The brilliantly versatile saxophonist Dave McMurray leads his trio with Ibrahim Jones on bass and Jeffrey Canady on drums, and features special guest A.Spencer Barefield on guitar. The musicians will perform innovative and legendary works of jazz by African American composers and masters who created music that turned ears and minds upside down and continues to astonish listeners with its beauty and genius.
The concert takes place in an architectural gem — a 1928 historic Tudor in Palmer Woods. A delicious soul food-inspired meal is included.
Music Director and featured soloist with Motown artist KEM, McMurray is one of Detroit’s most in-demand musicians. He has toured with Bob James, pianist Geri Allen, composer Mark Isham, Algerian Räi artist Cheb Khalid, and most recently with French pop star Johnny Hallyday. He performed and recorded with the eclectic funk band Was (Not Was), Griot Galaxy, and with Kid Rock. In addition to five CDs under his own name, he’s recorded with the Rolling Stones, B 52’s, Herbie Hancock, Nancy Wilson, BB King, Bonnie Raitt, Temptations, Patti Smith, A. Spencer Barefield, and many others.
Over the past two years, Dave has played on every major Music television event, including the Grammys, The American Music awards, The MTV Music Awards, and the Country Music Awards, The World Music Awards, and numerous French tv performances. A multi-instrumentalist, who as well as playing tenor, soprano, and alto saxophones, adds the mastery of the flute and keyboards to his array of talents.
A widely acclaimed guitarist, soloist, composer and ensemble leader, A. Spencer Barefield has performed, toured and recorded extensively for nearly four decades as a ensemble leader, soloist, and with many jazz giants, including Roscoe Mitchell, Lester Bowie, Oliver Lake, Richard Davis, Andrew Cyrille and Reggie Workman. He has played at hundreds of festivals and concerts worldwide from the Detroit Institute of Arts to the Nickelsdorf and Leverkusener jazz festivals in Europe.
Tickets for all concerts, $45 – $70, with discounts for groups of 10 or more, can be purchased at palmerwoods.org or by calling 313-891-2514. The address of the concert home in Palmer Woods is revealed when tickets are purchased. All concerts include receptions with delicious cuisine that reflect the musical themes.
Concerts are produced by the Creative Arts Collective with the Palmer Woods Association with the support of Be Well Medical Center in Berkley, Barefield DesignWorks, Blossoms in Birmingham, City Living Detroit, the Michigan Chronicle, DetroitPerforms.org, WRCJ 90.9FM. Music in Homes works to strengthen the Palmer Woods neighborhood and Detroit’s image, support the arts, showcase Palmer Woods as a wonderful place to live and visit, and enrich the quality of life and cultural environment in our city.
Upcoming concerts:
Saturday, March 25, 8 pm
WENDELL HARRISON World Music Quintet
featuring PATHE JASSI
Jazz master saxophonist/clarinetistWendell Harrison, African bassist/vocalist Pathe Jassi, pianist/2016 Kresge Arts Fellow Pamela Wise, guitarist Jacob Schwandt and drummer Louis Jones III will explore jazz and its African rhythms, as they perform original compositions, as well as music from Senegal, the Caribbean, and New Orleans. The concert will contrast the different approaches to expression of Black life, and also define and illuminate rhythms from the three music idioms—Blues, Reggae, and Samba—which tell stories of African linkage and various cultures of the African diaspora.
Saturday, April 29, 8 pm
Violinist Jannina Norpoth & Pianist Maria Meirelles
Celebrate springtime with Brazilian-born piano virtuoso Maria Meirelles and New York violinist Jannina Barefield Norpoth. Praised for her eloquent style, beautiful tone and brilliant technique, Meirelles has performed under the baton of many notable maestri and has received acclaim throughout the U.S. and Latin America, where she often performs. Meirelles is known for her mastery of Beethoven’s 32 Piano Sonatas, which she performed from memory in a seven concert marathon at Carnegie Hall and has recorded at Detroit’s Orchestra Hall.
Norpoth, who grew up in Palmer Woods, now performs with the innovative New York based PUBLIQuartet (PQ), who debuted at Carnegie Hall and are the 2017 Quartet-in-Residence at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Locally, she has performed with PQ at the Detroit Jazz Festival, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and recently at the Sphinx Artist Showcase. The repertoire will include Sonata(s) by Prokofiev, and other to-be-determined works. Expect a surprise guest to perform with Jannina in a tribute to Duke Ellington’s 118th birthday.
Saturday, May 20, 8 pm
Orquesta La Inspiracion
Garden Concert (tour home prior to concert)
Our annual Latin Jazz World Music concert is always a favorite. Orquesta La Inspiracion, founded by Puerto Rican congera Ozzie Rivera and under the musical direction of pianist Bill Meyer, is a large ensemble of some of the Detroit area’s most talented and knowledgeable Latin musicians. La Inspiracion features a hot horn section led by saxophonist Chris Kaercher, explosive percussions driven by top Latin musicians including Ozzie, rhythmic bassist Eddie Caraballo, and soulful vocals with the dynamic Armando Vega. The beats of salsa, merengue, cumbia and Afro-Caribbean jazz may entice you to dance and sway on a grassy dance floor beneath a star-studded sky. Festivities are held in a spacious tent in a Palmer Woods garden, with a tasty Latin-style meal served during intermission.
Friday, June 16, 8 pm
JAMES CARTER Quartet
Garden Concert (tour home prior to concert)
International saxophone sensation James Carter fills enormous festivals and concert halls around the world, so it is a rare treat to hear him in a more intimate setting. Extraordinarily virtuosic, Carter soloed with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Neeme Järvi in 2002 and 2003, performing a saxophone concerto written for him and commissioned by the DSO, which he since has performed with major orchestras worldwide. Joining him is composer/guitarist A. Spencer Barefield, who describes Carter as “the John Coltrane of our era.” Carter, Hayden, and Barefield can be heard on the Blue Note Records release “Detroit Jazz City” with other legendary Detroit artists. In the 1980s-’90s, Barefield and Carter toured the world with jazz great Lester Bowie and others. Bassist Marion Hayden and drummer Djallo Djakate Keita will keep the sound solid and swinging.
Saturday, June 17, 8 pm
DAVID ALAN GRIER Quartet
Garden Concert (tour home prior to concert)
Multi-Tony and Grammy nominee, Broadway, film, comedy and TV star David Alan Grier returns to his native
Detroit to perform with his childhood pal A. Spencer Barefield. Grier will preform jazz standards by Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn, Eddie Jefferson, Miles Davis, Horace Silver and more. His thundering voice evokes an authenticity few can attain. He is equally powerful in the American Songbook jazz tradition, and will certainly include works from George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess—he played Sportin’ Life in the most recent Broadway production (his predecessors include Cab Calloway and Sammy Davis, Jr.), for which he received a Tony nomination and accolades from The New York Times: “stand-out role of the rakish, drug-dealing Sportin’ Life.”
Recently, Grier and Patti Austin co-hosted a multi-artist tribute to the centennial of legendary singer Ella Fitzgerald, “100: The Apollo Celebrates Ella!” Grier and Austin, along with Kevin Spacey, Cassandra Wilson and other stars from the worlds of jazz, R&B, theater and film, performed with the Count Basie Orchestra.
Grier’s Detroit band includes virtuoso musicians: guitarist A. Spencer Barefield, pianistBuddy Budson, bassist Marion Hayden and drummer Djallo Djakate.
* All concerts include a delicious light dinner, beverages and dessert during intermission. Concerts in May and June are held in spacious tents set in the lawns and gardens of homes. Ticketholders may tour a portion of the home prior to the concerts in May and June. In the case of severe weather, Palmer Woods Music in Homes (MIH) will move the concert to the beautiful art deco Detroit Unity Temple or other appropriate nearby venue. Tickets are not refundable. MIH reserves the right to make program changes if necessary.
Long considered to be one of Michigan’s premiere communities, Palmer Woods actively works to preserve and enrich the quality of life in Detroit. The concerts help raise funds for neighborhood preservation and improvements, as well as support the arts and project a positive and creative image about Detroit. Performances are held in different historic Palmer Woods mansions and cool homes. The “concert halls” have included homes designed by legendary architects Minoru Yamasaki, Albert Kahn, Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Marr and others. The Palmer Woods Association and the Creative Arts Collective (a Detroit-based arts organization directed by Palmer Woods residents Spencer and Barbara Barefield) join hands to present Palmer Woods Music in Homes.
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