- Coming up on "American Black Journal", one of my favorite shows of the year, the world's largest free Jazz Festival is back with live in-person performances over the Labor Day weekend.

We're gonna talk about the lineup for the Detroit Jazz Festival plus you'll get the first look at this year's official poster.

And we're gonna have a performance by one of our guests, jazz violinists, Leslie DeShazor.

Stay right there, "American Black Journal" starts right now (bright music) - [Narrator] From Delta Faucets to Behr Paint.

(soft lively music) Masco Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.

Masco serving Michigan communities since 1929.

Support also provided by the Cynthia and Edsel Ford Fund for journalism at Detroit Public TV.

- [Narrator] The DTE Foundation proudly supports 50 years of "American Black Journal" in covering African American history, culture and politics.

The DTE Foundation and "American Black Journal" partners in presenting African American perspectives about our communities and in our world.

- [Narrator] Also brought to you by Nissan Foundation and viewers like you.

Thank you.

(percussive music) - Welcome to "American Black Journal".

I'm Stephen Henderson.

The sounds of jazz will once again fill downtown Detroit over the Labor Day weekend as an annual tradition returns to in-person performances.

The Detroit Jazz Festival is gonna entertain live audiences after going virtual the past two years because of the pandemic.

I sat down with the president of the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation, Chris Collins, violinist, Leslie DeShazor, and Rhonda Welsh from the festival's educational partner, Central Michigan University to talk about this year's big event.

So Chris, I'm gonna start with you.

What's new this year at the Jazz Festival?

I go every year, I know lots of people who do.

You don't have to sell me, but (chuckles) what are the high points this year that people can expect?

- Well, 43 years in and still all jazz and still all free.

In fact, one of the beautiful parts we've extended this year, lessons learned from '20 and '21, we accumulated last year, two and a half million viewers in 32 countries around the world in our broadcast only event.

And so we've been appealing to them all year round with online programming.

And this year, in addition to coming in-person downtown Detroit, the 325,000 or so folks that join us over the four days, we are also offering through our website all four stages live streamed.

You can select anything you wanna watch to the world for free.

So it extends our mission to everyone, jazz for everyone and jazz free for everyone.

We'll also be putting that out in some public radio stations, public television, in other places, if people don't have wifi.

But the point is it is going to collectively with the people live in-person and the people watching online one of the largest jazz audiences for any jazz events.

So be a part of it.

That's what makes it special in addition to, of course, being one of the great, great, great, well-known global Jazz Festivals on the planet.

- Yeah.

I think, that's worth talking a little more about this idea that you're able to reach that many people.

This was always a very big festival and there's lots of people who came downtown for.

I mean you're able to extend that region away that I couldn't have imagined just a few years ago and it's because you had to, but that's a good thing.

I mean, that's a great thing, not just for the festival, but for Detroit itself to have us on that big of a stage for this premier event.

- Well, you put your finger on it.

It's a statement about the tenacity of the Jazz Festival team, our incredible stage workers, everyone that does everything that makes it happen.

And it exports to the world what we do here in Detroit.

And we put our backbone into everything.

And in fact, in 2020, our first broadcast only event, pretty much everything else shut down, but we had this technology in the works for a number of years with our Detroit Jazz Festival live app.

And of course, we didn't have tickets to rely on.

So we produced that festival and we broadcast only on four stages.

And we had nearly a million viewers.

The following year, in 2021, when we did it, we were told, oh you're gonna compete with the Sunshine.

It won't be as good.

And I had to have my metrics folks check it three times, we were up to nearly two and a half million by the end of the festival.

So let's learn from that.

Let's keep it high def for everyone to see in here whether they come down in-person to downtown Detroit or watch it at detroitjazzfest.org.

They can be part of this huge jazz audience that rarely, merely happens in the world.

And quite frankly, it's an extension of our mission, because we work very hard with our incredible sponsors including Central Michigan University and our presenting sponsor, the great Rocket Mortgage again this year, Absopure, Carhartt and Comcast, many others, to make sure the festival stays free for everyone.

So this simply extends it from Detroit around the world and what a beautiful message it sends.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm gonna come back to you, Chris, in a little bit and we're gonna gonna have our annual tradition here on "American Black Journal" of unveiling the Jazz Fest poster.

Right here, I see it over your shoulder there, and it's kind of getting anxious to know what it is.

But first, I wanna talk a little with Rhonda Welsh about Central Michigan's involvement in this, not just as a sponsor but as kind of an anchor for the idea of the educational part of this.

This is not just a concert.

This is not just thinking about how much we love jazz.

It's about making sure that the next generation of jazz musicians gets exposure and opportunity.

- Wow.

You have just taken the words right off my mouth, man.

For the last three years, and we've been involved more than three years, but for the last three years, we've been specifically involved with the Collegiate Combo Competition.

And that's exactly what we're striving to do is making certain that we're exposing this music and the culture of the Jazz Festival to future generations by being a sponsor.

That's how we see it.

We see that we are helping to engage in the vibrancy of this great city.

And the city of Detroit is so integral to our success as a university.

So it just makes sense for us to support the Jazz Fest for over 40 years.

This has been an enduring institution here in our city.

And so we are pleased and proud to be a part.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

Leslie, a little later in the program, we are gonna hear a performance that you've recorded for us, but first, talk about your involvement with the Jazz Festival, which has gone on for a long time, and tell us what you're doing this year at the festival.

- Sure.

I have been fortunate to be a part of the string section for a lot of the major headliners, which has been a really fortunate because I remember the years where I didn't get to participate, I'd be hanging around all the time.

(Stephen laughing) I did get to play years ago with Teddy Harris' and Donald Walden's jazz orchestra, but, of course, they passed on, and that orchestra (faintly speaking) continue.

So I would just be kind of like a stage rat just hanging around.

But so then Chris started bringing acts in and bringing the orchestra in.

And fortunately, I was one of the people who got called.

So I think probably the highlight was Roy Hargrove 'cause I have always been a huge Roy fan, but there were a lot.

Wayne Shorter.

We got rained out.

We still had a rehearsal with him, which is really awesome.

So this year, when it was time to submit for artists, I was like, okay, I'm gonna submit.

This is my first time submitting 'cause this is the first real year that I've actually stepped out as a solo artist.

I've done a lot of backing, a lot of orchestra playing, a lot of side man playing.

So the pandemic gave me time to finish recording my vision in terms of my record.

And so thankfully, I was accepted as one of the artist to to play as a part of the festival.

So my band, as Chris mentioned, is a quintet.

It'll be drums, keys, guitar, and bass, and myself.

I'll play mostly electric five string violin, which has the range of a violin and the viola.

I'll probably also play some viola on that.

But it's a kind of a unique sound and obviously that I'm a string player, who's a band leader.

But also it has some reminiscent, like fusion feeling, a little bit more of like a groove oriented feel.

So I'm excited.

This is big for me because I have not really been able to do this and I've always wanted to and this is obviously a huge platform for music and a lot of like really dedicated fans.

So I'm very, very excited about this.

- What I love about your story is that there's this great arc to it that you start out doing one thing and then one day you find yourself on stage leading your own ensemble.

That's a really important part of the festival.

And it's one of the things that we're able, I think, to really celebrate here, because the festival is such a powerful institution.

Leslie, did you ever imagine, I guess, that it would get to this point?

- I didn't think it would so quickly, because I know people who have been trying to get in the festival for a long time.

(Stephen and Leslie laughing) - I can't, right?

- And don't, yeah.

I'm sure there's so many amazing submissions and so many amazing artists and I'm sure for the committee who is choosing, it's really hard to narrow it down.

I would not wanna be in their shoes.

I'm sure they get a lot of feedback.

Maybe something didn't wanna hear.

(Stephen and Leslie laughing) So it did happen pretty quickly, but I think that also is due to the fact that I've been working in the city for a long time, not really a spring chicken.

(Stephen and Leslie laughing) I'm not sure exactly why, but I think having had some legs in the city already does help, but I really think that the project is really different and unique.

I won't say how great it is.

I'll let you be the one to decide that.

(Stephen laughing) But it is like a dream come true.

I always sit at every festival and I'm like, oh, I wanna be that.

- I wanna do that, right?

- Yeah.

(laughs) (Stephen laughing) This is really great.

- Yeah, that's very cool.

Okay, Chris, we're gonna come back to you now and talk about the poster for this year.

Have our great unveiling.

- Yes, indeed.

And I will just say Leslie and Ron are such great examples of the kind of community effort that makes this Detroit Jazz Festival so special.

And Leslie, there's no committee.

When I came in 11 years ago, I said that artistic director has to choose the artist and I listened for great music.

And then we look for very special projects and that's how the artists find their way to stage.

So we're so happy to have you.

You have a very special project and I will say it's great because it is.

So she's on Sunday at 3:45 at the Pyramid Stage on the 4th of September.

So with that said, and, of course, there's a million artists we could talk about.

Right now, there's a very special artist and it's the cat who created the artwork, that is the poster for the 2022 Detroit Jazz Festivals.

We go all over the world looking for artists including our own backyard.

We have many Detroit artists who've done posters.

This year, I turned to a collaboration we've had in Japan for many, many years with different festivals.

And this year with the Tottori Jazz Festival in Japan, an exchange that will result in a collaborative band that will play both in Detroit and in Japan in October.

And there's a marvelous artist who does sketches and does some amazing work.

I just brought one of his books here.

You can see these amazing photos that they're actually a wire structures that he creates and then takes photographs out in the nature.

His name is Koichiro Tokumochi, Koichiro Tokumochi.

And not only will he be here, we'll have a display of many of his works in a gallery we're gonna set up in the Marriott.

And he has created the 2022 Detroit Jazz Festival poster.

Steven, you think it's time?

- I think it's time.

I'm ready.

- All right, let's do it.

The traditional Stephen Henderson, "American Black Journal" unveiling.

Here we go.

High tech, by the way (Stephen laughing) And here it is.

- Oh, look at that.

Oh my goodness.

I love it.

(laughs) - Super, super hip.

He is quite the sketch artist.

All the elements of different instruments and hands, this community vibe that he's created, but in his sort of avant-garde freeway, which is reflective of the music.

I absolutely love it.

- Yeah, yeah.

It's really great.

I mean, they're great every year, right?

I've never seen one that I'm like, eh, that's not so good.

(laughs) But this one is particularly like noticeable.

I mean, that stark contrast between the gold and then that kind of wire, that wire depiction of the figures there is really cool.

- And you will see some of his really large structures and other elements in the display.

And by the way, he will be here for the Tottori Detroit reunion band, which is playing at the festival, and sketching and creating art live to the performance, which you'll be able to see at detroitjazzfest.org as it happens on the live stream.

So he's gonna be very present, someone that you'll get a chance to meet an amazingly interesting and thoughtful and visionary individual.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

That's really great.

So Chris, tell me about the headliners, who people are gonna wanna come down and see this Labor Day weekend.

- Indeed.

Well, we have the great cornerstone of our hometown artists, those global artists that have chosen to live here in Detroit throughout the festival, which we can talk about, but, of course, we have to start with our artist in residence, who is the great Chucho Valdes.

The godfather of Cuban jazz will be performing three times throughout the festival and opening the festival with a new piece of his called creation, which brings together his ensemble with some of the Detroit orchestra members.

It's gonna be pretty special.

Followed by the great Soul Rebel.

It's just a party into the wee hours on Friday, September 2nd.

And then we have quite a mix.

I really look for kind of a new vibe, a new sheen.

So while we have the legends.

Abdula Ibrahim is with us.

The Lighthouse Project with Dave Liebman is with us and many others.

We also have cats like Roosevelt Collier.

He's this jazz steel guitar player with a real aggressive, energetic thing happening.

Donny McCaslin is with us with his new electronic project.

Nubya Garcia is with us from London.

These are folks that have a completely new perspective on the music, but it's jazz, it's jazz inside and out but it's a youthful perspective.

We've got Georgia Anne Muldrow, one of my favorite singers coming up.

She brings electronic and rap and different elements into her music that makes it really fresh, but still jazz.

Along with Julian Lage, one of the great most recognized young guitar players.

And then Bill Frisell, who was one of his mentors, also both playing at the festival.

And then we have so many of the well-known artists that people really love to hear.

Coming home to Detroit, Dianne Reeves is with us this year.

And Theo Croker, young trumpet player, playing with a seasoned veteran, Gary Bartz.

These kind of things bring something very special.

Along with another cat coming home to Detroit, the great, great, great legend, Charles McPherson, is with us this year.

These are heavy cats along with so many of our Detroit artists like Leslie, and we have Ralph Armstrong is playing with his trio, couple of young cats, Tom Bartelmay's quartet and Sean Pearl Motors quartet is coming up doing something special.

Mike Dease, a great trombones, has a wonderful quintet.

Just a mix of different generations and different vibes and different sounds, a wonderful vocalist named Anissa that you're gonna wanna hear.

She's very, very special.

So you put it all together, four stages continuous for four days, a surprise around every corner.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

And again, free.

That always amazes me that you're able to maintain all of this and it grows over time and it gets bigger and you never say, hey, we've gotta start charging a fee.

And that's not the knock the other festivals that have to do to survive.

But it is to celebrate the idea that this is such a powerful draw and institution here in Detroit.

And there's so much support for what you're doing and for preserving it and helping it to grow that you're able to give all those to us for free.

I can go sit down on the lawn at Campus Martius and just kinda be there all weekend.

- Yeah.

Hey, you got it.

And it does take a community to make that happen.

Although we are now looking 10 and 20 years down the road where we wanna make sure it stays free and it stays jazz for our children and their children.

So of course, we have our text to give campaign.

You can go to detroitjazzfest.org and make a small or large or lifetime donation.

There's all sorts of ways to give.

If you've been coming for a while, if you have a little extra this year, it'd be a great time to give so that we can set those foundations for the vision into the future.

So this is there for everyone forever and that takes a community's help.

- Yeah.

And Rhonda, I mean, you have a choice really of all the kind of different things you could support in the city of Detroit or festivals.

The idea of attaching to this one, which, of course, is one of the things that helps keep it free.

Talk about why the Jazz Fest?

- Well, one of the things that we know is that arts and culture help to build community.

It helps to build conversation.

It helps to build a narrative about a city.

So because this is such an enduring institution, we really see how this helps to lift up our community.

And that's actually one of our brand fillers that we lift each other up.

And so we know that by participating in the Detroit Jazz Festival, we hope to lift up our community.

And I love what you just said, Chris, about bringing in some of these new musicians with a different perspective, that helps to ensure the future of jazz.

And like I mentioned earlier, one of the things that we want to do is make certain that we're exposing new generations to this music.

And so that's the why.

- The Detroit Jazz Festival runs from September 2nd through September 5th.

We'll have a link to the full lineup plus more about our guests at americanblackjournal.org.

We're gonna leave you now with a performance by the Leslie DeShazor quintet.

Enjoy it.

And we'll see you next time.

(drum music) (soft jazz music) (soft jazz music) (soft jazz music) (soft jazz music) (soft jazz music) (soft jazz music) (audience applauding) - [Narrator] From Delta faucets to Behr Paint.

(soft lively music) Masco Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.

Masco serving Michigan communities since 1929.

Support also provided by the Cynthia and Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit Public TV.

- [Narrator] The DTE Foundation proudly supports 50 years of "American Black Journal" in covering African American history, culture and politics.

The DTE Foundation and "American Black Journal" partners in presenting African American perspectives about our communities and in our world.

- [Narrator] Also brought to you by Nissan Foundation and viewers like you.

Thank you.