Hey, Detroiters, welcome back to Culture Canvas!
While the event is still five months away, organizers with the Detroit Jazz Festival have already announced this year’s latest artist-in-residence: pianist and composer Jason Moran.
Moran has been playing professionally for more than 20 years, releasing 18 solo recordings with Blue Note Records and Yes Records. In 2022, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was recently awarded the 2023 German Jazz Prize for Pianist of the Year. His latest recording, 2023’s “From the Dancehall to the Battlefield,” is devoted to the music of World War I jazz pioneer and organizer James Reese Europe. Moran performed songs from the album during the Detroit Jazz Festival that year.
In addition to performing, Moran is the artistic director for jazz at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The role requires Moran to develop programming and curate artists for one of the largest jazz programs in the country, as well as working with the center’s other departments to coordinate programming for festivals and events.
Moran has also written scores for films, such as director Ava DuVernay’s 2015 movie, “Selma” and her 2016 documentary, “13th.”
As the 2025 Artist-in-Residence, Moran will support Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation’s educational initiatives for students and community engagement activities throughout the year. Plus, the artist will have multiple performances during the Labor Day weekend festival, which takes place Aug. 29-Sept. 1 in downtown Detroit.
I talked to Moran about his residency plans, how he got into jazz and what it was like working with DuVernay on her film scores.
Editor’s note: This interview was lightly edited for length and clarity.
BridgeDetroit: What was going through your mind when you found out you were this year’s artist-in-residence?
Moran: I was thrilled, because I regard Detroit as maybe one of the great music cities of the world. I’m from Houston, but I’ve lived in New York for over 30 years, but you hear and you learn about the musicians from Detroit. I’m hearing Marcus Belgrave on a Geri Allen record. It’s just a layer of community that is involved with the music. And from all the musicians I’ve played with from the city, I feel like I know some of these people who I’ve met once or twice, or I’ve only heard about them.
The festival is one of the best in the world and it continues to be. I know it’s not easy to keep a status and keep it free. I’m honored to be a part of it.
BridgeDetroit: Your role will include working with students and supporting community engagement activities. Do you know what that will look like yet?
Moran: That’s still in development, but one of the things I’ve been gathering young musicians around for the past year is the music of Duke Ellington. He would have been 125 years old and I’ve been spending the year playing his music, but also using the music as a way to meet a lot of younger musicians and play with them. It’s challenging music in its own right, but to present it to a younger group of musicians…it’s important to be playing across generations. It’s just something that a young musician learns from when a professional sits in and makes music with them, rather than just telling them what to do. I want to make something with them, and so I’ve been using Ellington as a catalyst with these interactions. That’s one of the things I know I’ll be sharing with the community.
BridgeDetroit: I read that your father had an extensive record collection when you were growing up. Is that how you got into jazz?
Moran: I’d say partially, yeah. Thank God he had one – his collection was pretty wide, too. He liked listening to all kinds of music. And my parents listened to the jazz radio station in Houston. We (Moran and his brothers) were riding around as kids in the back seat, yearning for them to change the channel. But in my teenage years, it clicked. And also the good thing about it clicking during my teenage years was I was also in love with hip-hop, and songs in late ’80s early ’90s were sampling a lot of jazz material. So, there was kind of an immediate reflection point where I heard Art Blakey and I noticed that music being sampled in A Tribe Called Quest. And so, it made it cool to know where the original samples were coming from and these were coming from my favorite musicians. And it was also about that continuity about Black music never straying far from the root. And so, when you hear that continue to be drawn out over decades and decades, then we get this beautiful tree of all these revelation colors that come from areas of Black music.
BridgeDetroit: What led you to play the piano when you were a child?
Moran: My parents put my older brother and I in music classes when we were beginning our education. But we also went to a grade school that was a magnet school and everybody in the school was playing instruments; violins and pianos and cellos, basses. Everybody had to play an instrument. And my parents had us taking lessons once a week outside of school. That’s how it started.
BridgeDetroit: When did you decide that playing music was going to be your career?
Moran: When I moved to New York, maybe during my junior year at the Manhattan School of Music, I thought, “OK, I’m just gonna do this.” I felt also had enough support. I met the woman who was going to be my wife when I was 20, and I had friends who supported me also and were making music with me. We were a crew, but we didn’t necessarily know how impactful we’d be for one another. I had a solid bond with folks around me and that definitely pushed the gears forward. I have a belief in destiny, that some of these things are mapped out for you, and you have to try to follow signs as much as you can. And I had a lot of teachers who kept me on track and noticed when I may have been off track and weren’t afraid to tell me so. Those things really pushed me out into the ocean, thankfully.
Music is very delicate and it’s often not regarded as important, but I know the importance of it culturally. I’ve seen its importance around the world and felt its importance my whole life. And it’s given me purpose. I wouldn’t have thought that when I was six years old starting the piano.
BridgeDetroit: What has it been like going outside of performing music and creating scores for films and documentaries?
Moran: It was kind of difficult. Much of my life has been spent on stage and making things that existed live in front of an audience. But working with Ava (DuVernay), it brought together so much of my love of film and I love listening to scores. I thought, “Oh, my God, I’m gonna get a chance to make a score.” And we were both in the same space where we were given these big opportunities at the same time and we were going to try to discover them together. She was incredible to work with. The hard work in that world is to watch a scene 100 times, trying to get the music right. Some of these things are very hard to watch over and over again, but that becomes the work. It was harder for the people who lived it. Both of those films (“Selma” and “13th”) I’m proud of because they really do represent an important part of history that needs to continue to be shared. And the film world sends sound around the globe in a different way than a record does, so it’s nice to be part of that fabric.
BridgeDetroit: Are you working on any new music?
Moran: I have a new record that might come out by the summer. It’s a record I made with musicians in Norway where they were rearranging my own music. Otherwise, I like the stage a lot right now.
BridgeDetroit: What’s one of the things you’re looking forward to as the artist-in-residence?
Moran: There’s a project that seems to be coming together that I’m proposing, which is a duet with a seminal techno artist from Detroit and that’s brand new for me. I’m glad that they’ve agreed to do this. It’ll be announced soon enough, but that’s something I’m really excited about.
As always, have a great week!
Cheers,
Micah
313 Scene
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- A former employee of Eminem has been charged with selling the rapper’s unreleased music, leading to a federal case involving copyright infringement and theft. Joseph Strange, 46, of Holly, was charged Wednesday with criminal copyright infringement and interstate transportation of stolen goods, the Justice Department announced. (Detroit Metro Times)
- Organizers on Thursday announced the first wave of artists tapped for the inaugural AfroFuture Detroit festival, which will run Aug. 16-17 at the Bedrock Detroit Douglass Site, just north of downtown. The lineup includes Nigerian gospel singer Flavour, rising Afrobeat artist Lojay, Detroit rapper Tee Grizzley and Haitian-Canadian DJ Kaytranada. (Detroit Free Press)
- The Jonas Brothers’ upcoming 20th anniversary celebration will include the group’s biggest Detroit show yet. The sibling pop trio will play Comerica Park on Aug. 28 as part of JONAS20: Living the Dream, a 43-date tour that will kick off in the brothers’ home state of New Jersey. Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday via Ticketmaster, following a Thursday presale running from 10 a.m. through 3 p.m. Registration for the presale is open now at livemu.sc/jonasbrothers. (Detroit Free Press)
What’s going on in the D?
- Check out TechTown Detroit’s monthly retail pop-up marketplace 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday at its headquarters, 440 Burroughs Street. Attendees can explore unique products, connect with local entrepreneurs and uncover their next favorite find.
- The Corktown Music Festival, which takes place next month, is hosting a pre-party at 7 p.m. Friday at Flamingo Vintage Detroit on the city’s southwest side. The lineup includes local artists like Vampire Cowgirl, Indie Guinn, Girthquake and Fabulous Disaster. All proceeds from the party will go towards Passenger, a recovery support system for artists and musicians.
- The Redford Theatre is showing a screening of the baseball classic, “A League of Their Own,” at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The film follows the players of the Rockford Peaches during World War II, which was part of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The star-studded cast includes Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Tom Hanks and Madonna. Tickets are $7.
- Step back in time with the Totally Rad Vintage Fest 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Huntington Center. Vendors specialize in clothing and accessories from the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, while also offering a selection of toys, home goods and more. General admission is $8, while a ticket for early entry on Saturday is $25.
- The Grand Kyiv Ballet is bringing the classic, “Swan Lake” to the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts at 7 p.m. Sunday. Not many tickets are left, but there are still some available beginning at $65.