Jazz from Detroit

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. Stryker has fully updated the paperback since the publication of the hardcover. This award-winning book will appeal to jazz aficionados, casual fans, and anyone interested in the vibrant and complex history of cultural life in Detroit.
 

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Jazz from Detroit

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. Stryker has fully updated the paperback since the publication of the hardcover. This award-winning book will appeal to jazz aficionados, casual fans, and anyone interested in the vibrant and complex history of cultural life in Detroit.
 

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Jazz from Detroit

Jazz from Detroit

by Mark Stryker
Jazz from Detroit

Jazz from Detroit

by Mark Stryker

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Overview

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. Stryker has fully updated the paperback since the publication of the hardcover. This award-winning book will appeal to jazz aficionados, casual fans, and anyone interested in the vibrant and complex history of cultural life in Detroit.
 


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780472125913
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Publication date: 07/08/2019
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 358
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

Mark Stryker is an award-winning author, arts journalist, and critic based in Detroit and a member of the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame. He is also writer and co-producer of the documentary film The Best of the Best: Jazz from Detroit (2024).

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

A Note on Sources and Recordings

Introduction

 

Part 1: Setting the Stage

Chapter 1: Jazz in Detroit, 1900-1950

 

Part 2: The Golden Age, 1940-60

Opening Chorus

Chapter 2: Gerald Wilson — Head and Heart

Chapter 3: Yusef Lateef — Gentle Giant

Chapter 4; Milt Jackson — Bags’ Groove

Chapter 5: Sheila Jordan — Sheila’s Blues

Chapter 6: Barry Harris — Professor of Bebop

Chapter 7: Tommy Flanagan — A Legendary Touch

Chapter 8: Kenny Burrell — Community Builder

Chapter 9: Donald Byrd — Renaissance Man

Chapter 10: Roland Hanna — Magician

Chapter 11: Curtis Fuller — Trombone on Top

Chapter 12: Louis Hayes — The (Cymbal) Beat Goes On

Chapter 13: Ron Carter — The Right Note at the Right Time

Chapter 14: Joe Henderson —The Phantom

Chapter 15: Charles McPherson — Reminiscing by Ear

 

Part 3: The Jones Brothers

Opening Chorus

Chapter 16: Hank Jones — One Extra Ace

Chapter 17: Thad Jones — Jonesisms

Chapter 18: Elvin Jones — Philosopher-King

 

Part 4: Taking Control — Self-determination in the 1960s and ‘70s

Opening Chorus

Chapter 19: Detroit Artists Workshop, Detroit Creative Musicians Association and Focus Novii

Chapter 20: Contemporary Jazz Quintet and Strata Corporation

Chapter 21: Tribe

Coda

 

Part 5: Marcus Belgrave and His Children

Chapter 22: Marcus Belgrave — The Nurturer

Chapter 23: Geri Allen — Back to the Future

Chapter 24: Kenny Garrett — Sound and Spirit

Chapter 25: Regina Carter — Searching for Roots

Chapter 26: Gerald Cleaver — The Big Picture

Chapter 27: Robert Hurst— Platonic Ideal

Chapter 28; Rodney Whitaker — Family Man

Chapter 29: James Carter — Volcano

Chapter 30: Karriem Riggins — Duel Identity

 

Part 6: Tradition and Transition in the 21st Century

Opening Chorus

Chapter 31: Present and Future — Ralphe Armstrong, Marion Hayden, Michael Malis, Marcus Elliot

Coda

 

Appendix A: Jazz Musicians from Detroit

Appendix B: List of Quoted Interviews

 

Acknowledgments

Index

What People are Saying About This

Pat Metheny

“No city has meant more to American musical culture than Detroit. In the bass register alone, Paul Chambers, Ron Carter, and James Jamerson provided the foundation for some of the greatest music of the 20th century, and we can continue to climb the entire frequency range to find the same deep and detailed descriptions of American life at its very best through the ideas and voices of iconic Detroit musicians. Deeply researched and expertly rendered, Mark Stryker’s Jazz from Detroit has provided a diligent and insightful window into every aspect of how Detroit came to be one of the major centers of modern American musical research. This is an important and highly entertaining document that will stand as a definitive testament to the musical culture of Detroit.”

Sonny Rollins

“There is no other city like Detroit: the musicians, the vibe, the people. Thank you, Mark Stryker, for Jazz from Detroit.”

author of Black Detroit: A People’s Hist Herb Boyd

“With a smooth and deeply informed style Mark Stryker in Jazz from Detroit writes authoritatively about the city’s almost matchless contribution to the history of jazz. His profiles on some of the iconic figures in jazz are so insightfully drawn, so musical that you are tempted to stop reading and listen to their recordings.”

Ethan Iverson

Jazz from Detroit is a masterpiece—one of the most insightful books about this music ever written. Mark Stryker’s perceptive commentary will resonate with both aficionados and newcomers to jazz.”

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