I'm your host, Stephen Henderson.

Labor Day's around the corner and that means one thing the world's largest free jazz festival is soon gonna bring thousands of music lovers to downtown Detroit.

Some of the best jazz artists from around the globe are gonna appear on the Detroit Jazz Festival stages including the 2023 NEA Jazz Masters who are from Detroit: Violinist Regina Carter, drummer Louis Hayes and saxophonist Kenny Garrett.

This year's Artist-in-Residence is also a home-grown talent: drummer and producer Karriem Riggins.

I sat down with the president of the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation, Chris Collins and this year's official poster artist, Brittini Ward, to talk about this year's event.

- So Chris, I say this every year, but I really do mean it.

I look forward to this show more than any other show we do on American Black Journal because it means that the festival is just around the corner.

And, you know, now that we're back to life as it kind of was before the pandemic or at least a close simulation of that, you know, the festival is as big as it ever was.

It is in person, it is this incredible institution and marker in Detroit.

The hair stands up on the back of my neck when I think about Jazz Fest every year.

- Oh, thanks, Stephen.

You know, 44th year this year.

What an amazing tradition of this city and a tradition that's so connected.

The artists so connected to our citizenry and reflects individual arts and the narrative arts and everything else.

It really speaks to us all.

And it's a joyous time, it's a time to celebrate and to come together, and meet new people, and hear some music from some of the most significant creative artists in the field right now.

So I'm equally thrilled.

And thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm.

- Yeah.

So we are going to continue our tradition here of unveiling the Jazz Fest poster, here on American Black Journal.

But before we get to that, I just want to have to talk just a little about the rest of this year and the festival, what's going on, the people that we have coming, the people who we are featuring who are already part of Detroit and the Detroit music scene.

But let's start with Karriem Riggins, this year's Artist-in-Resident.

- Yeah, it's a wonderful thing.

Karriem Riggins, we've talked for a number of years about this and of course, he's been involved along the way in a number of our year-round educational and outreach programs throughout the years, and no doubt this year he was, as well.

And like so many things, you'll see the culmination of his work at the Detroit Jazz Festival, like so many other year-round Detroit Jazz Fest Foundation projects.

So, you know, he brings something new as you'll see, through the entire festival lineup.

We're always looking for artists that are bringing something new to the genre, the art, and the dimensions of evolution that the art is going through.

And Karriem brings something special, this highly respected drummer in the jazz world by all accounts.

And then he has this whole other life in the hip hop and electronic music scene.

He has a new label that's under his name coming out and it represents someone who can truly bring together artistically, these two worlds in a way no one's been quite able to do before.

And he'll be doing that over three different performances throughout the festival.

It's going to (audio distortion) the trajectory and I'm sure (audio distortion).

- Yeah.

Brittini Ward, I wanna bring you into the conversation now and that's because we wanna talk about this year's Jazz Fest poster.

And you are the poster artist just for that.

It really is a stunning work of art, but it also, you know, each year I say this as well, it really does capture the sense of who we are as Detroiters and the fact that this is the Detroit Jazz Festival.

But Brittini, talk about how you came up with the imagery and the idea that you have in this year's poster.

- Yeah, thank you for that and so grateful to be here.

I created the poster to give reverence to my granddad and my father who were the introducers of jazz in my own life.

I remember just traveling through the back seat, then the front seat with my dad, listening to all types of jazz, him making up stories to the Pat Metheney's like, music.

Like, there's this little boy traveling like, telling stories to jazz.

My granddad and his da-da-da, da-da, you know, like, going downtown, I mean going down south for a family reunion.

So anyway, all of that was in my brain plus more as I'm creating this poster because, you know, my dad, he recently transitioned and so did my granddad and I wanted to give reverence to them, just to find another way to channel my own grief into a work of art.

- Yeah.

So there are two figures in the poster this year.

That also makes me feel right at home.

I'm like, they look like Detroiters.

(audio distortion) Who are you drawing on for those figures?

Is that also a reflection of the people who introduced you to jazz, your family?

- Yes, so I would say on the left, that represents me, a woman.

And then right there's a male.

That represent both my dad and my granddad.

And my granddad always wore those hats, like, you know, the hats (audio distortion).

(Stephen chuckling) (audio distortion) Barbecuing hat, I don't know.

But yeah, you see there's no one else in the same, like, physical structure on there because that was just like this bringing together of me and my father, me and my granddad.

(audio distortion) intimacy between both of us, articulated through the poster.

- Yeah.

You know, it's really interesting to hear you talk about the poster and the inspiration for it.

I think for so many of us in Detroit, that is how we came to love the music.

Same story for me.

My dad listened to jazz all day every day on the radio and on the record player.

And there was no other music in his house.

And so that's how I came to be the fan that I am of jazz, as well.

WJZZ of course, played a huge role in all that.

That's maybe a little older than what you would remember, Brittini, but.

(Stephen chuckles) - I heard about it on a tour.

- There you go.

So Chris, again, a big hit, another year with the poster.

Talk about how important that poster is to the legacy of the fest.

- I was immediately touched.

You know, we had an open call for artists as we've done in the past.

And I was immediately touched by the emotion and sentimentality that was represented in these two figures that are alone, but at a major jazz festival with hundred thousands of people.

And yet, their sphere of existence is quite intimate between the two of them.

And it speaks to something artists and patrons go through in jazz, which is this passing on of the language and the stories and the history of this music.

And Brittini captured that so beautifully in such a personal way, and yet in a way, as you said, that touches all of us.

I too, it was my father and his old record collection and talking about, you know, Art Blakey and Coleman Hawkins that got me hooked.

And before I knew it, I was begging to buy a saxophone and try to copy those records, you know.

And you'll get a sense of that throughout the festival as a patron and the artists on the stage.

We talked about Karriem, but, you know, the mix of artists this year, some (audio distortion) enjoy NEA Jazz Master Series, you know, three of the four NEA Jazz Masters this year are from Detroit, Kenny Garrett and Louis Hayes.

And they'll all be with us at the festival with the John Scofield, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jason Moran, Danilo Perez, it goes on and on.

We have some wonderful women leaders, Miho Hazama, Melissa Aldana, Alexa Tarantino, Linda May Han Oh.

These are up and coming, important musicians in the jazz world.

And then we have all our Detroiters, you know, that lives in the world that Brittini lives in where it's about a family experience, a community experience our tribute to Gretchen Valade on opening night, one of the most important figures, a great angel of jazz here that'll feature a bunch of Detroiters and national artists all together to pay tribute to her.

And then also, we have the Detroit Piano Legacy Tribute, you know, with the passing of Barry two years ago.

It was quite emotional for all of us.

We wanted to prepare or do something special.

So throughout the festival, you'll see performances by our current Detroit pianist celebrating the continuation of that legacy along with artists that knew and others in a very particular way.

So a lot of Detroit presence right up to our Artist-in-Residence who's a Detroit native and of course, Brittini, who has captured so beautifully the message of jazz, the message of Detroit and the message of the Detroit Jazz Festival.

- Yeah.

- By the way, presented this year by the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe, another one of- - Oh, right, right.

- Gretchen's inventions and what a coming together of a beautiful family of companies.

So we're very happy to have them on board.

- So Chris, talk just a little bit about the state of the festival and again, now we are back to full-on in-person, that's really, really important.

But also, put that in the context of some of the other things are going on around the city with jazz, including the opening soon of the Valade Center, right, at Wayne State.

And I watched them build that building and the whole time I'm like, I am gonna go there so much.

I cannot wait for that to be done.

- The Gretchen C. Valade Jazz Center, yeah, it's under deep renovation now and we hope to have it opening in late spring, early summer.

But it is a celebration of all things Gretchen of excellence.

The main hall is specifically acoustically designed in every way for jazz, which is unusual, 350 seats.

It will be that place we all need across the globe.

And the downstairs is going to be a jazz club scene.

And it's about 120 seats, super intimate.

And so there's gonna be a lot going.

You take that in collaboration with our great jazz clubs to keep jazz alive, you know, all year 'round.

In fact, we have our jam sessions Friday and Saturday night this year during the festival at Cliff Bell's because we wanna support our clubs, we wanna get people out on the town.

And then we also have, you know, a lot of young people who, for the first generation they're telling me they're not leaving town when they get to their profession.

They are going to stay in Detroit 'cause there's so much opportunity here.

And you mix that all with Jazz Festival Foundation and the festival itself, you know, we keep that level of excellence and perfection alive.

If we can't do it right, we do not do it.

This is an art form and it should be heard and seen as that.

That's why we all, again, on YouTube and Facebook, and what not, and also the raw live streams where you can pick any station you want at DetroitJazzFest.org.

And that's free and that attracts about two million people along with the 325,000 at the festival.

The challenge, of course, is economic.

It is a business and as we all know, costs have tripled in many production areas.

And we pay the artists a competitive with every festival and we employee hundreds and hundreds of stage-hand workers and so on.

And that, be honest, that becomes a struggle as our sponsors and independent donors and everyone who donates $5 understands but it makes a difference.

And we found in our audit this year, by the way, 87 cents of every dollar goes directly to programming.

That's a big number because it says how committed we are to the real thing.

So we're not wasting money, but boy, economy and business scale and our insistence to take care of everyone well is a challenge.

So we work through that every year and we look to our wonderful family of donors and sponsors, and grantors to satisfy the income need to produce it.

- Yeah.

Brittini, I wanna bring you back into the conversation and have you talk just a little about other kinds of inspirations you find in your work, what made you wanna be an artist and maybe the influence of music over the art, right?

I mean, we talk about these things as though they're separate, music and art, but really, they're all part of that same continuum, I think, of creativity and ideas.

Where do you find that spark?

- Yes, so if I can bring my dad back into the conversation, honestly, you know, all of his gifts I have, you know, like the singing, the dancing, the drawing, all of the, the rapping, like, so much, you know.

A lot of my work is spiritual, honestly.

And so you'll see that in the poster as well, these figures that are just outlines in white and also the colors of the black and then the blue grass.

You'll see it's like just inter-weaving through these dimensions of spirituality, the (audio drops) you know, here in the present time.

Just everything that music is, as well.

It's inter-generational.

It's transitional.

It's multi-dimensional.

It just touches you, mind, body and soul.

So yeah, a lot of my artwork revolves around spirituality.

It has, of course, grown over the years.

I started with spoken word, that was my first, I guess, medium of art, just to release, as a child, just writing, telling stories about my brother's junky room, I don't know, just (audio distortion).

And then it become more intentional and yeah, now I'm really in the business around Detroit to just allow others to tap into their own third chakras, their own forms of release.

Creating spaces for release is what I do in the city, as well.

- Yeah.

I mean, I am sure the pride that you'll have knowing that this poster, you created this art.

And this incredible Detroit institution will carry you for a long time.

And of course we can see, I imagine we're seeing some of your work behind you, as well.

- Oh, yes, there's so much going on.

I honestly have not shown my paintings or artwork to the world, really.

Like, I haven't really (audio distortion) a part.

Yeah, I'm gonna start, I just don't wanna let 'em go.

But I need to start.

- Yes, start, start.

- It's becoming a lot, like they're everywhere.

This is just a couple.

Like, it's on the wall.

You see it's like stacks of 'em over here.

Like, okay, let 'em go, you know, or show them.

So yeah, it's definitely my artwork.

- You're gonna start in just a few minutes, let me tell ya.

- Okay.

(all chuckling) - That's right.

Okay, well, Chris Collins and Brittini Ward, great to have you here on American Black Journal.

And Chris, again, congratulations on keeping this sturdy institution going here in the city and I will see you downtown, for sure.

- Thank you, Stephen and Brittini, thank you for everything.

You're a jewel.

- Thank you, thank you both.