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The largest free jazz
festival in North
America returns to
Hart Plaza in
downtown Detroit
Aug. 31-Sept. 3.
BILL CARROLL
Special to the Jewish News
C
elebrated jazz artists, some of metro
Detroit's hottest jazz bands and award-win-
ning student ensembles will soon converge
on the Motor City in a 100-act, four-stage
extravaganza heralding the coming of fall. The sights
and sounds of jazz will again fill Hart Plaza on Labor
Day weekend, as the Ford Detroit International Jazz
Festival — formerly known as Montreux — takes
place Friday-Monday, Aug. 3I-Sept. 3.
The largest free jazz festival in North America,
the event, presented by Music Hall for the
Performing Arts, last year drew 750,000 people.
The 22nd annual festival — the sixth under Ford
sponsorship — will feature jazz masters and ris-
ing stars and a total of about 750 musicians.
It also will be streamlined from previous years
and operate under a reduced budget, down to
$850,000 from $1.2 million. The number of
artist slots is down from 125 to 100; the number
of stages reduced from five to four, and the festi-
val hours will be trimmed. The event starts 3
p.m. Friday, Aug. 31, rather than noon, and fin-
ishes 9:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 3, rather than 11.
"In celebration of Detroit's 300th birthday, 80
percent of the artists in this year's festival have
Detroit roots," said Director Frank Malfitano, the
festival's third artistic chief in three years and
founder of the Syracuse Jazz Festival.
Native Detroiters performing include young
saxophone star James Carter; veteran bebop
pianist Tommy Flanagan; and Marcus Belgrave
and the Detroit All-Stars in a tribute to Louis
Armstrong. Other headliners include Jewish
flutist Herbie Mann, with Dave Valentin; 93-
-
14%
8/24
2001
82
year-old Claude "Fiddler"
Williams; organ legend
Jimmy Smith; pianist/com-
poser/big-band leader
Toshiko Akiyoshi, with
husband Lew Tabackin on
tenor sax and flute; the
Brubeck Brothers Band;
pianist Benny Green; Jane
Monheit, the hottest new
jazz singer on the circuit;
and the Wallace Roney
Quintet in a tribute to
Miles Davis.
There also will be 30
Detroit area school jazz
bands and ensembles.
Mann has made several
recent appearances in the
Detroit area, including a
performance at the
Birmingham Jazz Festival
last year. He and his virtu-
oso flute legend colleague
Dave Valentin — the "Two Amigos"— will play
10:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 2. With them will be
Mann's son, Geoff, on drums, Jewish bassist Paul
Socolow and Bruce Dunlap on accordion.
"I'm going to accentuate Eastern European
music because that's the music of my roots, and
that's what I want to play," Mann said from his
home in Santa Fe, N.M., where he moved from
New York 12 years ago.
"Dave and I also will play our old favorites,
but Eastern European music has real flavor and
longevity. And remember, Eastern European Jews
also know the blues."
Mann, 71, born
Herbert Jay Solomon,
is a native of
Brooklyn and the son
of immigrant parents.
He played the clar-
inet and tenor saxo-
phone before becom-
ing a charismatic
flutist and pop jazz
icon. "My parents
thought musical instruments were for weekend
playing ... that I'd never make a living from
them," Mann mused.
In remission from a bout with prostate cancer
almost four years ago, Mann goes from the
Detroit festival to Mackinac Island for a gig at
the Grand Hotel. ❑
For more information on the festival and a
complete schedule, call (313) 963-7622, or
visit the Web site at www.detroitjazzfest.com .