Everything That's On My Mind

I love living in the Detroit area. I’m not blind to its problems but I’m not blind to its positive attributes, either. One of the best things about living in the Detroit area these days is the Labor Day weekend music extravaganza. The Detroit International Jazz Festival is one of the largest free jazz music festivals in the world and now with Pontiac’s Arts, Beats and Eats festival, there’s high quality music of every style imaginable available at the best price of all…free.

I’ve been heading downtown to the jazz festival for 25 years, though not every year. The last few years we’ve done Arts, Beats and Eats instead. This year, Lori and I went back downtown and had a blast. They’ve expanded the jazz fest over the last few years, both in size and musical scope. I still tend to gravitate towards the traditionalist forms of jazz. Here are some of the highlights:

• Jazzistry: What a cool idea. An audible journey tracing the history of jazz all the way from its roots 150 years ago to today.
• Ferndale H.S. Jazz Band: These kids are REALLY good, especially for a high school group. (Great job Josh!)
• Organissimo: I love the sound of a B3 played by someone who really knows how and Jim Alfredson really, really knows how. Unfortunately, I only caught the end of their set. I’ll have to try to catch them at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge someday.
• Jaco Pastorius Word of Mouth Big Band featuring Will Lee: This was some of the best jazz I’ve ever heard. Will Lee was…well, I just can’t find the words. Amazing doesn’t nearly cover it. Hiram Bulloch sat in on a few tunes and he was great, too.

If you’re a Detroiter, you have a rare opportunity every Labor Day weekend. Don’t miss out next year. Between these two events, you can’t go wrong.