Who knew? Things are actually happening in Detroit. It’s been 8 years since I left and moved to Europe, and in that time the city has seen its share of disaster. With the decline of the auto industry the population has continued to dwindle as there’s fewer and fewer jobs available, leading to even higher crime rates, leaving many parts a ghost town of abandoned buildings; the former mayor was convicted on numerous counts of fraud and racketeering while in office; the city declared bankruptcy; and when I first arrived, the water company was cutting off 17,000 of the cities poorest people for unpaid bills.
All in all, not looking good for the Motor City. But what this has lead to is a plethora of incredibly cheap properties. And who needs cheap property? Artists! Those that can’t afford a couple grand a month to live in a closet in Brooklyn are moving out to Detroit, where that couple grand could BUY an entire house. Coupled with those moving for the University of Michigan’s top-notch music school and the home-growns that just know what’s up, a vibrant community is growing.
It’s exciting times in Detroit, and I’m glad to see it. One reason I left was I just wasn’t finding the artistic community I was looking for, but now when I come to visit I’ve managed to pick up several gigs in the area.
The first was a new series called the Creative [music] Incubator hosted by Spread Art held at the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit. Every month there’s a different focus on the [ discipline ], and they’ve had [ dance ], [ performance art ], and [ video ] incubators as well. The concept for this one Wet/Dry Mix. Duos were formed with an acoustic artist and an electronic artist who would process the acoustic sound and they would improvise together. I performed with Ben Davis, whom I met that night, and he did a killer job of turning my playing into something that felt very Detroit in the end. In addition to the music, Goran Butorac provided visuals for the evening. The other performances were by Derek Worthington (Trumpet) & James Cooper (Electronics); Patrick Behnke (Viola) & Matthew Daher (Electronics); and Marcus Elliot (Tenor Saxophone) & James Baljo (Electronics). A video of Ben and my performance is below…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v="http://youtu.be/YFzY7jTDTZ4″
The second performance was the next night in Hamtramck, a 2 square-mile enclave within Detroit proper, at Lo & Behold! Records and Books. It’s a quirky store with a bunch of old records, books, comics, and clothes. I think the proprietor was calling it the Wade Boggs Invitational series or something, which is bizarrely funny if you know about American baseball, and otherwise probably not. I improvised with trumpeter James Cornish and percussionist Jonathan Taylor. The second set was Nicholas Tallidis on saxophone, Albert Wildeman on double bass, and Anthony Poretti on percussion. It was just a small, low-key thing, but an enjoyable night of free jazz.
Cornish / Alder / Taylor – Improv # 2
And for the third night in a row I played, and again in Hamtramck. This was called Shadow Kingdoms and was a combined performance and installation. James Cornish organized the music and Michaela Mosher provided the video projections. While the videos (projected in two places) ran, an ensemble of 7 improvised on a maqam. It was a long, droney, performance filled with snippets of Arabic and Klezmer melodies that found themselves emerging from the scale. Besides myself performing on clarinet and bass clarinet, there was also Molly Jones playing tenor sax and flute, Eric Schweizer playing alto sax and clarinet, James Cornish playing trumpet and baritone, Patrick Behnke playing viola, Albert Wildeman playing double bass, and Anthony Poretti playing drums.
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After a break and trip down south to perform at the ICA ClarinetFest in Baton Rouge and with Sonido 13 in New Orleans, I returned to the D for another run of shows with Chicago-based guitarist Steve Slivka. We performed our first show at Keinhaus, a new project that’s actually being run by a friend I know from Amsterdam, Tess Walkowski, whom I also performed with last time I was in the US in 2011, again in Hamtramck and also in New York. Keinhaus is a beat up house she bought and is running as an artist studio/residency and performance space. It’s in a state of disrepair as she rebuilds, which adds to its character and charm. It has a very Amsterdam squat feeling… naturally… The evening was really great, with some amazing music. Besides Steve and I, also on the bill were some of Detroit’s finest such as a quartet with James Cornish on trumpet, Kirsten James on guitar, Anthony Poretti on drums, and Piotr Michalowski on clarinet and soprano sax, and a trio with Bubba Ayoub playing a modular synth setup, Nicholas Tallidis on sax and effects, and Jonathan Taylor on drums.
The next and last show in the area was in Toledo, which I know isn’t really considered part of metro Detroit, and isn’t even in Michigan, but it’s just across the border and the city has its similarities. I played the Toledo Bellows series at the Robinwood Concert House last in December of 2010 as a solo show. At the time I was amazed that there was something actually going on in Toledo, and since then Gabe, the organizer, has really turned it into something. He’s had quite a lot of big names in the avant-jazz/improv scene come through and it’s become known as a place for adventurous music. I really enjoyed it the first time I played, and the same was true this time too. He continues to have a European feel to the series, with his house concerts, vegetarian food, and wine and cheese. Also on this show was the William Hooker Trio, who was quite a treat to watch play, with William Hooker on drums, Ed Ricart on guitar, and Luke Stewart on bass.
Just for the sake of completion of my little tour with Steve, we also played the next night at the Friendly Tap in Berwyn (Chicagoland), in the first of the West End Experimental Series that Steve is starting up there. Chicago is a whole other scene on its own, so I won’t taint this post about Detroit by saying too much about it, other than we had a great time also playing with drummer Miguel Gonzalez.
So there you have it… Detroit! And there still managed to be a lot of events happening that I didn’t play on. James Cornish is also running a monthly Radical Music Series, there were more concerts at Detroit Contemporary, Keinhaus had an amazing show of modular synth and electronics madness the night after we played, Trinosophes regularly has great shows, and there was even a street band festival going on downtown. Coupled with the increasing number of art spaces, the orgasm of shots for urban photographers and filmmakers, and the very unique character of the city, Detroit is becoming an inspiring place for creatives. And an increase in farmer’s markets, urban farming, and cycling are helping to make the place a more sustainable environment.
It looks like I’m going to have to start coming home more often.