Jazz Musicians From Detroit

Posted by Colton | Filed under life, music, travel, trends

Detroit has produced some amazing Jazz musicians.
There must be something in the water.
And its been around for a long time.
Since way back in the 1920s.
And its not going away.
So check it out.

William McKinney put us on the map.
McKinney's Cotton Pickers

And there was of course, Jean Goldkette.

goldkette-morgan1924.jpg

�
His band held it down at The Book Cadillac, with Bix and Tram trading solos.

As we moved into more modern times, there were some some great ones such as Paul Chambers,
Paul Chambers

Kenny Burrell, Kenny

Thad Jones, Thad
and Yusef Lateef.
Yusef

In fact, most of the studio musicians at Motown cut their teeth in the jazz scene.
Snake Pit

And in the 60s and 70s, Marcus Belgrave became an icon of Detroit’s Jazz Music.
Belgrave

And the hippest soul/jazz label of the era was located here too, Tribe Records.
Tribe

Then Earl Klugh,
Earl

Griot Galaxy,
Griot

Kenny Garret,
KG

and James Carter…
James Carter

The more you investigate, the better it gets! And there are hundreds of musicians I didn’t have time to mention.

See you around next time.

Related posts:

  1. Baker’s Keyboard Lounge- Great Jazz, Great Soul Food
  2. Vintage Jazz for New Year’s Eve
  3. Detroit’s Best (And Only) Film Music Radio Show
  4. Memorial Weekend in Detroit means ‘Movement’
  5. Concert of Colors: Celebrating diversity in Detroit

Tags: , , , , ,

Permalink | January 6th, 2009

14 Responses to “Jazz Musicians From Detroit”

  1. jen Says:
    January 6th, 2009 at 11:16 pm

    Treasure in the back yard. My favorite. What a long list of folk I’ve enjoyed listening to for years, not knowing just how many started here. Detroit…hotbed of musical talent for decades and still going. Thanks Colton.

  2. Colton Says:
    January 7th, 2009 at 11:20 am

    Thanks Jen! Good stuff.

  3. Frank P Says:
    January 7th, 2009 at 2:07 pm

    Whoa! Big photo!!!

  4. Monica Says:
    January 7th, 2009 at 2:55 pm

    Great post! there is a lot of music history right here from Detroit that so many people overlook and just think about the negative.

  5. Colton Says:
    January 7th, 2009 at 3:42 pm

    Everything from Big Band to Motown to Rock and beyond….

  6. Nev Says:
    January 7th, 2009 at 6:55 pm

    Cool post. Is there any compilation CD’s featuring most or some of these artists. I’d like to listen to some of their tracks.

    Also,. I shrunk the 2nd picture. If you have a big picture like that and you want to resize it,.. just go to http://www.picnik.com

  7. Colton Says:
    January 7th, 2009 at 7:19 pm

    Nev- Here’s a cool remix CD:
    http://www.amazon.com/Detroit-Experiment/dp/B000089CP8

    Also some classic Yusef Lateef:
    http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=4865169&cart=828133406

  8. Colton Says:
    January 7th, 2009 at 7:20 pm

    Nev- Here’s a cool remix CD:
    http://www.amazon.com/Detroit-Experiment/dp/B000089CP8

  9. Colton Says:
    January 7th, 2009 at 7:20 pm

    Also some classic Yusef Lateef:
    http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=4865169&cart=828133406

  10. Hubert Says:
    January 7th, 2009 at 7:59 pm

    My favorite Detroit jazz record is Saturday Night Special by the Lyman Woodard Organization.

    In my 1111th tweet on Twitter, I posted a link to a hip hop album that features live session work from the likes of Lyman Woodard and Ron English. It’s a total Detroit-based product - you guys should check it out (plug: I am on two songs!): http://bit.ly/Ma94

  11. Colton Says:
    January 8th, 2009 at 2:04 pm

    I have been listening a lot to Gil Scott Heron- “Bridges” from 1977, especially since the track about Detroit was sampled so much on the Common record last year:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ovKv4-YxYM
    Also, dig this:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZSynY7YsdU&feature=related

  12. Eric Brown Says:
    January 10th, 2009 at 6:09 pm

    Great Post Colton,
    Detroit has so much rich history that gets forgotten.

  13. jen Says:
    January 16th, 2009 at 9:20 am

    wow!!!! what a bunch of great resources in the comments too. nice.

  14. Ron Says:
    July 19th, 2010 at 3:45 am

    My Goodness, Correct me if I’m wrong, but it appears your site was paying hommage pictorialy to Jazz musician who’ve made musical statements throughout the world or who were big on the world stage or maybe the list is hidden , but I didn’t see Tommy Flanagan, Alice Coltrane, Donald Byrd. Paul Desmond, Greg Philinganes, Kevin Toney, Elvin Jones, Ralphe Armstrong, Narada Michael Walden, Rickey Lawson, Diane Reeves, Anita Baker, Fernando Saunders and I could go on or snap! Maybe I publish or blog or a book!

Leave a Reply