Flying the Coop: Jazz Legacy and Future Downtown with De’Sean Jones Trio featuring Six Mile Strings and Tariq Gardner’s Evening Star Trio.
We are bringing the legacy and future of Detroit Jazz to downtown this Memorial Day Weekend. We hope this special performance in Capitol Park will showcase just why the Blue Bird Inn’s legacy is so vital, and must be defended and restored.
This outdoor concert will feature two exciting Detroit jazz trios. De’Sean Jones is a composer and saxophonist led by De’Sean Jones and Tariq Gardner. Both bandleaders provide a critical generational link in the chain of Detroit music bridging jazz, funk, techno and beyond. We are thrilled to bring them out as we begin to fly the coop once again.
The performance will begin at 3:00pm on Saturday, May 29, in Capitol Park, downtown Detroit. The event is free and open to the public. While the music grooves, we will maintain social distance and encourage the audience to wear masks.
De’Sean Jones is a saxophonist, composer, 2x Grammy-nominated arranger and Billboard-charting recording artist. Jones will lead a trio and feature the Six Mile Strings quartet.
As a composer, Jones has curated an eclectic and progressive approach that is undeniably rooted in the rich history of black culture. As a thought leader and strong educational advocate for Urban Art Music, De’Sean actively pushes the boundaries of social consciousness through music and composition. De’Sean Jones’ current projects include the drum & bass inspired “Anti-Philosophy” featuring Sasha Kashperko, and his newly minted collaboration with Six Mile Strings and Midtown Strings titled “Project i94 n95” which bridges the gap between open jazz improvisation and through composed musical literature for string quartet.
Tariq Gardner is an electrifying drummer, composer and educator from Detroit, who has his roots in Detroit’s rich and storied jazz tradition. He was brought up in the music by his mother, bassist Marion Hayden, who greatly impacted his musical knowledge and instinct. A broad lover of music, Tariq is driven to bring the worlds of jazz, neo-soul, hip-hop, and live instrumentation together in the city.
A 2018 graduate of the University of Michigan’s Jazz Studies program, Tariq served as the drummer for the John Douglas Quartet from 2017-19, led groups at the Charles H. Wright Museum’s African World Fest in both 2017 and 2018, performed with the Detroit Jazz Fest All Star Alumni Band in 2019 , and played at the Detroit Jazz Festival (2018-2020) and Cape May Jazz Festival (2019). He continues to work as a drummer, composer, and bandleader for major events in and around Detroit (including his own group the Evening Star).
We invite you to enjoy the spirit of the jazz club out in the fresh, soon-to-be summer air.
DSC will have a table with merchandise, information and opportunities to get involved to support our work!
This program is supported by and in partnership with Downtown Detroit Partnership, Rocket Community Fund and Culture Source.
This concert is supported in part by an award from the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts.
