'Jazz in the Streets of Old Detroit' offers music in historic setting
While Detroit offers no shortage of jazz music venues, there aren’t many that can take audiences back to the genre’s original time period. But the Detroit Historical Museum’s “Jazz in the Streets of Old Detroit” series returns Wednesday, offering visitors the opportunity to experience jazz music in an intimate setting that replicates what Detroit looked like in the early 1900s.
The museum’s basement-level “Streets of Old Detroit” — one of its most popular exhibits — offers three distinct roads of recovered Detroit storefronts that show how the city looked and changed between the 19th and early 20th centuries.
“It’s an iconic unique environment, and we offer great acts,” said Lisa Gavan-Lewis, the museum’s manager of public programs. “That’s what really makes the experience unique.”
Wednesday’s act will feature Straight Ahead, a Detroit-based jazz group known for its eclectic and soulful approach to music with a wide-ranging sound that incorporates mainstream R&B ballads, avant-garde jazz and Brazilian funk.
Experiencing the all-female group, which includes Alina Morr on piano, Marion Hayden on bass, Gayelynn McKinney on drums, Ingrid Racine on trumpet and vocalist Kymberli Wright, is also an opportunity to celebrate Women’s History Month, Gavan-Lewis said.
“Straight Ahead is a very popular group,” she said. “Every single member of the ensemble has done so much to forward jazz and female presence in jazz for Detroit and for Michigan and internationally.”
Gavan-Lewis said hearing Straight Ahead at the Detroit Historical Museum is a rare chance to experience the musicians in an intimate, more accessible setting and at a lower cost than the group’s typical performances.
She also said it was a great opportunity to arrive early and check out the museum’s other exhibits, especially for those who have never been or haven’t visited in a long time.
“It’s kind of a two for one,” she said. “You’re paying for the performance, but you also get to visit the museum.”
The event is also a fundraiser for the Detroit Historical Society’s Black Historic Sites Committee. The group researches and documents important African American sites and people in Detroit’s history and provides public tours and lectures, as well as historical site markers.
“There are so many great pioneers from the past whose shoulders we stand on, and their stories need to be preserved forever,” said David Head, the committee’s vice president. “So anything that we can do to preserve that… is very important for sharing Black history in the city of Detroit so their memories won’t be lost or erased.”
Head said the event is a great way to have fun while supporting local jazz artists and the museum.
“It’s a really enjoyable time to get away with some loved ones and meet some new folks,” he said, “and just have a good time listening to some nice jazz.”
“Jazz in the Streets of Old Detroit” will take place from 6-9 p.m. March 6 at the Detroit Historical Museum at 5401 Woodward Ave, Detroit. Tickets are $40 for general admission and $15 for students with ID and include complimentary parking and non-alcoholic refreshments. For tickets and details visit www.detroithistorical.org.