Who are these at the Detroit Jazz Festival?

[jazzmessenger]

I am "publishing" a bunch of photos from last year's Detoroit Jazz Festival at the JazzReview.com website. In order for me to "publish" these photos, I need to identify names of the artists. Can anyone help? Mabye board members in Michigan can help me. I think the drummer is George Davidson, but I am not 100% positive.

[Robert J]

The piano player is Tad Weed.

[jazzmessenger]

Robert,

Thank you!!!

[sheldonm]

The piano player is Tad Weed.

That's correct; I met Tad when he sat in with Donald Byrd at Baker's last year! Nice guys, very good player!

[Dan Gould]

Sorry to hijack your thread, but that's Tad Weed, huh? I never heard of him til a couple of years ago, when I discovered this CD on AMG: A Tribute to Gene Harris (All Story). The review had me curious about it, but I've never been able to find it anywhere.

Weed is known for his more progressive music as a sideman on the Nine Winds label, but he is also an incredible interpreter of standards. In this solo piano tribute to recently deceased pianist Harris, Weed grows great healthy stalks of improvised, two-handed streams of consciousness. It's clear he's a virtuoso, as he plays rambling chords back and forth from both ends of the keyboard with astounding technique and ultimate taste. Except for one of the eleven tracks, these are standards embellished to zenith proportions that even someone like Oscar Peterson should sit up and take notice. The lone original "Gene's Walkin' Upstairs" is an easy paced 4/4 blues so reflective of the jazz-blues mix Harris so readily employed. "Rocking Chair" uses a relaxed, striding swing with extended phrases beyond bar lines, and "Love for Sale" has Weed's modal left hand buoying his roaring right prior to a finger-snapping, quickly strided bridge. At his most deeply bluesy, "Just Squeeze Me" is most demonstrably cage rattling, two-handed yin and yang fury extant, while the steady swing of "Our Love Is Here to Stay" dips into the black bottom most effectively. Weed uses hard tango and stride sections during "You Took Advantage of Me," a legit R&B approach on "I'm Walkin'," and bops hard for "Ray's Idea." His tender side comes out as "You Don't Know What Love Is" marks him a closet romantic, and he uses the ballad form on "Georgia on My Mind" while his hyper-active flourishes take this piece skyward. Weed is a native of Michigan who went to the West Coast to establish his rep but has since returned to the Metro Detroit area. He seems ready to assert himself as a top drawer modern jazz pianist, and this recording indicates he's well on his way.

Does anyone know if Tad has an email or might have the CD for sale himself? Thanks!

[Dan Gould]

Well I'm glad I clicked on this thread ... I went and did another search for Weed's Gene Harris disc and while I couldn't find it, about five pages into a google search of his name got me to his website, where he has the CD for sale. Yipeee!!

[Jim Alfredson]

Tad is a great player. I do not know who the other people are. Maybe Randy can help!!!

[randissimo]

Tad is a great player. I do not know who the other people are. Maybe Randy can help!!!

The drummer is George Davidson. In the early 70's he recordrd and toured with Paul Butterfield. The tenor player could be Donald Waldon though I'm not positive..

[Joe G]

I don't think it's Waldon.

Edited March 18, 2005 by Joe G

[randissimo]

Tad is a great player.  I do not know who the other people are.  Maybe Randy can help!!!

The drummer is George Davidson. In the early 70's he recordrd and toured with Paul Butterfield. The tenor player could be Donald Waldon though I'm not positive..

Duhhhh.... The mystery tenor player is at least 20 yrs younger than Waldon

Tad would know who he is...

[randissimo]

Tad is a great player.  I do not know who the other people are.  Maybe Randy can help!!!

The drummer is George Davidson. In the early 70's he recordrd and toured with Paul Butterfield. The tenor player could be Donald Waldon though I'm not positive..

Duhhhh.... The mystery tenor player is at least 20 yrs younger than Waldon

Tad would know who he is...

My Detroit friend R J Spangler's quess is the tenor player is Vincent Bowen...

[jazzmessenger]

If Organissimo members don't know the tenorman, maybe I am out of luck... Can anyone ask Tad Weed?

[RJS]

I am quite sure that is Vincent Bowens, and he is a great player! He was in Roy Brooks's band back in the day with Gerri Allen (before she had left Detroit), Cass Harris on trumpet and Ralphe Armstrong on bass. Roy called that group the Artistic Truth! Tim Brockett told me Vincent played not that long ago with George Davidson's group at Bert's Marketplace here in Detroit (Tim played organ on the gig). Vincent's brother is Sir Harry Bowens of Was (Not Was) fame.

[jazzmessenger]

Thank you, guys. Indeed, that is Vincent Bowen. I got the confirmation from Tad today.

[jazzmessenger]

I am quite sure that is Vincent Bowens, and he is a great player! He was in Roy Brooks's band back in the day with Gerri Allen (before she had left Detroit), Cass Harris on trumpet and Ralphe Armstrong on bass. Roy called that group the Artistic Truth! Tim Brockett told me Vincent played not that long ago with George Davidson's group at Bert's Marketplace here in Detroit (Tim played organ on the gig). Vincent's brother is Sir Harry Bowens of Was (Not Was) fame.

Tadd said in his E-mail "He's one of Detroit's great tenor players and doesn't get much exposure."

[RJS]

Tadd said in his E-mail "He's one of Detroit's great tenor players and doesn't get much exposure."

Right! He's fantastic and not heard from too often but he has been a resprected cat around Detroit for as long as I can remember (mid '70s). I don't think he has toured much - I am guessing he has a day gig.

[jazzmessenger]

Tadd said in his E-mail "He's one of Detroit's great tenor players and doesn't get much exposure."

Right! He's fantastic and not heard from too often but he has been a resprected cat around Detroit for as long as I can remember (mid '70s). I don't think he has toured much - I am guessing he has a day gig.

Mid-70's? How old is he?

[RJS]

[Mid-70's? How old is he?]

I was pretty young back then so he wasn't much older - I would guess he's in his mid-fifties. Like I said above, I used to see him with Roy Brooks' band the Artsistic Truth before Gerri Allen had left Detroit. She is about my age (48).

[jazzmessenger]

[Mid-70's? How old is he?]

I was pretty young back then so he wasn't much older - I would guess he's in his mid-fifties. Like I said above, I used to see him with Roy Brooks' band the Artsistic Truth before Gerri Allen had left Detroit. She is about my age (48).

I didn't know Geri Allen is that old, either. I saw her a few years ago at the Iowa City Jazz Festival, but I thought she was still in her late 30's!!!

[RJS]

Jazzmessenger, you're making me feel old! Allmusic.com sez:

"In 1979, Allen earned her bachelor's degree in jazz studies from Howard University in Washington, D.C"

So that would make her about 48 years old...

[jazzmessenger]

Jazzmessenger, you're making me feel old!

Sorry... I didn't mean that.

[ghost of miles]

Posted on another jazz board:

Jazz Fan helps save Detroit Free Jazz Fest

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

fan saves Detroit's Labor Day jazz festival

BY MARK STRYKER

FREE PRESS MUSIC WRITER

March 25, 2005

A small, locally based jazz record label with a deep-pocketed owner who has a passion for Detroit has ponied up $250,000 to save the Detroit International Jazz Festival.

ABOUT MACK AVENUE RECORDS

Mack Avenue Records, the new chief sponsor of the Detroit International Jazz Festival, is a Grosse Pointe-based independent jazz label cofounded in 1999 by Gretchen Valade.

She also is the chairwoman of Carhartt Inc., the Dearborn-based manufacturer of work clothes founded in 1889 by Valade's grandfather, Hamilton Carhartt.

Mack Avenue Records, which has been releasing about four CDs a year but hopes to issue eight in 2005, has a roster of a half-dozen nationally known artists, including veterans Terry Gibbs and Gerald Wilson and newcomers like saxophonist Ron Blake and trumpeter Sean Jones.

The label's most acclaimed CD is Wilson's "New York, New Sound," which was a smash with critics and was nominated for a Grammy award in 2004.

Valade began the label with Stix Hooper, a drummer and producer. Originally the label was based in Seattle, but when Hooper left the business, the label reorganized and relocated to Valade's hometown of Grosse Pointe. The company also maintains a business office in Los Angeles, and its chief musical producer is based in New York.

Carhartt Inc. is known for making overalls, flame-resistant work clothes, jeans, jackets, sweatshirts and sportswear. The company's traditional customers have been blue-collar workers, but in recent years the clothes have become hip among fashion-conscious teens and adults. A Web site run by the business reference Hoover's says the company has operations in the United States, Europe and Mexico.

Mack Avenue Records has signed on to become the new headline sponsor of the annual Labor Day weekend festival, which found itself on the brink of extinction last month when Ford Motor Co. chose not to renew its title sponsorship for the first time in a decade.

The festival, produced by Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts, celebrated its 25th anniversary last summer as one of Detroit's most revered cultural events and remains the largest free jazz festival in North America.

The official name of the event will be the Detroit International Jazz Festival Produced by Music Hall. The three-day festival will remain on Labor Day weekend and anchored at Hart Plaza, but also will include the much-discussed expansion into the new Campus Martius park.

The Music Hall board approved the plan Thursday.

Founded in 1999, Mack Avenue Records, headquartered in Grosse Pointe, is an independent label with a national profile. The label has issued about 20 CDs from a diverse roster including established stars like Terry Gibbs and Gerald Wilson and emerging leaders like trumpeter Sean Jones.

Here's where the story takes a peculiarly Detroit twist: Mack Avenue Records has been built on the fortune of its chief executive officer, Gretchen Valade, granddaughter of the founder of Carhartt Inc., the Dearborn-based maker of rugged work clothes that have become hip urban fashion.

When Valade, chairwoman of Carhartt, a Music Hall board member and intense jazz fan of more than 50 years, learned that the festival might die without Ford's support, she decided to take matters into her own hands.

Mack Avenue Records had helped sponsor the festival for the last two years, spending $90,000 in 2004. But it was Valade's idea -- with no prodding from Music Hall management -- to up her commitment.

"I love Detroit, and I love jazz," said Valade, who is also a songwriter. She writes standard-type ballads, one of which was sung by singer-pianist Shirley Horn on a Mack Avenue release.

It was at Valade's insistence that the festival remain on Labor Day weekend -- the only significant condition attached to Mack Avenue Records' sponsorship.

Music Hall officials, led by President Sandy Duncan, had been pursuing a plan to move the festival to early August to avoid direct competition with Arts, Beats & Eats, the gigantic Labor Day weekend street fair in Pontiac that has siphoned casual fans, families and restaurant vendors away from the jazz festival. AB&E, which attracted more than 1.2 million in 2004, now outdraws the downtown event by a 2-to-1 margin.

Valade, however, said that the jazz festival's 25-year Labor Day tradition trumped other concerns.

Mack Avenue Records has signed a one-year deal to sponsor the festival, although label President Tom Robinson said he and Valade were seriously considering adding another two years to the deal. A long-term commitment would be crucial in moving beyond a stopgap solution to the festival's financial struggles. The festival lost more than a million dollars between 2000 and 2003.

Robinson said he and Valade did not want Mack Avenue's name in the festival title because the commercial implications were distasteful. As Duncan put it, "Ford or any other large corporation" wants "to get their name mentioned over and over. Gretchen is not doing it for that. She's doing it because she wants to save a Detroit tradition and not for commercial reasons."

Robinson also said there would be no requirement that a certain number of performance slots at the festival be reserved for Mack Avenue artists. Last year, festival director Frank Malfitano devoted six slots -- about 25 percent of the national acts -- to Mack Avenue musicians. Fewer are likely to play this year, Robinson said, because Mack Avenue has a small pool of musicians and neither the label nor the festival wants to repeat many artists.

Malfitano was traveling on vacation and could not be reached for comment about the artistic ideas for the 2005 festival, which will be held Sept. 3-5.

The withdrawal of Ford's sponsorship threw the festival into its most serious fight for survival in more than a decade. Music Hall officials had said that if no replacement were found for Ford's annual contribution -- 21 percent of the proposed budget for 2005 -- then one of the city's signature cultural events would fold.

In pulling their support, Ford officials cited concerns over Music Hall's budget and business plan for 2005. Robinson said Mack Avenue was confident that Music Hall could pull off the expansion for $1.2 million.

The expansion will include two additional stages devoted to R&B, blues, gospel and rock and a walkway along Woodward Avenue lined with food booths.

Duncan said that although Mack Avenue's sponsorship secures the festival for 2005, the event is not out of the woods financially. About $750,000 remains to be raised. "We still have a lot of work to do," he said.

Still, a small, jazz-friendly headline sponsor like Mack Avenue offers many advantages over a mammoth corporation. Music Hall had trouble meeting Ford's expectations when it came to issues of marketing, meeting deadlines and providing corporate hospitality. Ford also was pushing the festival to secure a TV deal to increase the company's exposure, and that was one of the reasons the festival was considering a date change. Those issues now are moot, said Duncan.

Moreover, while Robinson and Valade want festival attendance to grow, Mack Avenue's straight-ahead jazz profile means that Malfitano might be empowered to take a few more artistic risks.

"For Mack Avenue to feel like the festival has been a success, we want the fans, artists and critics to all say it was a great festival," said Robinson. "That's what will mean a lot to us. We want everybody to leave Detroit with a big smile on their face."

[jazzmessenger]

Ghost,

Thank you for posting the article. I knew about their financial trouble, but I am glad to hear that someone still cares about the festival. IMO, the Detroit Jazz Festival is by far the best festival I have been to. I hope the festival will go on for many more years to come.

[RJS]

I have it on good authority that Mack Ave is owned by the Carhart family in Grosse Pointe. I sure am glad they are spending their money on jazz! I say good for them.