In 1964, poet
John Sinclair
and jazz trumpeter
Charles Moore
co-founded the Detroit Artists Workshop in response to the Motor City's then-lack of cultural vitality. With like-minded friends, they fostered a loose-knit, egalitarian community in the Wayne State University neighborhood. They offered classes in the history of jazz and rehearsals and jam sessions, writing seminars and studies in modern poetics, filmmaking workshops and screenings, visual art and photography exhibits, and the organization's own Work Magazine. According to
Sinclair
and poet/filmmaker
Robin Eichle
, they wanted "...to pull together the active and potential artists in the Detroit area into a working, cooperative community of human beings that would offer to each individual an open, supportive artistic environment." In context, they were prophetic: The Artists Workshop directly and indirectly influenced the environment, establishing ground that nurtured the internationally celebrated Cass Corridor artists,
Kenny Cox
's
Strata
label, the
Tribe
organization, the explosive free garage rock experiments of the
MC5
(initially managed by
), numerous private literary presses and publications, the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival, and an intermittent concert//residency series that hosted local players and national acts including
Charles Mingus
and
Sun Ra
.
Strut
's issue of
John Sinclair Presents Detroit Artists Workshop
is the result of a deep dive into his massive archives, housed at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. It commences with
on the radio introducing a live 1978 appearance by native Detroiter
Donald Byrd
as he speaks over
Yusef Lateef
's "Happyology" (from 1957's seminal, Detroit-recorded
Jazz for the Thinker
).
Byrd
's band and a jazz orchestra deliver excellent versions of "Cristo Redentor" and "Blackjack."
A treasure trove of unissued music follows.
Moore
Detroit Contemporary 4
(that included guitarist
Ron English
and pianist
Stanley Cowell
) offer the startling modal waltz "Effi" and the Latinized spiritual hard bop of "The Promise." With an unidentified quartet,
delivers the lyrical, straight-head hard bop of "Three Flowers." Saxophonist and Detroit native
Bennie Maupin
delivers a bumping, electrified live read of "Water Torture" from 1977's
Slow Traffic to the Right
. Guitarist
English
contributes the cinematic "Bees" (from the recently unearthed
Fish Feet
) and finds him in the company of
,
Cox
, organist
Lyman Woodard
, and saxophonist
Larry Nozero
. The inclusion of "Passion Dance" by
Motown
pianist/arranger/music director
Teddy Harris
is a set highlight, wedding spiritual soul-jazz, gospel, and funk with soaring horns, bumping basslines, and angelic voices. The
Lyman Woodard Organization
closes the set with two smoking live jams. "Deja Vu" expertly weaves Caribbean and Detroit funk, while "Help Me Get Away" connects
's steamy, psychedelic guitar to
Woodard
's meaty organ grooves atop frenetic percussion. The digital version includes "Cheeba," a ten-minute live bonus cut by
fusing funky salsa and Detroit jazz. The set is wonderfully annotated with essays from
Eichle
, and journalist/critic
Herb Boyd
. While the sound quality here isn't pristine, it is wonderful considering these aged sources. The music is, in places, revelatory. Hopefully, more volumes are forthcoming. Essential. ~ Thom Jurek