Results for "Joe Syrian Motor City Jazz Octet"

Joe Syrian

Born: April 22, 1952

Joe Syrian is a veteran jazz drummer, bandleader, arranger, and producer best known as the founder and leader of the Motor City Jazz Octet, a Detroit-rooted ensemble devoted to hard bop, soul-jazz, and large-ensemble jazz arranging. Drawing from both classic jazz repertoire and American popular song, Syrian has developed the Octet into a flexible “little big band” featuring musicians from Detroit, New York, and beyond.

The Motor City Jazz Octet’s recent recordings include 2024’s Secret Message and 2026’s A Blue Time. The group’s repertoire blends jazz standards with inventive treatments of material by artists including the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Leon Russell, and Fleetwood Mac. Syrian has described the band’s approach as taking familiar songs and reshaping them through a modern jazz vocabulary while preserving strong melodies and groove.

Marta Sánchez, Billy Childs, Joe Syrian Motor City Jazz Octet, The Outskirts

by Cheryl K.
April 27, 2026

During this week's two-hour program of jazz and improvised music, vocalists and pianists Dena DeRose and Marta Sánchez; multi-instrumentalist/composer/producer Brian Eaton; pianists Oscar Peterson and Billy Childs; vocalist Catherine Russell; drummer and bandleader Joe Syrian with Motor City Jazz Octet; and The Outskirts.Playlist Teri Thornton “Baby, Won't You Please Come Home" from Teri Thornton ...

Joe Syrian Motor City Jazz Octet: Secret Message

by Jack Bowers
December 15, 2024

No fuss, no frills here, simply forty-seven or so minutes of generally bright and engaging straight-ahead jazz, stylishly performed by drummer Joe Syrian's admirable Detroit-based octet. This is music the group plays often, blending standards from the Great American Songbook with more recent themes by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Leon Russell and others. ...