Jazz from Detroit
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- $39.99
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- $39.99
Publisher Description
Jazz from Detroit explores the city’s pivotal role in shaping the course of modern and contemporary jazz. With more than two dozen in-depth profiles of remarkable Detroit-bred musicians, complemented by a generous selection of photographs, Mark Stryker makes Detroit jazz come alive as he draws out significant connections between the players, eras, styles, and Detroit’s distinctive history.
Stryker’s story starts in the 1940s and ’50s, when the auto industry created a thriving black working and middle class in Detroit that supported a vibrant nightlife, and exceptional public school music programs and mentors in the community like pianist Barry Harris transformed the city into a jazz juggernaut. This golden age nurtured many legendary musicians—Hank, Thad, and Elvin Jones, Gerald Wilson, Milt Jackson, Yusef Lateef, Donald Byrd, Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Burrell, Ron Carter, Joe Henderson, and others. As the city’s fortunes change, Stryker turns his spotlight toward often overlooked but prescient musician-run cooperatives and self-determination groups of the 1960s and ’70s, such as the Strata Corporation and Tribe. In more recent decades, the city’s culture of mentorship, embodied by trumpeter and teacher Marcus Belgrave, ensured that Detroit continued to incubate world-class talent; Belgrave protégés like Geri Allen, Kenny Garrett, Robert Hurst, Regina Carter, Gerald Cleaver, and Karriem Riggins helped define contemporary jazz. The resilience of Detroit’s jazz tradition provides a powerful symbol of the city’s lasting cultural influence.
Stryker’s 21 years as an arts reporter and critic at the Detroit Free Press are evident in his vivid storytelling and insightful criticism. Jazz from Detroit will appeal to jazz aficionados, casual fans, and anyone interested in the vibrant and complex history of cultural life in Detroit.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Though Detroit is known for its legendary Motown music, former Detroit Free Press journalist Stryker's exceptional book shows in swinging detail why the city was also a major focal point for jazz. Stryker outlines the various forces that created the conditions that spawned so many influential artists: "A unique confluence of economic, cultural, social, educational, and artistic factors transformed the city into a bebop factory," Stryker writes. "The profound marriage of superb formal instruction in public schools with the informal academy that pianist Barry Harris ran in his home plus a vibrant club scene operating at night had a catalytic impact on jazz in Detroit." Stryker focuses on Cass Technical High School, the jewel of the Detroit public school system, which was attended by guitarist Kenny Burrell, trumpeter Donald Byrd, and bassist Ron Carter in the 1940s and '50s. Stryker cites the period from the 1940s to the '60s as the "golden age" that produced the most influential musicians in jazz, many of whom eventually left Detroit, mostly for New York. In fluid, enthusiastic prose, Stryker details how those jazz musicians were also successful as classical artists and as Motown studio musicians. This astute music history will be a boon for jazz fans.