Detroit jazz fest goes virtual for 2020; Labor Day weekend event to air on web, TV, radio – Detroit Free Press

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For the first time in four decades, there won't be a jazz festival to attend in downtown Detroit this September.

But there will still be free, live jazz music: The Detroit Jazz Festival will becomea virtual event this Labor Day weekend a four-day show that will air digitally, on television and on radio.

Yielding to the realities of the coronavirus pandemic, festival officials and Mayor Mike Duggan announced the move Wednesday. Rocket Mortgage is aboard as presenting sponsor.

The 2020 jazz fest will run Sept. 4-7featuring mostly local talentperforming live on three soundstages in the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center. The performance spaces will be fashioned after the festival's traditional stages, but without audiences.

It was a Cool night at the 40th Annual Detroit Jazz Festival on Sept 1, 2019.(Photo: Christopher M. Bjornberg, Special to the Free Press)

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The fest will streamonline on the city of Detroit's Channel 22 digital station and the festival's own digital platforms, withperformances also broadcast on Detroit Public Television, WDET-FM (101.9) and WRCJ-FM (90.9).

The Detroit Jazz Festival's original 2020 lineup, announced in March, included artist-in-residence Dee Dee Bridgewater, along with Herbie Hancock, PharoahSanders, Gregory Porter and others who would have traveled to perform. While they won't be heading to Detroit for the virtual event, fest director Chris Collins hinted they'll have some kind of role.

"I have a hunch you'll be seeing them in some form during the four-day programming," Collins said.

Performances at the RenCen will be staged under a set of intensive protocols, including onstage social distancing and regular disinfecting of gear and green rooms.

The move to a "health-conscious" virtual fest followed consultation with local, state and federal authorities, Collins said, and officials evaluated several contingency plans for an in-person event before opting for the streamed edition.

Jazz fest officials were part of a 100-plus-personentertainment subcommittee that submitted a package ofevent reopening and safety recommendationsto the state of Michigan in June. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer hasn't yet adopted the proposals.

The Detroit Jazz Festival is holding open submissions for Detroit musical talent. Artists can apply through July 15 at detroitjazzfest.org.

The festival has also put out an open call for visual artists, one of whom will be selected to design the event's officialposter ideally capturing the spirit of the music and the 2020 zeitgeist, including the pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement.

Proceeds from poster sales will go to the Detroit Arts Fund, established earlier this year.

There's no word yet on the status of two other prominent September festivals, including Soaring Eagle Arts, Beats & Eats in Royal Oak and the Movement techno fest, scheduled Sept. 11-13 in downtown Detroit after postponing its traditional Memorial Day spot.

Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.

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Detroit jazz fest goes virtual for 2020; Labor Day weekend event to air on web, TV, radio - Detroit Free Press