Detroit Jazz Festival

[Mark Stryker]

People planning on coming here for the fest, don't forget Windsor, just across the river (of course you'll need transportation to downtown Detroit)

If you're going to do that, don't forget your passport!

I don't think this is a good choice. The delays coming through the tunnel from Windsor to Detroit are unpredictable. While it can be as easy as 10 minutes, there are often backups that can last 30 minutes or far longer on weekends. My colleagues report a number of recent horror stories, including being stuck inside the tunnel forever, which is quite unpleasant.

Three other hotel choices that are walking distance close.

The classiest choice is Book Cadillac (Weston), which includes the best restaurants, among them the fantastic Michael Symon's Roast. http://www.bookcadillacwestin.com/

DoubleTree (Hilton) http://doubletree3.hilton.com/en/hotels/michigan/doubletree-suites-by-hilton-hotel-detroit-downtown-fort-shelby-DTTLFDT/index.html

The absolute closet hotels, which abut the festival site are the Renaissance Center Marriot: http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/dtwdt-detroit-marriott-at-the-renaissance-center/

as well as the Courtyard Marriott across the street http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/dtwdc-courtyard-detroit-downtown/

Edited May 17, 2012 by Mark Stryker

[Trumpet Guy]

I'll be there with Jerry Bergonzi Quintet! New CD out in August on Savant

[sidewinder]

This one has me thinking of getting round to renewing the Canadian passport and flying out to Toronto. Not too far from there and maybe call in on some friends.

Windsor wouldn't be a bad bet accomodation-wise.

Edited May 17, 2012 by sidewinder

[Pete C]

Hi, Phil!

I just discovered I'm staying right near the Astoria Pastry Shop, which gets rave reviews. Looking forward to morning pastries...

Edited May 17, 2012 by Pete C

[Trumpet Guy]

Hi, Phil!

I just discovered I'm staying right near the Astoria Pastry Shop, which gets rave reviews. Looking forward to morning pastries...

Hi Pete! Still a foodie I remember you recommending take out restaurants in Brooklyn when recording my 1st CD Maybe I'll see you in Detroit!

[Mark Stryker]

Hi, Phil!

I just discovered I'm staying right near the Astoria Pastry Shop, which gets rave reviews. Looking forward to morning pastries...

Everything in Astoria looks like a jewel. It's like an art gallery for pastries. (For foodies coming to town, as we get closer, I can recommend stuff on foot or by car ride.)

Edited May 17, 2012 by Mark Stryker

[Pete C]

Hi Pete! Still a foodie I remember you recommending take out restaurants in Brooklyn when recording my 1st CD Maybe I'll see you in Detroit!

Yeah, I remember that studio was pretty close to my apartment.

(For foodies coming to town, as we get closer, I can recommend stuff on foot or by car ride.)

I could use the foot suggestions. But what's the food situation at the festival? Any decent vendors? It's hard to tear myself away from the music for a sit-down restaurant. In Chicago at least the early curfew allows for late dinners out.

[BruceW]

Man, what a festival. With all my old friends and some scattered family there, I still can't travel. Wow, guess I will have to do some really advance planning and preparation for travel and try and catch it next year.

[Mark Stryker]

Hi Pete! Still a foodie I remember you recommending take out restaurants in Brooklyn when recording my 1st CD Maybe I'll see you in Detroit!

Yeah, I remember that studio was pretty close to my apartment.

(For foodies coming to town, as we get closer, I can recommend stuff on foot or by car ride.)

I could use the foot suggestions. But what's the food situation at the festival? Any decent vendors? It's hard to tear myself away from the music for a sit-down restaurant. In Chicago at least the early curfew allows for late dinners out.

Best option at the festival itself is various soul food -- BBQ ribs, chicken, etc. But otherwise, standard outdoor festival fare. Green vegatables are very scares. Everything fried ... Slightly elevated options from one place, booth run by Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe (related to the restaurant/jazz club in Grosse Pointe Farms and owned by Gretchen Valade, the festival's chief philanthropist and owner of Mack Ave. Records). But lines are often ridiculous.

[Pete C]

Not a final schedule, but the lineup is now broken out by day:

http://detroitjazzfest.com/12lineup.html

[BFrank]

That's a pretty amazing lineup.

FREE just seems insane!

[Pete C]

I guess Friday is just those 2 acts at the main stage. My flight gets in at 6:45. With luck I'll be able to catch at least part of Rollins' set. Since 1973, I've seen him over 20 times for sure.

[Mark Stryker]

I guess Friday is just those 2 acts at the main stage. My flight gets in at 6:45. With luck I'll be able to catch at least part of Rollins' set. Since 1973, I've seen him over 20 times for sure.

Yes, festival opens Friday night, though there are often some school bands that get going in the 4-5 p.m. range. But the main deal is typically a double-bill with second act going on around 9. Possible in this case that Sonny might go on a little earlier ... haven't seen the specific times yet.

[Pete C]

Full schedule is up. Sonny goes on at 8:45.

Anybody want to try to get a brunch thing together? On Saturday my first must-see is Gregoire Maret at 2:30, on Sunday Gerald Cleaver at 1:30.

[Pete C]

Trying to decide whether to buy a VIP pass for Sunday. Anybody have any thoughts in either direction?

[AllenLowe]

"stuck inside the tunnel forever"

so I assume when they told you, they were still down there? It's a good thing there was still cell phone service.

[Pete C]

More from Mark:

http://www.freep.com/article/20120830/ENT04/308300038/33rd-Detroit-Jazz-Festival-features-star-studded-lineup?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s

Start spreadin' the news, I'm leavin' today.

[ValerieB]

Full schedule is up. Sonny goes on at 8:45.

Anybody want to try to get a brunch thing together? On Saturday my first must-see is Gregoire Maret at 2:30, on Sunday Gerald Cleaver at 1:30.

i just saw Gregoire on Wed. night at the Bowl. he was wonderful and i love him more than ever. got to talk with him after the show but have yet to get his new cd, which i'm sure is excellent.

[Pete C]

Shorter quartet. Amazing. More when i get to a proper keyboard.

[Pete C]

Mark Stryker, help! What was the standard Shorter did for his encore? I knew it that night, and was able to sing the lyrics. Then the next morning I couldn't remember. I thought maybe "Once in a While," until I realized I don't know the lyrics to that one! It was a surprise choice for Wayne, and a song more often done by singers than instrumentalists.

[Mark Stryker]

Mark Stryker, help! What was the standard Shorter did for his encore? I knew it that night, and was able to sing the lyrics. Then the next morning I couldn't remember. I thought maybe "Once in a While," until I realized I don't know the lyrics to that one! It was a surprise choice for Wayne, and a song more often done by singers than instrumentalists.

I recognized the melody of the tune at the time but could not place the title. I asked Geoff Keezer who I was standing next to what it was and he couldn't place it either. It wasn't "Once in a While," though, curiously, that's the ballad Sonny Rollins played Friday night.

Hope you had a great time. I think this is the best jazz festival in the country. I'll post links to my other reviews sometime today, and if I find out the name of the tune, I'll post.

[Pete C]

It wasn't "Once in a While," though, curiously, that's the ballad Sonny Rollins played Friday night.

That's probably what I remembered. I suspect it'll come back to me out of the recesses of the brain folds. When it does I'll let you know. I even told some people in back of me the name of the tune on Sunday. Boy am I glad I bought a vip pass for Sunday after the horror of trying to hear Corea & Burton at that stage the night before. I should have just stayed at the Goldings-Bernstein-Stewart gig, which I left after 2 tunes. On Sunday I had 5th row center seats for the Shorter tribute and the Shorter quartet. Donny McCaslin was by far the surprise highlight of the big band set.

[Mark Stryker]

It wasn't "Once in a While," though, curiously, that's the ballad Sonny Rollins played Friday night.

That's probably what I remembered. I suspect it'll come back to me out of the recesses of the brain folds. When it does I'll let you know. I even told some people in back of me the name of the tune on Sunday. Boy am I glad I bought a vip pass for Sunday after the horror of trying to hear Corea & Burton at that stage the night before. I should have just stayed at the Goldings-Bernstein-Stewart gig, which I left after 2 tunes. On Sunday I had 5th row center seats for the Shorter tribute and the Shorter quartet. Donny McCaslin was by far the surprise highlight of the big band set.

Putting a Chick and Gary duo on the big stage to close a big night was, I think, a rookie mistake by new artistic director Chris Collins who, in fact, did an exceptionally good job in most respects. But Chick/Gary was too intimate for the number of people who would not be able get into the "bowl" on a busy Saturday night. In that particular time slot and location you need something with more volume and pop.

Edited September 4, 2012 by Mark Stryker

[Pete C]

It can be argued that the two preeminent elder statesmen of the tenor were at the festival and what a contrast. Sure Sonny still plays great, but it's anything but the sound of surprise, and that's what the Shorter quartet is all about. In fact, much as I love Rollins, and he's done some good albums and exciting performances, I don't think he's done anything since his 1972 comeback that matches anything that precedes it whereas Wayne is making possibly the most exciting music of his career.

[Pete C]

What was the standard Shorter did for his encore?

I recovered the lost sector from my brain. "By Myself."

I'll go my way by myself

This is the end of romance...

...No one knows better than I myself

I'm by myself, alone.

Shorter's rendition was hauntingly beautiful.

Spotify link for Stacey Kent version:

Edited September 5, 2012 by Pete C