The most important event of the last few weeks was a concert by the Joseph Jarman quartet from Chicago. This was Joseph’s second concert in Detroit. The first one, on March 18 in the Lower DeRoy Auditorium at WSU, was such a success (not financially, certainly, but meaning that the music was so beautiful that the people who came to hear it wanted to hear more of it) that the WSU Artist’s Society decided to sponsor these Chicago musicians again. With Joseph Jarman, who plays alto saxophone, bells, whistles, & other musical instruments, will be Christopher Gaddy on piano; Charles Clark, bass; & Thurman Barker, drums. A ‘delegation” from the Artists’ Workshop fortunate enough to be in Chicago on May 13 to hear Joseph Jarman’s concert entitled “TRIBUTE to the HARD CORE” at the University of Chicago & will not soon forget that historic performance.
On Sunday, June 5, there was an outdoor concert in Ann Arbor’s West Park, featuring the Detroit Contemporary 4 (with Charles Moore, cornet; Stanley Cowell, piano; John Lana, bass; & Ronald Johnson, drums) and the Ron Brooks Trio (with Stanley Cowell, piano; Ron Brooks, bass; & Danny Spencer, drums.)
On Friday, June 10, Joseph Jarman will give a free lecture on Music at the Artists’ Workshop (4857 John Lodge, corner of Warren). Admission is free; everybody is invited to attend. Refreshments will be served.
On Sunday, June 12, we’ll have a group at the Artists’ Workshop made up of Jim Semark, piano; “Hank” Hence, tenor saxophone; Doug Biggs, bass, & Byron Lyle, an astounding young drummer from Lansing. These musicians got together at the Workshop for the first time last Sunday & played so much MUSIC it’s a shame most people had to leave before Midnight. Again, don’t take my word for it. Just come down & listen! We have no reading scheduled for this Sunday, but we hope to have some films instead. The Sunday night programs are always free. Everybody is welcome. That’s at 7:00 pm at the Artists’ Workshop. Also from now on we’ll have some kind of a “happening” at the Workshop every Friday night. We’ll have speakers, readings, film showings, dances, etc. or informal socializing over coffee. Every Friday, between 8:00 & 11:00 p.m.
An important event for Detroit will be the appearance of John Coltrane at the Drome Bar for 10 days starting around June 17. Check Downbeat or call the Drome Bar for the exact date.
There will be a class in Modern Dance at the Artists’ Workshop for college age students. It will be held every Tuesday & Thursday evening from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., running from July 5th thru August 11th. Fee is $12.00 ($1.00 per lesson) to be paid at the beginning of the course. Attire is leotards and tights or comfortable clothing for dancing. The instructor is Carol Waschchuck, a modern dance student at WSU. Interested people should leave their names & telephone numbers at the Artists’ Workshop.
Recently we had a big important poetry reading on the Wayne campus featuring poets John Weiners, Bob Hogg, John Temple, & writer Bill Hutton from Buffalo, Victor Coleman & Jerry Gilbert from Toronto, & local poets Robin Eichele, Ron Caplan, Jim Semark, & J.D. Whitney. Deb Barker, a poet from San Francisco, read at the Workshop on May 8, and Henry Malone and d.a. levy, a young poet from Cleveland were featured on May 29. We hope to be able to bring in Allen Ginsberg for a reading in the near future. Watch for sudden announcements. There was a beautiful article on Allen, “The Guru Comes to Kansas,” in last week’s issue of LIFE magazine (!) with a poem by Allen and some groovy pictures.
New records to listen to: Archie Shepp: On This Night; Don Cherry: Complete Communion; Anthony Williams: Spring; Ornette Coleman in Stockholm, Vol. II. On one tune on this record, “Snowflakes and Sunshine,” Ornette plays violin and trumpet, which alone is worth the whole record. Or listen to “Morning Song” on the same side, first thing in the morning after you get up & your whole day can take on the quality and the peace of that song. Just try it once & you’ll know what I mean.