When I dropped my preview of last February’s concert by Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, my friend Aric from San Francisco, a former Anthony Braxton student who is among the most astute listeners I know, wrote to admonish me. “Do NOT miss this. I saw em twice last year and was thrilled. Great stuff.”
Well, I did miss them, and I feared I’d squandered my best chance. But life is full of surprises, and 46 weeks later, they’re back, this time at the Beachland Ballroom on Saturday.
The Pan-Detroit experience isn’t exactly a jazz band, and a game of word association with “Detroit music” must inevitably start with Motown, right? But Detroit is also JDilla and the MC5, the Winans Family and Iggy Pop and Juan Atkins and John Lee Hooker and—G*d help us—Kid Rock.
If you came up in Detroit, like the Ensemble’s saxophonist Dave McMurray did, you could hear it all.
“Even growing up, I knew the importance of Detroit, ’cause it was on the radio,” McMurray, 70, told me on a video call last month. “I grew up with all those musics. And that’s kind of how I accepted all the different types of music because I loved them all, and I heard myself in everything.”
Listening to the Ensemble’s music, you’ll hear all those musics. From the irrepressible beat (in Detroit, everything begins with the beat) to the precision and swagger of the horns to the soaring elation of the vocalists, this is fusion in the original sense of the word.
It’s a bold concept when you think about it, but McMurray was intrigued. “When I first met Don, it was for Was Not Was, and when he called me for the session, I didn’t really know him,” the saxophonist said. “Describing what he was going after, he said, ‘I want it to be like if Joe Henderson or Elvin Jones was playing in a punk band.’ And I was like, What? That sounds like the place I need to be.”
That place was Detroit’s Sound Suite studio, where musicians like MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer, legendary teacher and former Ray Charles Orchestra trumpeter Marcus Belgrave and session pro and producer Bruce Nazarian gathered. Forty-four years later, McMurray and Was, now the head of Blue Note Records, are still out there and on the evidence of the Ensemble’s new album, Groove In The Face Of Adversity , (Mack Avenue Records, 2025), the joyful, bring-what-you-got ethos of the music is alive and well.
McMurray’s solo career proudly affirms that open-minded approach. He released a pair of albums on Blue Note dedicated to the music of the Grateful Dead, and his newest release, I LOVE LIFE even when I’m hurting (Blue Note, 2025), features many of the same musicians who will join him on the Beachland stage.
Aside from keyboardist Luis Resto, an original member, the rest of the Ensemble, drummer Jeff Canaday, trombonist Vincent Chandler, vocalist Steffanie Christi’an, trumpeter John Douglas, guitarist Wayne Gerard and percussionist Mahindi Masai, are younger musicians who are fully steeped in the Detroit musical legacy.
While Detroit’s musical history matters deeply to the Ensemble’s musicians, McMurray doesn’t think it is a prerequisite for enjoying the band on its own terms.
“To tell the truth, we didn’t know what to expect at a lot of these gigs, ’cause we didn’t know if people understood, if they knew the history of the band, or if they knew it had any history at all,” McMurray said. “But once they got in the room and we started playing, it would be great, ’cause we’d just start and they’d go with it, they’d go with it.
“We’ll start a funk song ,and it’ll be avant-garde in minutes. We hit the gamut of all the areas of music, which is the fun part about the group, because everybody brings something to the table. That’s uniquely Detroit. It sounds like Detroit to me. And the fun part about the band is when we look at it like we’re ambassadors for Detroit. Everywhere we go, we’re looking at it like we’re bringing a Detroit sound. This is what we do, and we’re bringing this sound, and we want you to like it, and it’s usually a great reaction, you know? A great reaction.”
P.S. If you’re reading this, Aric, don’t worry. I won’t miss this one.
Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble Saturday., Jan. 17, 8 p.m., Beachland Ballroom, 15711 Waterloo Rd,, tickets from $35.50 available here
Trading Fours
There’s never a bad time to get out and commune in the same room with creative musicians. Below are four musical events of interest in the coming week that you might want to check out.
Eli Leder Quartet
Thursday, Jan. 15, 7 p.m.
BOP STOP, 2920 Detroit Ave., Cleveland, tickets
Bassist Leder has been so ubiquitous on the scene lately that it’s easy to forget that he’s still a student. Soon, William Paterson University will beckon, and so this date, with trumpeter Garrett Folger, drummer Evan Palermo and fellow next-gen-er Liam Melnick on piano, might be one of your last opportunities to hear him for a while.
“Martin Luther King” from Duke Ellington’s “Three Black Kings”
Friday, Dec. 12, 8 p.m.
E.J. Thomas Hall, 198 Hill St., Akron, tickets
Okay, it’s just one movement, but any chance to hear America’s greatest composer in the context of an Akron Symphony Orchestra program that includes works by Beethoven and Bernstein should be seriously considered. The opportunity to hear Christopher Coles show off his classical chops (his undergraduate degree was in saxophone performance), is a sweet bonus.
Tania Grubbs Quartet
Saturday, Jan. 17, 8 p.m.
BOP STOP, 2920 Detroit Ave., Cleveland, tickets
Hey Cleveland, please ignore the social media photos that show Tania Grubbs rocking the Steelers beanie. They lost the game right? And just to show there’s no hard feelings, you might want to make a date to hear this first-class vocalist and her satiny band, which for the occasion will include Jamey Haddad, pianist Cliff Barnes and Grubbs’ bassist husband Jeff.
Abstract Sounds/Jevaughn Bogard
Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2 p.m.
500 West Streetsboro Road, Peninsula, tickets
This concert, part of a welcome new series at Cuyahoga Valley National Park will be the subject of next week’s post, but the trip to the Lodge might entail a bit of advance planning. here’s your reminder to put a pin in this date.
For the most complete listing of jazz and jazz-adjacent events., look to Jim Szabo’s essential, weekly Northeast Ohio jazz calendar.
