work and providing admission preference to needy boys. The school graduated more than 8,000 young men during the 33 years it operated, beginning in 1916. Following the presentation, a private reception and reunion will be held for those who were students at the school.

Exhibits will include The Way We Worked**, a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution that reveals the effects of industrialization, urbanization, immigration, labor unrest, wars, and economic depression on ordinary working Americans, whether they toiled in a coal mine, on a tractor, at a typewriter or on an assembly line. An exhibit from the Michigan State University Museum will highlight the challenges faced by Michigan’s Jewish population during the 1930s and another offers a look at the legacy of quilt-making from that era.

The Lorenzo Cultural Center is located on Macomb Community College’s Center Campus, Garfield & M-59, Clinton Township. The cultural center is open 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Wednesday – Saturday; and 1-4 p.m. Sundays. Additional information on the cultural center and on the And Still They Prospered program series is available at www.lorenzoculturalcenter.com.

The series continues with concerts every month in cool homes and regal mansions:

Sunday, Feb. 28, 7 pm
Lotus Ensemble
Joe Striplin, Velda Kelly, Rick Robinson, John Madison
Great composers such as Duke Ellington, William Grant Still, Scott Joplin and Detroit’s own Rick Robinson receive the spotlight with this quartet of Detroit Symphony and Michigan Opera Theatre string players.

Saturday, March 27, 8 pm
Nadim Dlaikan’s Dearborn Traditional Ensemble
Some of the best Middle Eastern music in the world can be heard in Detroit. Flutist Nadim Dlaikan, oud player Abdu Karim Bader and tabla player Mustapha Atat share the beautiful melodies and rhythms of their ancestors.

Sat., April 24, 8 pm
La Inspiracion
Led by Puerto Rican-born congero Ozzie Rivera and music director-pianist Bill Meyer, Orquesta La Inspiracion is the hottest Latin band in the Motor City.

Saturday, May 22, 8 pm
Flutist Eric Lamb
Pianist Paul Vasile
Celebrate Spring with Mozart, Schubert, Doppler, Bach, Debussy, Barber and Saint-Saens. These classic masters come to life with Lamb and Vasile’s masterful interpretations.

Fri. & Sat., June 25-26, 8 pm
Sunday, June 27, 2 pm
Spencer Barefield & Friends
@ Frank Lloyd Wright-Turkel home
Acclaimed jazz guitarist A. Spencer Barefield joins with Juno award winner bassist Dave Young and drummer Djallo Keita to team up with three of Detroit’s jazz greats.

Friday: Rayse Biggs Tribute to Trumpet Masters
Biggs, a dynamic horn player who’s worked with Freddie Hubbard and Dizzy Gillespie, will play their works and that of Miles Davis, Lee Morgan, Clifford Brown and more.

Saturday: Sax Virtuoso David McMurray
Recording artist and sideman to Bob James, Kid Rock and Kem, McMurray will play Barefield originals and works by Monk, Mingus, Coltrane and more.

Sunday : Horn Master Wendell Harrison
This Sun Ra alumnus and cofounder of the legendary Tribe, has worked with jazz giants Grant Green, Eddie Harris and many others. Recently he’s been performing with Carl Craig and Tribe.

Every Thursday 8:30 pm – 12:30 am – $3 cover
Featuring Special Guest Hosts
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!
Kimmie Horne, vocalist extraordinaire!

MIDNIGHT DOOR PRIZES!!
FREE tickets to the Feb 27th Geri Allen Concert provided by The Arts League
Hats, shirts, DVDs, dinner certificates, movie passes provided by Metro
Times. Free raffle ticket included with cover charge; $1 for extra tickets
Singers, musicians, poets, jazz fans are all invited!

DETROIT METRO TIMES is helping to promote live jazz at Berts Marketplace by offering door prizes at each jam session.

Prizes will include new CDs, DVDs, restaurant gift certificates, tickets to
popular music events, and more!

ONE raffle ticket will be given to EACH person who pays a cover charge of $3
In addition, one raffle ticket will be given to EACH person who performs
Extra raffle tickets will be available for $1 each

WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED AT MIDNIGHT. You must be present to win.

JANUARY 2010
7 Kimmie Horne
14 Kimmie Horne
21 Kimmie Horne
28 Ange Smith

FEBRUARY
4 Armond
11 Armond
18 Armond
25 Clay Robinson

MARCH
4 Barbara Ware
11 Barbara Ware
18 Barbara Ware
25 Royce the Voice

APRIL
1 Sky Covington
8 Sky Covington
15 Sky Covington
22 Lady T
29 Delbert Nelson

MAY
6 Fran Dent
13 Fran Dent
20 Fran Dent
27 Bob St. Thomas

JUNE
3 Michelle McKinney
10 Michelle McKinney
17 Michelle McKinney
24 Ola Hemphill

feautured artists
Michael Schuster, Mark Barrera, & Jim Smutek
Designers The Broadway Detroit
Live Jazz by De-Jazz

This is a full service event with live jazz, cash bar, strolling buffet, and art show.
This evening shows that we really appreciate our clients and staff,

Everyone wonders what is in the water of the Great Lakes, that inspires such creativity, the standard of what a classic is, or what new for front of technology is. This night is a proud evening for all in this Motor City industry. A time when the world will shine a light on your hard work or artistic inspiration, or just a good excuse to go out and get dressed up.

If any of this peaks your interest, than you need to be at our can’t miss event. The Auto Show Extravaganza at the Music Hall in Jazz Café. This will be a wonderful night of fashion, jazz, art, and a wonderful excuse to step out with someone who care about or find one.

This event is hosted by the premiere in event coordination d’art productions, ran by partners Laura Deljanin and Rod Spenser. Their world-class experience ensures a night of fun by all. And acute eye for detail will bring an exceptional level of style and party atmosphere.

Tickets are $15 at the door, or free with a ticket stub from the charity preview. There will be an automotive themed art work gallery. A nod to our design team and CAD kids. Live jazz will be playing to liven things up, with music by De-Jazz our standard classic. And the areas hottest models and designers will rock the runway showing the fashion world they are ahead of the curve. Get there early to ensure a good seat, this will quickly become a standing room only event.

By area artist, Lilith Dorr
January 16th, 2010 – 1:00 to 3:00pm, program at 1:30pm
Through February 20, 2010.
Swords Into Plowshares Peace Center and Gallery

The multi-media exhibit reflects one woman’s life choices and their repercussions, her struggle, growth and recovery from child abuse and domestic violence. The artist will speak about her experiences, her journey toward healing, and the motivation behind her art. A representative from N.O.A.H. will present basic resource information available to those experiencing abuse in their lives. Michelle McKinney will provide music.

The public is welcome to attend and encouraged to share this information with others who might benefit from this relevant and powerful exhibit.

An Informational Forum, on abuse and area resources, will take place at the Gallery on Sunday, January 30, 1:00 P.M.

The artist’s statement and a sample from the exhibit are attached. For more information, please call Swords Into Plowshares Peace Center and Gallery. 313.963.7575.