Life is generally pretty good. I spend most of my life enjoying lolling about and sometimes doing the things that allow me to happily loll about. A few times I have actually gotten to a place where I could perform with more focus. In the arts we call this place ‘the  zone”. THE ZONE A state in which one can or feels as though one can perform with exceptional focus, skill and energy. As a painter I have suffered through periods of abject failure. Canvases covered with bad star

Just over a week ago Willie Jones passed a note to a visiting pianist from New York, Emmet Cohen. Emmet then informed a sold out audience at the Dirty Dog that George “Sax” Benson had died. Emmet knows a lot about jazz and has always been drawn to Detroit’s jazz, yet when I asked him about George, he told me that he didn’t know either George or his music. He did know that the loss of any Detroit jazz artist is a major loss for jazz. This news had the same effect on me as list

RANDY NAPOLEON VERSUS THE POLAR VORTEX Something called the polar vortex sent dangerously cold weather into the north central states last week. Flesh left exposed to the cold wind for any time was susceptible to frostbite. We were warned to stay put and go outside only if necessary. Many Detroiters stayed at home exposing themselves to cable TV showing us endless explanations of the polar vortex and pictures of icy empty city streets. Living in the Northern Hemisphere we surv

DETROIT JAZZ, THE BOOK One of Detroit’s greatest assets is her first class hard working musicians. Jazz drifted up the Mississippi River from New Orleans through St Louis and Chicago and spread to the bustling city of Detroit. The music found fertile ground and the city has played a key role in the development of the music from the early 30s until today. A tradition of discipline, good mentoring and living the stories has made Detroit the schoolhouse for jazz. Through good ti

GETTING ALONG TOGETHER IN NOVEMBER On these cold November evenings the Dirty Dog must assemble a staff that has rid themselves of any winter blahs. These are the folks who will welcome the guests into  a serene and uplifting experience. This process happens long before any patrons show up. What I have observed is that the management sets the tone, Their good natured work ethic is contagious. I have watched the Dirty Dog Jazz Café staff prepare for an evening’s upbeat event. T

FRIENDS The Charles Boles Quartet is a band that has a healthy accumulation of experiences and stories from life and from being jazz musicians. All the members have the perspectives of jazz where one learns from each other’s experiences and enjoy sharing their stories. These are jazz brothers, pals, amigos, cronies and certainly friends. Charles seems to go through life as an active friend collector. Bassist John Dana always arrived on time every Tuesday for the band’s weekly

PLAYING, COMPOSING, ARRANGING, EDUCATING AND JAZZING Judy Adam’s Dirty Dog Jazz Café blog about Scott Gwinnell’s new CD led off with: “Although he’s known as one of our town’s most talented pianists Mr. Gwinnell is also a composer, arranger, and educator who has been playing locally and internationally for more than 25 years.” “He’s put all of these musical abilities to work on his new tribute album to the late Jazz piano icon, Mulgrew Miller.” Both Scott and Mulgrew come off

EXPOSING A CITY’S SOUL & SPIRIT Every year I think that the new jazz year starts with the Tuesday following Labor Day. The previous jazz year wraps up as I walk out of Hart Plaza, turn around and regretfully say goodbye to the Detroit Jazz Festival. This year the threats of a serious thunder storm interrupted the festival on several occasions. This year’s festival will still be considered one of the most successful according to the unofficial international smile meter. It was

As we go through life we all have memories of both delicious and dreadful moments. We have fond thoughts when we hear the music that was playing when you first danced with that amazing but unapproachable girl. Then we are reminded of the kick that knocked a tooth out and the taste of eating Spam day after day during the war. I can’t get rid of the memory of the smell when the van engine gave out at the most remote place on our family vacation. We live our lives surrounded by

THE FINAL STAGE OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS:  SHARING YOUR ART Once an artist has put his final touches on a piece of art he is faced with a choice, to add it to the pile in the basement or offer it up as an important piece of art. Marketing doesn’t always come naturally for a creative artist. It is easier to give it away and let someone else decide the fate of one’s art. Certainly there are those who can go deep into the creative process completely immersed in their art and emer

There must be a new way to look at this Taking the usual and making it interesting is the artist’s task, adding  a dab of paint or a note in an unexpected place. That something that grabs our attention and makes us take a look is what we call art. In the glorious month of June everything around us is getting into shape. This will be the form it will take for the summer. We get an explosion of color and eager growth. This is a good time to talk about the fourth stage of the cr

Separating the good stuff from the stuff that isn’t needed is the hardest task in the creative process, but editing makes things better. Therefore I will try to make this a concise and brief blog. Ernest Hemingway said “If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them.” GREENING Greening is

For a very long time I have been fascinated by the ability of jazz musicians to create new music on the fly and make it look easy. We all watch as another guy steps up and adds to the first guy’s thoughts. Soon they are joined by others who move the music in a new direction.  Each time I hear Happy Birthday played at the Dirty Dog it is in a new form. No one plays it straight. Every time I have heard it played it is approached like we have never heard it before. Bands that pl

TEACHERS This past week Sean Dobbins brought some of his jazz students to the Dirty Dog Jazz Café where his Trio was featured. These young musicians from the Spartan Youth Band had a chance to play in one of the best jazz clubs in America. Last week’s blog was a tribute to Sean’s dedication to keeping jazz going forward in Detroit. Wednesday night was the proof. We had a chance to listen and see these accomplished young musicians. What struck me was that they had acquired the

DRUMMERS NEED LOVE TOO It always seemed to me that drummers were having all the fun and so had to be hidden. Behind or to the side of the band we can usually find the drummer. They will be sitting down next to the stand up bass. They can be seen occasionally when the band steps aside, signifying a drum solo is coming, usually to wake up the audience. Drummers deserve some recognition for being really good musicians. In the last couple of months Detroit drummers Jeff Canady, R

FAMILY/ FRIENDS Last week Rodney Whitaker played bass with Sasha Vasandani at the Dirty dog. Rodney’s wife Cookie was also in the house. I spent some time talking to both of them. They talked proudly of their seven children. This is not the image of a jazz musician that I remember seeing in the movies. It is, however, a pretty common approach to life with Detroit jazz musicians, especially artists who could be successful anywhere in the world but choose to stay put in Detroit

I will keep asking this question until someone tells me that maybe it isn’t, and why. I haven’t heard any jazz artists say that this club isn’t one of the very best venues in the world. I think it would be hard to beat the gang at the Dirty Dog and the jazz club they have built. IT COULD BE In the 1950’s I spent some time in New York City. My idea of a great night was to drink some beer and listen to jazz. The 50s were a time of creative breakout. We had been busy with war an

Our family accompanied me on spring break to St Louis where I had some business to do. The trip was timed so that we could spend time at the St Louis Ragtime Festival. We had friends who were going to be part of the gathering. The Mother’s Boys Ragtime Band was a group of traditional jazz geeks who played weekly gigs in Detroit in addition to their day jobs. It was a warm spring evening, and the bars selected for jam sessions were filling up, mostly with musicians. A kind cro

“EVERY CHILD IS AN ARTIST. THE PROBLEM IS HOW TO REMAIN AN ARTIST ONCE WE GROW UP.” PABLO PICASSO There must be a new way to look at this Taking the usual and making it interesting is the artist’s task, adding  a dab of paint or note in an unexpected place. This something that grabs our attention. and makes us take a look is what we call art. Children and jazz artists do this all the time. We can learn from them. I can remember when I was most pleased with myself being told t

THE EYES HAVE IT Shut your eyes and see. James Joyce De’Sean Jones was the first of of three saxophone players leading bands at the Dirty Dog this March. He will be followed by Alex Graham and Dave McMurray. This is a photographer’s dream. Horn players are camera magnets. Our eyes generally gravitate to the guy swinging his curvy brassy instrument up and down and back and forth while the rest of the guys and gals in the band are caught in a static state of awe. Saxophone play