This is How We Jazz

Jazz is about dialogue and feeling, working together, pairing a note with an abstract idea then collaborating with other musicians to execute the performance. There are technical aspects and theory, but instinct shines. 

“There’s a vibe thing,” says Darell “Red” Campbell Jr., jazz musician, and DSO Creative Jazz Band instructor. “Music keeps evolving, and my approach is being able to mix up styles. So, I’ll take hip-hop and put it with classical music, and same with jazz—electronic versus acoustic.” 

Jazz roots anchor Detroit from Baker’s Keyboard Lounge on Livernois—a staple in Detroit for live jazz—to the Orchestra Hall stage on Woodward, where the essence of the historic Paradise Theatre resurfaces through the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Paradise Jazz Series, a staple of DSO programming since 1999 now co-curated by the orchestra’s Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair Terence Blanchard. To date, the DSO holds the record of being the only major American orchestra to present a jazz series on its main stage.  

 “Terence and the Paradise Jazz Series bring a variety of performers to Detroit who are at multiple points in their career,” says musician and DSO collaborator Kris Johnson. “And to see acts led by my peers like Endea Owens and Brandee Younger billed alongside acts like Herbie Hancock and Ravi Coltrane, is a testament to the vision that this series has for providing a diverse and robust selection of performances meant to lift and bring to the forefront the vast talent within the jazz genre.”

The 2024–2025 Paradise Jazz season features six concerts in Orchestra Hall, with an artist lineup including: Terence Blanchard, Cyrus Chestnut and Friends, SFJAZZ Collective musicians, Ron Carter, Chucho Valdés Royal Quartet, and Cecile McLorin Salvant.

THE SCENE

It's not rare to spot music enthusiasts having an impromptu photo shoot on the grand stairwell in the William Davidson Atrium or posing under the bronzed Orchestra Hall banner hanging over the hall’s entrance.  

“I find myself looking at the intricate details in the hall: ceiling, light fixtures, ornamental elements, even my neighbors,” says Lulu Fall, local vocal artist. “Audiences at the DSO are incredibly attentive, in tune with the programming, and I love that there’s a sense of pride that seeps from the patrons. This absolutely adds to the program I’m attending and elevates the emotional and physical experience that I have.”  

It becomes a moment of connection ahead of making their way to their seats in Orchestra Hall for two hours of jazz, from traditional to avant-garde.  

Audience members swayed in their seats, stood to their feet and grooved when Endea Owens and The Cookout came to Orchestra Hall with powerful vocalists J. Hoard and Shenel Johns. The double-billed concert also featured drummer, composer, and producer Makaya McCraven with Detroit’s Urban Art Orchestra—a 22-piece band that fuses funk, jazz, bebop, and soul led by saxophonist De’Sean Jones.  

“There’s this connection between an audience and musician that’s very special; sometimes magical,” expressed Blanchard. “When you talk about the energy of live jazz concerts, you can’t beat it.” 

That’s just a teaser of the good times. Each concert brings something different musically and artistically; but the element that remains is: “Everyone attending a jazz concert at the DSO will be mesmerized and know they belong,” Johnson says. “There’s no audience like a Detroit audience!” 

With jazz, musically, there is a destination, but the route can come in an abstract and improvisational form. Quality, consistency, and imagination are essential, and that’s the level of artistry brought to the stage each season.