Results for "Detroit"

Kasan Belgrave: Dual Citizen

by Paul Rauch
March 10, 2025

Detroit born and raised multi-reedist Kasan Belgrave offers his first album bearing a name with a tremendous legacy. His father, the late Marcus Belgrave, was a prime mentor to generations of musicians from Detroit, one of the world's great jazz cities. His impact as a jazz trumpeter, as a major contributor to classic Motown Records hits ...

Microplastique: Blare Blow Bloom!

by Lawrence Peryer
December 6, 2024

Chicago's experimental music scene welcomes a new voice as Microplastique, four multi-instrumentalists, release their debut album, Blare Blow Bloom! (Irritable Mystic Records), on December 6, 2024. Formed in April 2023, the group includes Ben Zucker, Molly Jones, Josh Harlow and Adam Shead, with Shead composing and leading. Blare Blow Bloom! documents Microplastique's July 2024 ...

Planet D Nonet

The PD9 performs Harlem Jive by Fats Waller, swing era tunes by Duke Ellington, Benny Moten, Count Basie and Fletcher Henderson as well as the jumpin' jive of Louis Jordan. Cofounded by RJ Spangler & James O'Donnell in 2007, this band is about to celebrate 15 years of bringing swing music to SE Michigan listeners and swing dancers. In that time the band has performed in 10 states including some memorable gigs in New Orleans. In addition to the vocals of trumpeter James O'Donnell, the band also features the vocals of trombonist John "Tbone" Paxton and often featured artist Camille Price.

Kasan Belgrave Takes Off

by Paul Rauch
August 4, 2024

As a jazz journalist, attending summer festivals is almost a rite of passage, a journey to a place where so many pieces of the international jazz community are gathered in one spot to sample, or to indulge oneself. Over the years, accompanied by repeated visits, the sights and sounds of the festival locations become clearer and ...

Albert "Tootie" Heath: Class Personified

by R.J. DeLuke
April 13, 2024

This article was first published on All About Jazz on March 9, 2015. Albert “Tootie" Heath is among the drummers who lived--and thrived--during what many call the golden age of jazz, the '40s, '50, early '60s. He's enjoyed the fruits of a varied and historic career, but never stayed put. Just kept working. He ...

Jordan VanHemert

Born: 1988

Heralded by critics as a "saxophone powerhouse" (TakeEffect) with a penchant for modern, swinging melodicism, (famed jazz critic Scott Yanow), Origin Records recording artist Jordan VanHemert is the Director of Jazz Studies at Northeastern State University. He is currently touring as a bandleader and has performed in iconic venues across the United States. Acclaimed for his "adept and purposeful" solos that "swing surely and easily in the manner of Sonny Rollins" (All About Jazz), VanHemert’s compositions pay homage to his Korean roots and his inspiration from blues-infused hard bop tradition that was handed down to him by his mentors. 

Detroit Jazz Festival 2023: A Celebration of Home

August 13, 2023

The 2023 Detroit Jazz Festival is almost upon us, taking place in its annual Labor Day weekend slot on the yearly jazz festival calendar. The largest free jazz festival in the world brings the music to the people of Detroit, and the world, on September 1-4 in downtown Detroit and in Hart Plaza along the Detroit ...

Harry Gozzard

Born: March 5, 1916

Harry Roy Gozzard was an American jazz trumpeter. He performed with Sam Donahue. (In an article written by Mike Zirpolo, for Swing and Beyond, Donahue was described as "a superlative tenor saxophone soloist.") Other members of Donahue's band included the former The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson bandleader Doc Severinsen, 1946 Esquire Award winner for Best New Female Vocalist Frances Wayne, Grammy Award-winning vocalist and actress Jo Stafford and popular music arranger Leo Reisman. Gozzard and the Donahue band performed a few times with legendary piano-playing bandleader Count Basie. Basie was featured on four Donahue Okeh recordings made in New York on December 26, 1940.

Dorothy Ashby: With Strings Attached, 1957-1965

by John Chacona
July 10, 2023

Imagine if Sidney Bechet, Charlie Christian and Jimmy Smith were barely remembered and recordings of their music were long unavailable and known only on the geekiest corners of Discogs. That is essentially the status of harpist Dorothy Ashby. Like the three figures cited above, Ashby essentially created a language for her chosen instrument, the harp, where ...

Dave McMurray: Grateful Deadication 2

by Geno Thackara
May 12, 2023

Yet another Grateful Dead tribute will probably invite the same reactions from devotees and anyone else--either “oh, these songs again? “ or “Hmm, these songs again?" For anyone willing to take a look, it will (of course) come down to the way the material is presented and retooled, which in Dave McMurray's case means the sound ...