Pete C Posted May 14, 2012 Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 This year I'll be going to my first Detroit Jazz Festival. I couldn't resist after seeing this lineup: http://detroitjazzfest.com/12lineup.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted May 14, 2012 Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 Wow! I think that's the best festival lineup I've seen in twenty years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted May 14, 2012 Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 Who knows, maybe George Benson will even be inspired to stick with the good stuff and less of the slick stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Stryker Posted May 14, 2012 Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 (edited) Who knows, maybe George Benson will even be inspired to stick with the good stuff and less of the slick stuff. Point of clarification: The George Benson performing is not the famous guitarist but a veteran Detroit saxophonist (in his 80s, a bebopper, day gig career as a mailman but always an important local player). I'm on a zillion deadlines so can't pull up my own stories about this year's Detroit line up but if I get a chance later, I'll post them. Edited May 14, 2012 by Mark Stryker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted May 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 Point of clarification: The George Benson performing is not the famous guitarist but a veteran Detroit saxophonist (in his 80s, a bebopper, day gig career as a mailman but always an important local player). And I believe he'll be playing with Rick Margitza, who was his student. Wow! I think that's the best festival lineup I've seen in twenty years. It's definitely the most high-profile list I've seen in the U.S., especially considering it's a free event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertoart Posted May 14, 2012 Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 Who knows, maybe George Benson will even be inspired to stick with the good stuff and less of the slick stuff. Point of clarification: The George Benson performing is not the famous guitarist but a veteran Detroit saxophonist (in his 80s, a bebopper, day gig career as a mailman but always an important local player). I'm on a zillion deadlines so can't pull up my own stories about this year's Detroit line up but if I get a chance later, I'll post them. Sounds like the perfect guy for George Benson the guitar player to sit in with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted May 14, 2012 Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 Astonishing line-up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head Man Posted May 14, 2012 Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 This year I'll be going to my first Detroit Jazz Festival. I couldn't resist after seeing this lineup: http://detroitjazzfest.com/12lineup.html You...LUCKY, LUCKY people! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted May 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 This year I'll be going to my first Detroit Jazz Festival. I couldn't resist after seeing this lineup: http://detroitjazzfest.com/12lineup.html You...LUCKY, LUCKY people! New York, North Yorkshire, it's a flight away for either of us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted May 14, 2012 Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 You...LUCKY, LUCKY people! Makes the likes of Bath and Cheltenham this year look like a joke ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted May 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 Makes the likes of Bath and Cheltenham this year look like a joke ! I once took a day trip to Bath (in the '90s, I believe) during the May bank holiday with a friend who was teaching a London sememster for his California college. It turns out it was the time of the Bath Festival, and we wandered into some tent or shed and caught Julian Joseph's sound check/rehearsal. He had a great tenor player, but I didn't catch his name. The UK Festival I'd love to get to this year (but can't) is Back2Black in London. http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=13328 My last time in London was June of '09 for Ornette's Meltdown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted May 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 I'm on a zillion deadlines so can't pull up my own stories about this year's Detroit line up but if I get a chance later, I'll post them. http://www.freep.com/article/20120416/ENT04/120416076/Full-list-artists-announced-Detroit-Jazz-Festival http://www.freep.com/article/20120418/ENT04/120418061/Jazz-Festival-might-move-all-riverfront-event Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted May 14, 2012 Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 It turns out it was the time of the Bath Festival, and we wandered into some tent or shed and caught Julian Joseph's sound check/rehearsal. Sounds like the Pavilion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregK Posted May 15, 2012 Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 Who knows, maybe George Benson will even be inspired to stick with the good stuff and less of the slick stuff. Point of clarification: The George Benson performing is not the famous guitarist but a veteran Detroit saxophonist (in his 80s, a bebopper, day gig career as a mailman but always an important local player). I'm on a zillion deadlines so can't pull up my own stories about this year's Detroit line up but if I get a chance later, I'll post them. Sounds like the perfect guy for George Benson the guitar player to sit in with Should have formed a quartet with Bill Evans and Bill Evans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Stryker Posted May 15, 2012 Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 I'm on a zillion deadlines so can't pull up my own stories about this year's Detroit line up but if I get a chance later, I'll post them. http://www.freep.com/article/20120416/ENT04/120416076/Full-list-artists-announced-Detroit-Jazz-Festival http://www.freep.com/article/20120418/ENT04/120418061/Jazz-Festival-might-move-all-riverfront-event Pete: Thanks for digging up those links. Unfortunately, the link to the first story that broke the news of the line-up had expired. I've copied the story below, because it gives some interesting context and details about the Shorter tribute and more. Sonny Rollins, Pat Metheny, Wynton Marsalis to play at Detroit Jazz Festival BYLINE: By Mark Stryker, Detroit Free Press SECTION: ENTERTAINMENT NEWS LENGTH: 910 words DETROIT _ Anyone concerned that a recent leadership change at the top of the Detroit Jazz Festival might mean a lowering of artistic ambitions or an increase in commercial crossover styles can breathe a sigh of relief. The 2012 lineup assembled by new artistic director Chris Collins reaffirms the festival's core commitment to the jazz tradition and opens a window on the personal vision that Collins, the first professional jazz musician to lead the Detroit festival, brings to the job. The lineup reveals a generous helping of no-nonsense veteran jazz stars, such as the 81-year-old tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, neither of whom have played the festival since 1987, and guitarist Pat Metheny, who will make his festival debut. A diversity of styles is on display, including left-of-center musicians such as trumpeter Dave Douglas, saxophonist Ellery Eskelin and drummer Gerald Cleaver. And there are promising streaks of curatorial flair, including a multifaceted tribute to the influential saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter. "I want to enhance the core of the festival as a mainstream festival," said Collins, 47, a tenor saxophonist and clarinetist and director of jazz studies at Wayne State University. "But mainstream jazz is a big term, and I don't mean to imply that it's simply late '50s or '60s post-bop. It includes artists who come from the jazz tradition but have gone in all sorts of different directions with different influences. But they've fallen from the jazz tree, rather than a blues band with a little jazz thrown in or an African band with some jazz improvisation." Entering its 33rd year, the Detroit Jazz Festival on Labor Day weekend is the largest free-of-charge jazz festival in North America. The festival spreads from Hart Plaza to Campus Martius and Cadillac Square in downtown Detroit. This year's dates are Aug. 31-Sept. 3. Late last year Collins replaced Terri Pontremoli, the highly respected director of the festival for the previous five years. Her contract was not renewed after tensions developed with leaders of the nonprofit foundation that sponsors and operates the festival: chair and major benefactor Gretchen Valade and president Tom Robinson. Pontremoli is credited with elevating the festival to a new artistic peak, introducing an artist-in-residence and thematic programming and deepening community connections. The resident artist component remains: Trumpeter Terence Blanchard, whose residency was already in the works when Collins took over, will lead his own band and act as musical director of a tribute to Art Blakey. But Collins has excised an overarching theme in favor of what he calls subthemes and mini-residencies. The most ambitious is the tribute to the 78-year-old Shorter. The festival is commissioning arrangers, from national figures to local musicians, to recast for big band Shorter's landmark compositions. They'll be performed by a Detroit festival orchestra with guest soloists such as saxophonists Steve Wilson and Donny McCaslin. A multimedia presentation will honor Shorter before his pace-setting quartet performs. "When Wayne comes on it will be a finale of all of this stuff we've done to celebrate him in all facets," Collins says. "He's incredibly important, and we want to show the impact he's had." Here are more programming details. Additional national artists will be formally announced April 17, and regional and local acts will be announced in early summer. Marsalis will front a quintet. Metheny will lead a quartet featuring saxophonist Chris Potter. Pianist Chick Corea and vibraphonist Gary Burton will be joined by the Harlem String Quartet. Douglas will co-lead a quintet with saxophonist Joe Lovano with Lawrence Fields, James Genus and Joey Barron. Detroit's historic role as a jazz mecca is to be honored through homecomings for trombonist Curtis Fuller, saxophonists Kenny Garrett, Charles McPherson and Rick Margitza; multi-reedman Charlie Gabriel, and drummer Gerald Cleaver. Fuller will appear with the Blakey tribute that also includes Bill Pierce, Geoff Keezer, Peter Washington and Lewis Nash. McPherson is to co-lead a quintet with trumpeter Tom Harrell. Garrett will lead his quartet. Margitza will appear with his hometown mentor, George Benson. Cleaver will front his band Uncle June. Gabriel will appear with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band of New Orleans in two sets, including one under a Delta-to-Detroit tent with guests Christian Scott, Donald Harrison and James Andrews. An organ trio theme will offer three takes on the genre, from Ellery Eskelin's post-free group to the post-bop of Larry Goldings/Peter Bernstein/Bill Stewart and the grits 'n' gravy of the Godfathers of the Groove with Rueben Wilson, Bernard Purdie and others. A festival big band, choir and vocal soloists will revive the Duke Ellington Sacred Music concert with conductor David Berger that was performed at Orchestra Hall in February. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted May 15, 2012 Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 Wow! I think that's the best festival lineup I've seen in twenty years. Thanks Mark! I take it back. This might be the best festival in fifty years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head Man Posted May 15, 2012 Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 This year I'll be going to my first Detroit Jazz Festival. I couldn't resist after seeing this lineup: http://detroitjazzfest.com/12lineup.html You...LUCKY, LUCKY people! New York, North Yorkshire, it's a flight away for either of us! Perhaps a tad further for me. But you're right....it's all in the mind! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Bresnahan Posted May 15, 2012 Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 Shoot, that lineup has me looking up flights and hotels! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted May 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 Shoot, that lineup has me looking up flights and hotels! Kevin, if you're serious, the Greektown Casino Hotel has a rate of $145 on a number of travel sites (I booked through Expedia; the hotel's own site has higher rates). It's highly rated on Tripadvisor and is a short walk from the festival stages. Perhaps a tad further for me. But you're right....it's all in the mind! You're closer to the Detroit Jazz Festival than I am to the Umbria Jazz Festival, fwiw... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted May 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 Cleaver's Uncle June is a great band. I saw them a few years back. The biggest problem will be choosing which stage to go to at any particular time, but I've managed with 14 concurrent stages at the North Sea festival. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted May 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2012 the Greektown Casino Hotel has a rate of $145 on a number of travel sites Only 2 rooms left for Saturday 9/1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertoart Posted May 16, 2012 Report Share Posted May 16, 2012 Who knows, maybe George Benson will even be inspired to stick with the good stuff and less of the slick stuff. Point of clarification: The George Benson performing is not the famous guitarist but a veteran Detroit saxophonist (in his 80s, a bebopper, day gig career as a mailman but always an important local player). I'm on a zillion deadlines so can't pull up my own stories about this year's Detroit line up but if I get a chance later, I'll post them. Sounds like the perfect guy for George Benson the guitar player to sit in with Should have formed a quartet with Bill Evans and Bill Evans. A new double quartet concept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregK Posted May 16, 2012 Report Share Posted May 16, 2012 People planning on coming here for the fest, don't forget Windsor, just across the river (of course you'll need transportation to downtown Detroit) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted May 16, 2012 Report Share Posted May 16, 2012 People planning on coming here for the fest, don't forget Windsor, just across the river (of course you'll need transportation to downtown Detroit) If you're going to do that, don't forget your passport! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted May 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2012 (edited) The lineup on the festival website has been updated and "cleaned up," though they still need to fix the line spacing on some groups. http://detroitjazzfest.com/12lineup.html Edited May 17, 2012 by Pete C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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