Snapshots from Detroit Jazz Festival 2015
TOP: Trombonist Steve Turre led a tribute band honoring Roland Kirk with Detroit’s own sax virtuoso James Carter on tenor sax and Vincent Herring on alto sax on the Main Stage at Campus Martius. Betty Neals provided some vocals along with our own Naima Shamborguer (far left)
ABOVE: Ron English (guitar) and Charles Boles (keyboard) led a quintet for the opening night reception on Woodward Avenue. John Dana did the honors on bass and Renell Gonsalves handled the traps. The group plays regularly at the Dirty Dog Jazz Café.
ABOVE: The adventurous pianist JoAnne Brackeen teamed up with a rising star on alto sax, Rudresh Mahanthappa on the Waterfront Stage on Labor Day.
ABOVE: Two well-known authors, Detroit’s Mitch Albom and Douglas Preston, attracted a large audience in the Jazz Talk Tent with close to no publicity for the last-minute presentation. Preston wrote “Benny’s Threads” about Benny Goodman for the opening night clarinet extravaganza. Not surprisingly, both authors are also musically inclined.