The Detroit Jazz Festival, the world’s largest “free” jazz extravaganza, will once again sound off over the Labor Day Weekend (Thursday, Aug. 30 through Monday, Sept. 2). More than 50 performances by jazz singers, musicians, bands, and orchestras will happen on three stages: the JPMorgan Chase Main Stage in Cadillac Square, the Carhartt Amphitheater Stage in Hart Plaza, and the Absopure Waterfront Stage in Hart Plaza. In addition, each night after the festival, there will be a Midtown After Hours Special at the Gretchen C. Valade Jazz Center on the campus of Wayne State University.
“We couldn’t be more excited,” Chris Collins, president and artistic director of the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation, told the Michigan Chronicle. “I’m honored to keep this incredible tradition alive because the jazz artists’ performances represent our commitment to the propagation of jazz in all its various forms and evolutions.”
According to Collins, an accomplished international jazz saxophonist in his own right, the festival is expected to bring about 325,000 people downtown over the four days. Collins said almost a third of the attendees will be from towns and cities outside the region and, in many cases, outside the United States.
Serving as the 2024 Artist-in-Residence is the two-time Grammy-winning drummer, composer, arranger, and bandleader Brian Blade.
“This is a massive festival and a real jewel for the city of Detroit,” said Blade. “I’m so thankful to have been invited to be this year’s Artist-in-Residence. I’ve played in Detroit plenty of times with Wayne Shorter, Joshua Redman, and many others. Coming back and playing at the Detroit Jazz Festival is so meaningful to me.”
Blade, a native of Shreveport, Louisiana, will perform several times at this year’s festival. On Friday, Aug. 30, at 9:00 p.m., Blade will close out the festival’s opening night when he performs with his group, “Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band,” formed in New Orleans in 1997. On Sunday, Sept. 1, Blade will perform with the “Three Visitors,” featuring the stellar drummer, along with Edward Simon (piano), Scott Colley (double bass), and special guest vocalist Becca Stevens and The Detroit Jazz Festival String Octet.
On Monday, Sept. 2, at 7:15 p.m., “Brian Blade and The Fellowship Band” will close out the 2024 Festival with a performance with the Detroit Jazz Festival Orchestra, arranged and conducted by Jim McNeely.
“I love Brian Blade and have been listening to him for years in different configurations,” Collins said. “He is one of the greatest musicians I’ve ever heard, and he is so in-depth musically as a great drummer and composer. And what he does on the bandstand and how he communicates musically and texturally is so improvisationally unique.”
With jazz emanating from the three stages all Labor Day weekend, other “must-see, must-hear, must-experience” performances will include “Translinear Light,” showcasing the music of Alice Coltrane, featuring her son, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane with special guest jazz harpist Brandee Younger along with the Detroit Jazz Festival Chamber Orchestra.
In addition, not to be missed performances will include saxophonist Wendell Harrison and Tribe, pianist Cameron Graves, pianist Monty Alexander, bass player and film composer Kyle Eastwood with Eastwood Symphonic and The Detroit Jazz Festival Symphony, jazz singer Carmen Lundy, saxophonist Kasan Belgrave and his Sextet, bass playing legend Christian McBride & Inside Straight, and saxophonist Joshua Redman featuring Gabrielle Cavassa (Where are we) Tour.
Since its inception in 1980, The Detroit International Jazz Festival, as it was called at the time, has grown exponentially. In 2005, Detroit philanthropist and Mack Avenue Records Chairwoman Gretchen Valade took the festival to a higher place through her vision and sponsoring generosity. Valade passed in December 2022 at the age of 97 but has left everlasting and evolutional fingerprints on the storied festival.
“Hundreds of thousands of festival-goers keep coming back year after year because we take the title of the Detroit Jazz Festival very seriously,” Collins said. “And that’s because we focus on the art and craft of jazz. While there are many iterations of jazz, the Detroit Jazz Festival presents the full jazz tree and the history and language of that incredible art form.”
Blade agrees as he will bring his eclectic arsenal of jazz music rooted in gospel to the Motor City.
“I’m looking forward to this festival, where I’ve played several times,” said Blade. “I love performing there with so many people sitting, standing, listening, and watching, knowing that we are touching souls and encouraging each other for another day. Jazz is unscripted and healing and is what I call purposeful praise. Detroit is the perfect place to present this massive festival. I just want to create more opportunities for people to come together. That’s my hope and aspiration.”
For this year’s full lineup of artists, complete with the day, time, and respective stage for the free performances, log on to https://www.detroitjazzfest.org/main-festival/detroit-jazz-festival-2024-program-schedule/.
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