- Hi, I'm Satori Shakoor, and here's what's coming up on "One Detroit Arts & Culture."

A benefit concert for Ukraine, A jazz artist, friends reflect on how tragedies in the world have an impact on them, and a dance performance with Afro rooted traditions.

It's all ahead on "One Detroit Arts & Culture."

(rhythmic drumming) - [Announcer] From Delta Faucets to Behr Paint, 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.

- [Announcer] Support for this program is provided by the Cynthia & Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit Public TV.

The Kresge Foundation.

- [Announcer] The DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit Public TV.

Among the state's largest foundations committed to Michigan-focused giving, we support organizations that are doing exceptional work in our state.

Visit DTEFoundation.com to learn more.

- [Announcer] Nissan Foundation and viewers like you.

(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to "One Detroit Arts & Culture."

I'm your host Satori Shakoor.

And this week I'm at Northville gallery, where you can acquire some beautiful pieces of art, or get custom frames for the art already in your home.

And I'm wearing this gorgeous shawl, from Judy Sledge of ArtRages.

Coming up on the show, a saxophonist puts on a concert in Ann Arbor, to benefit Ukrainians.

We hear from jazz bassist, Marion Hayden.

Then we listen to a conversation between two friends, about how the murder of George Floyd, caused them to connect on a different level.

And will cap the show with a performance by Temate Institute for Black Dance and Culture.

When Russian saxophonist Valentin Kovalev was reading, listening and seeing news about the war in Ukraine, he felt compelled to help its citizens.

He created a concert in Ann Arbor, where he currently resides, to benefit the families in Ukraine.

We went to that concert and talked to Kovalev.

Here's what he had to say.

(saxophones playing) - I believe that music can bind us together in the darkest of times, and it's our responsibility to use this force as an agent to uplift humanity and help with these kinds of causes.

(saxophones playing) - And for me, it's very important to show as a sign of solidarity with Ukraine that we are, as Russian citizens, we are against of this war.

I am a saxophonist.

I'm studying here for my master's degree at University of Michigan, school of music, theater and dance.

And I am a Russian citizen with deep Ukrainian roots.

So from my father's side, his grandparents were from Ukraine.

And also funny enough, my sister just got married to a Ukrainian just few weeks ago.

So we are very worried about them, about his side of the family who is remaining in Ukraine and not willing to flee the country.

(Sasha singing in foreign language) - I am a Russian American.

My parents immigrated here from St Petersburg in the 1990s.

I also have family in Ukraine.

(ladies singing in foreign language) - And whole idea of me doing something about this came to me when at first I read the news online.

I was so terrified and so frustrated about this situation so I have decided to offer free lessons to Ukrainian saxophonists online and I don't want anything bad happen to them.

So I was thinking a lot of time, how can I help as a musician to bring some hope in our lives?

And so this whole idea of organizing a concert came to my mind.

- It is a way to, you know, unite the audience and performers.

To uplift people in these times, as well as, you know, bring people together in order to raise funds for, you know, helping out on the grounds in Ukraine.

- There is a huge fact of propaganda, unfortunately in all of the countries and especially in Russia and by bringing this concert to life, I want everyone to know that Russians are against of this invasion and we don't support our government.

(saxophone playing) - I think one of the most important things we can do as musicians again is to organize concerts like these and use these gifts in order to raise funds and keep the conversation going about international conflicts and how to help people who are oppressed by these regimes.

(piano playing) All proceeds will be going towards the Jewish family services of Washtenaw County which are currently aiding refugees arriving in Michigan from Ukraine, as well as the Ukrainian-American Crisis Response Committee and working in the ground on Ukraine.

(saxophone playing) - I hope to bring more awareness to Ukrainian composers and include them in daily basis.

(saxophone playing) (audience applauding) - Marion Hayden began performing on the acoustic jazz bass at the age of 15 and is now revered as one of the best around.

WRCJ 90.9 FM Cecilia Sharpe, recently had a conversation with Hayden to discuss her beginnings in music and the future of jazz in Detroit.

(bass guitar playing) (audience cheering) - Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to welcome to the show, bassist and educator, Marion Hayden.

She is an Art X grant recipient, a Kresge artist fellow.

She is a lecturer at the University of Michigan for the jazz studies department, as well as a lecturer and director of jazz combos for Oakland University.

And yes and she's also a co-founding member of the Awe Women Jazz ensemble.

Straight ahead, welcome Marion.

- Thank you so much Cecilia, thank you for having me.

- Absolutely, Marion, you are definitely a trailblazer, a role model to so many here in Detroit and abroad.

I would like to know and maybe our audience would like to know, how you were introduced to music.

- I was really, really very fortunate that my parents were both music lovers.

My dad was a huge jazz lover.

He had all kinds of jazz records to listen, that he listened to and that I accessed.

And my mother was more of a lover of more of a classic American songbook.

So I remember that she had a record of Gershwin's music.

And she used to play Gershwin around the house all the time.

And so there was always just a lot of music to be absorbed for me as a young person.

And I think that's enormously important in terms of how that's really being a first step in terms of young people getting exposed to music.

You get exposed to things right in your, in the comfort of your own environment.

And so by the time I finally got to be the age of eight or nine when I was in my little elementary school and they asked me if I wanted to play an instrument.

And chello was a possibility but when I got big enough to play bass, which was about 12, then I just took my bass to the basement and started playing along with records.

And then I will also say that my parents were beautiful and they never told me that I couldn't do something.

So they never put any kind of limitations on what I might like to do.

If I wanted to play the bass, they just got me a bass and especially when I got really serious about it they went and bought me one.

And they didn't say, "Well, don't play jazz."

So I just continued to do what was in my heart and what was in my ears and what I loved.

- Can you talk about how the jazz culture in Detroit influenced you as a musician?

- When it gets to jazz, you really do need to be able to hook into the community that plays it.

And so luckily Detroit has had such a rich and expansive community of players and so many genres of the music too.

And so I was really fortunate when I was about maybe 13 or 14, my father took me to a program called MetroArts.

This was when I first met some people who would become my mentors.

So that was where I met people like Harold McKinney, Marcus Belgrave, George Davidson, Wendell Harrison, Ray McKinney, who was Harold McKinney's brother who was also a bass player.

They were all teachers in this youth jazz program.

And this was just tremendous for me.

It just opened up an entire world of music.

I already loved the music but it also opened up the world of how you play it, because before then I was basically just kind of taking things off the record but I didn't really know exactly what I was doing.

Now this kind of gave me a more organized way of understanding how the music actually gets played and that was just completely mind bending after that.

- With all that you have accomplished, co-founding member of Straight Ahead, you are an Art X grant recipient.

So many awards you have won, a lecturer at the University of Michigan, director of combos at Oakland University.

How do you continue to challenge yourself?

- As a musician, the musician side of me is always seeking to do things that are interesting.

Something that is just a little bit further than my will house.

So currently, probably my big challenge right now is working on the music for the opera X, "The Life and Times of Malcolm X," by Anthony Davis.

And that is currently challenging my entire skill set right now.

I'm having that for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

And it is fun, I am enjoying it, it's delicious.

And it's really putting me through my paces and I am just so thankful to be able to continue, to be willing to be challenged and to challenge myself to rise to the occasion.

- Can you talk about what the future of jazz in Detroit looks like to you?

- I think the future in jazz in Detroit is really looking completely rosy, so great.

I know, I'll just say this, that a lot of the nuts and bolts of jazz education has gone from the community where it was when I first learned into the academic institutions.

And there are some really great things that are happening there in terms of giving young musicians a good baseline of knowledge.

And then really luckily we still have a really active community of musicians that lives here.

So once they get that information, they can take that back out into the community and really engage with each other and with those of us who are more experienced in really learning what this music is actually all about.

And I am really really pleased with the young folks that I see coming up.

I feel very optimistic about jazz in Detroit, very optimistic - Mrs. Marion Hayden bassist and educator.

Thank you so much for spending time with me today.

- I really appreciate being here.

Thank you so much.

(drum rolls) (crowd cheering) - In honor of AAPI heritage month and in partnership with WDET, Detroit public TV is amplifying the voices of Southeast Michigan's AAPI community.

They were invited to have meaningful conversations and to share their stories.

This next conversation is between longtime friends Chien-An and John, who grew up together in Ohio.

Here, they discuss how the murder of George Floyd led them to delve deeper into conversations about race.

- I mean, we started just by trying to get through this.

Talking about pop culture, music, movies, people, all kinds of different things.

And then, you know, it was mostly lighthearted.

And then I think it started getting more serious and the racial component, I would say around last June.

- It was pretty therapeutic for us to connect and talk about what was happening just with COVID from the onset.

And then when George Floyd happened, I think it was one of those moments where it was difficult for both of us to process because I think for the first time there was a moment where the entire world had stopped.

Then this video was released.

And I think for anyone who lives in this country, it was like a reckoning for us, to understand kind of how we were raised to believe the police functions and have that come into conflict with the obvious history of systemic racism that has happened, that is prevalent in so many, so much of law enforcement.

Coming from a family where my grandfather was a chief of police in Taiwan, that I was always raised to hold the police in high regard.

And my dad was in the military.

But over the years obviously just growing up as a person of color in the United States, and I think that's where our conversation started to really shift that was because we were just, it was like I've had to reckon with this as a person of color just to understand that things are very troubled.

Like the history of this country is very troubled and to confront that history, it's hard, it's hard for anybody.

And you know, then for us to start talking about it that night, yeah, it's like anger, confusion.

We went through all the stages.

- He will also helped me sort of translate it from like a really, a really bad like news thing, you know, story like an event.

A really tragic one and like how someone I knew, that I didn't even really process how they could, but how you would view that and how it could impact you differently than me.

And I think you shed a lot of light on that.

- We have never really talked about what it was like for me growing up in bay and all the... Or just in Ohio, 'cause once I moved to Ohio is when I first encountered like actual, full blown racism.

- Was that the first time or like the most like covert time?

- The first time was actually on a bus.

Some friends from Ann Arbor that I went to elementary school with were visiting.

And my brother and our friends were on this bus and we took it downtown I think to check out a comic shop.

There were two kids who got on and they were both white, but yeah, I was on the bus, so we're on the bus and as the kids were getting up, this one kid got up, and he like turned around and said, "Get the (beep) off you (jerk) And that's the first time my whole life.

And I was 11 and I was angry and my brother and I and our friends, we were not raised to be quiet.

So, we talked back just like...

But you know, because my brother being the wise person he is, he didn't say anything.

He was just like, "You should be ashamed."

You know, he was just being "You should be ashamed of yourself."

And I remember from that moment, like his face was smug, but the fact that we were talking back kind of shocked him because I think that's what so many racists count on.

Is that kind of shock of the moment because I was shocked and I can remember that moment clear as day.

But the moment actually that's... - It's that like bully mentality right?

- Yeah.

It's like the thing that sticks with me was his friend's face.

Because his friend sat there and who did the racist verbal attack, got off the bus quickly, which is what always happens.

It's like they never say anything and then wanna sit down and tell you.

It's always like, "you know, being a coward in the moment.

And I was like, you know, so he, he leaves his friend there and his friend is, I'll never forget the expression on his face because he was embarrassed.

And I've always wondered what the rest of his day was like.

Guy that got off the bus, he sucks.

I have no confidence that he's become a worthy member society.

(laughing) I really don't.

But I hope that moment was a learning experience for his friend that it's like, if you are there, you're a part of it.

And we're, it was, we were the only people on the bus.

There's no one else on the bus.

It was just these two kids and us.

- That's like something I would hope and feel like wouldn't happen.

Like, I wouldn't wanna admit that that could come out of someone's, but it does.

It's, it's just... - Well, I think that's what I mean is like without something like George Floyd, that there's no reason I would just, or when we're eating wings at ABC, that I'm gonna start telling you guys about this.

- Hey guys, let me tell you about this also.

- Yeah.

Like lemme tell you about this horrible racist experience, this traumatic experience that happened to me because in some ways the part that's frustrating is that when you are on the receiving end of a racist encounter attack, whatever it feels like it takes away your power.

Because like, in this moment, this kid just, he just absconded off the bus.

And then at OU was eating at a Wendy's and this kid said something.

And then he, again, like ran like basically ran out of the restaurant 'cause I like got up and he like ran outta the restaurant.

So it's always this thing of like, they know in that moment the shock feels like powerlessness and it is a like a vulnerability.

And that's why they do it though.

Like that's why they do it because it's like confusion instantly.

It's always like, is this actually happening?

- You know, I don't think either of us is that confrontational.

And so if something someone says a comment or something you might like take a minute to process like, "Wait did that really happen?"

But I've never had anything like that even remotely happen to you.

I can't even imagine.

- Yeah, but like in terms of talking about it without something like, unfortunately without something like George Floyd it is like sharing that experience is, no one likes to talk about when they felt attacked - For more on our AAPI story series go to oneDetroitPBS.org.

I'd like to thank the Northville gallery for having me here.

And I'm going to leave you with a performance from dance justice organization, Temate.

And I'll see you next time.

(rhythmic drumming) - [Announcer] You can find more at oneDetroitPBS.org or subscribe to our social media channels and sign up for our one Detroit newsletter - [Advertiser] From Delta faucets to bear paint.

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.

- [Announcer] Support for this program is provided by the Cynthia & Essel Ford fund for journalism and Detroit public TV.

The Kresge foundation.

- [Announcer] The DTE foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit Public TV.

Among the state's largest foundations committed to Michigan focused giving.

We support organizations that are doing exceptional work in our state.

Visit DTEFoundation.com to learn more.

- [Announcer] Nissan foundation and viewers like you.

(upbeat music)