A lot will happen at during the four days of the 47th annual Detroit Jazz Festival this weekend at Hart Plaza.
Two all-star ensembles got things rolling — Artist-in-Residence Joe Lovano with his Paramount Quartet and the Miles Electric Band celebrating, yes, THAT Miles (as in Davis). Each came stocked with top-shelf players and original, even groundbreaking at time, musical ideas during their respective 75-minute performances, showing the idiom at its best and most flexible.
Clearly DJF Foundation President and Artistic Director Chris Collins wasn’t kidding when he told the crowd at Hart Plaza — on a muggy, buggy but dry night — that “boy, It’s gonna be a jazz weekend.”
Following the traditional short appearance by Dr. Valade’s Brass band, directed by New Orleans veteran Shannon Powell, the 10-member Miles Electric Band — featuring mostly alumni of Davis’ own groups, including current Rolling Stones bassist Daryl Jones — commemorated the late trumpet legend’s 100th birthday (May 26) by delivering favorite pieces of his repertoire not in slavish tribute but with an eye towards how that might sound in the always forward-moving evolution of Davis’s artistry. So while the titles were well-known — “Jack Johnson,” “In a Silent Way,” “Selim” — the approaches were fresh and daring, often atmospheric, with a well-practiced, improvisational randomness that was genuinely exciting…