(light upbeat music) (light jazzy music) - Brian Blade is the 2024 Artist in Residence at the 45th Detroit Jazz Festival.

It is an honor, a pleasure, and a privilege to sit here and talk to you today after an incredible workshop with students at Wayne State University.

You are celebrated as one of the greatest jazz drummers playing today.

But I think to call you a jazz drummer doesn't really cut it.

It's sort of myopic, your roots are in the church, in Shreveport, your father was the pastor.

- When you talk about the roots, and church, and the gospel, it really is the root of everything is coming up from, you know, no matter where I find myself, at the school, or in that concert hall, or in that dive bar, (laughs) the mission is still the same, touching souls with your conviction and what you feel like your calling is is important to me.

And the music has to speak that same praise.

A dear friend in my hometown, Shreveport, Louisiana, gives me two cassettes when I started driving at age 16 of Joni's music, Hejira and Mingus.

So I'm listening to these recordings, these tapes, you know, driving to school and it's something I've never, didn't grow up with.

And it's speaking to me in a big way.

And, you know, I'd heard Wayne, obviously on Weather Report music and with Miles Davis essentially, and his own records, some of the first records I bought, but I could have never seen ahead, all of a sudden sharing time with my heroes, essentially, making music with my heroes.

- So today you are here at Wayne State University and running a workshop and they were playing some challenging material.

(lively jazzy music) What was it that you were trying to impart to them, what's that all about?

- I was encouraged just to see everyone playing in a band like, you know, the students with their instruments and present and not taking the opportunity for granted.

Mostly today, I wanted to encourage the rhythm section and what I hope is that in terms of approach, of seeing things a different way, that it takes them off the page.

So like, if they can internalize all of that and really be looking not only to Mr. Scott as he's conducting, but to their band mates, and they can express something else, not just the literal part.

Like your role, your part in the thing, like you're standing in it, you're walking in it, you're giving it so that everyone else can just be that much more strengthened and we've made something greater than what we actually imagined because we submitted to each other.

And that's, I think the music, that's when it takes off and it pierces people's hearts because you've given something, not taken something.

So the whole dynamic has to come to a place where it's like, okay, our pianism mode is truly that.

Like, it's even more so, and then our dynamics are also much more dramatic and impactful.

(lively jazzy music) So I hope that the students here at Wayne State University, they would also see through the page, so to speak.

You know, read between the lines so that they can inspire, inspire something else in the ensemble.

- I love that.

So, coming up as the Artist in Residence at the Jazz Festival this year, you are going to have a few performances and bring some sensibilities to it.

What can we look forward to?

- Well, initially, a Fellowship Band Concert, and I'm collaborating with two dear friends of mine, Edward Simon, pianist from Venezuela, I've known a very long time.

And Scott Colley, bassist, we have a project called Three Visitors, appropriately titled for this occasion.

And a feature Becca Stevens, great singer and songwriter, and a string octet composed of Detroit symphonic musicians.

- Wonderful.

- Looking forward to that.

And then a big band that in its core is the Fellowship Band conducted by Jim McNeely and his arrangements of some of my music and Jon's music for the Fellowship Band.

The fact that this festival is open to the public, free, it's really incredible, you know, to me, in the world, it's unique, not just in the country, I must say.

I'm excited about sharing all this with the community here in Detroit.

(lively jazzy music)