The End of
Jazz Festival Season
The Detroit Jazz Festival and the A2 Jazz Fest ended the local jazz festival season in early September. The Ann Arbor festival was only in its second year, but has built up a dedicated audience. The Detroit festival was the 38th of its kind and it has become the largest free jazz festival anywhere. Given its scope it is hard to get a handle on that festival, but it is a given that there will always be some extraordinary performances to behold. Here are some snapshots from each festival.
Photographs by Lars Bjorn, unless otherwise indicated
TOP: The Wayne Shorter Quartet with Danilo Perez on piano, Shorter on tenor, John Patitucci on bass and Brian Blade on drums challenged the audience at Campus Martius on opening night (September 1).
ABOVE: Guitarist Ron English and bassist John Dana were part of the Charles Boles Quartet that played for the opening night reception (Photograph by Angela Colon)
ABOVE: Vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater and WEMU’s Linda Yohn had a lively conversation in the Jazz Talk Tent.
BELOW: Tenorist Kamasi Washington has drawn a young audience to relatively adventurous music. He was stormed by fans after appearing in the Jazz Talk Tent.
BELOW: The second A2 Jazz Fest was held September 8–9 at the First Congregational Church and Live nightclub. SEMJA was one of the sponsors of the festival. Pianist Alexis Lombre (left) led a quartet which included trumpeter Allen Dennard (center). Dennard is a former SEMJA scholarship winner. He has graduated from the University of Michigan Jazz Program. Tenorist Janelle Reichman (right) and her quartet played Live on September 9. (Photograph by Jeff Dunn)
