Detroit City Council president Ken Cockrel Jr. is used to meeting the press, although on Wednesday he confessed he was happier to be talking about jazz at the Detroit International Jazz Festival presser than about text messages.
Cockrel is now on the board of the Jazzfest, which runs from Aug. 29 to Sept. 2 this year, and for him the gig makes sense.
Growing up, the council president was immersed in jazz, thanks to his father, political activist and Councilman Ken Cockrel Sr., who played his favorite records by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly, and other jazz greats constantly.
"And every year it was a ritual, my father would take me down to the jazz festival, which was still called Montreux back then," Cockrel said.
I particularly like this year's theme "A Love Supreme: The Detroit/Philly Summit," as a Philly native forcibly relocated here as a kid when my dad took a job with an auto supplier. Who knew the music would be as good?
Fans will have a great array of Detroit and Philly jazz and soul acts to catch; Detroit bebop legends like Kenny Burrell and Hank Jones, Philly jazzers Pat Martino and Kenny Heath, and much more.
This year there are a few changes to Jazz Fest physically; the Here and Now stage, which features up and coming talent like Hot Club of Detroit, will be moved further away from the din of the People Mover, over to Congress & Woodward. "Hopefully that will take care of the noise," festival director Terri Pontremoli said. "Who knew the People Mover ran so often?"
And this year the Jazz Festival's official hotel will be the Renaissance Center Marriott, it's bigger than the Pontchartrain, and that's a must. There will be jam sessions every night at the Marriott after jazzfest's outdoor concerts wind down.
The tribute to Marvin Gaye on Friday Aug. 29, opening night of Jazzfest should be fantastic. Gaye's "What's Going On" still haunts Detroit musicians and fans, and there will be not only musical tributes to him that day, but also extensive talk about Gaye and his music in the Jazz Talk Tent, with I hear, Gaye biographer David Ritz coming in to take part.
I wasn't surprised to hear that Ken Cockrel Jr. was such a jazz fan -- it was startling to hear that he was a Creem Magazine subscriber growing up, and remembered my byline there. So he was a rock kid too.
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