How Can a “Music of the Spirit” Die?

Amiri Baraka – “Whether African Song, Work Song, Spiritual, Hollers, Blues, Jazz,
Gospel, etc., no matter the genre, the ideas contained in Afro-American art, in the
main, oppose slavery and desire freedom.”
Jazz is dead! Here we go again. The recent Wall Street Journal article by Terry Teachout, (the journal’s drama critic? Why is he writing about [...]

Summer Goes Out With a Bang! The Final Festivals

None of us want to admit it, but we all know it’s true: Labor Day means summer is coming to a close.
Luckily, that’s not all it means.  Labor Day weekend in Detroit also means a lot of great art and music festivals–we like to save the best for last and then cram them all into [...]

Friday Night Live! at the DIA with North Star Jazz Sextet

[ August 21, 2009; 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm. ] Friday Night Live!
North Star Jazz Sextet
Friday, August 21, 2009 7 & 8:30 p.m.
The North Star Jazz Sextet, led by saxophonist Carl Cafagna is one of Detroit’s hottest jazz acts. North Star Jazz employs a 3-horn sextet format inspired by the T.S. Monk Sextet and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. The ensemble includes pianist/composer Scott Gwinnell, [...]

Carl Craig Reassembles Tribe

Carl Craig has announced details of yet another project in which he’s lent his production hand,
Tribe.
A jazz record in the truest sense of that word, Tribe Rebirth, will see the quartet of Phil Ranelin,
Wendell Harrison, Marcus Belgrave and Doug Hammond recreating tunes from their past as
well as a number of new compositions. The group, which [...]

Kenneth Green/Dushun Mosley Duo, Jeff Marx Detroit Quartet @ Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (CAID)

[ August 15, 2009; 8:00 pm; ] A member of of Chicago’s Association for the Advancement Musicians, Dushun Mosley is a percussionist extraordinaire. In addition to work with other AACM artists and other greats like Roscoe Mitchell, Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Davis and Don Cherry, Dushun is a member of Eight Bold Souls, The AACM Big Band and co-leads The Vizitors with [...]

Jazz Jam at African World Festival

[ August 15, 2009; 9:00 pm to 11:30 pm. ] DETROIT JAZZ MUSICIANS CO-OP JAZZ JAM!!- Hosted by Joan Belgrave!!

“Jazz is good for Detroit, and Detroit is good for Jazz”
           BRING YOUR AXE,  BRING YOUR VOICE!! - 

PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS, & VOCALISTS- WE WANT TO HEAR YOU!!

WHEN:      THIS SATURDAY:    AUGUST 15TH,
                                                  9-11:30 PM
WHERE:    HART PLAZA – DETROIT -
WHAT:      AFRICAN WORLD FESTIVAL – NILES STAGE
               

If you [...]

Jazz on the River 2009

[ August 1, 2009 12:00 am to August 2, 2009 12:00 am. ]
Wayne County and Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts proudly presents- Jazz On The River 2009 – Saturday, August 1st and Sunday, August 2nd at Elizabeth Park , Trenton, Michigan- Noon until 10PM.
Free Admission.

Warm Days, Cool Music!
Jazz On The River welcomes families and groups, so bring a blanket, sit on the arena hill [...]

A Conversation with Jazz Masters

[ July 29, 2009; 7:00 pm; ] July 29th
Starts at 7PM

Presented by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
in collaboration with Detroit International Jazz Festival

The event will feature a conversation between John Clayton and DSO Jazz Chair Michel Camilo, moderated by Detroit Free Press writer and noted jazz critic Mark Stryker.

As an added treat, the DSO Civic Jazz Orchestra will [...]

A Mostly Free Jazz Line-up

THURS. JULY 16th, 6:30-7:30pm ­  WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH JAZZ
FESTIVAL, (313) 341-2697
17567 Hubbell at Outer Drive, Detroit west side
Supreme vocalist, Audrey Northington, and I, along with Butter Hawkins
on drums, will play a one hour outdoor concert
THURS. JULY 16th, 8:30pm-1:30am- SBH TRIO OPEN MIC JAZZ JAM
2727 Russell, between Mack and Gratiot, in the Eastern Market, $3 cover
It¹s [...]

Steve Smith and Vital Information at the Jazz Café

[ July 17, 2009; 12:00 am; ] Jazz Café presents some Mid-Summer fusion excitement, with 2 shows by Jazz Fusion drummer, Steve Smith and his longstanding group, Vital Information, Friday, July 17th at 8PM and 10PM in the cozy, Jazz Café , just inside The Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts lobby.

Now in their 26th year since their initial 1983 release, [...]