The legendary Motor City musician and producer leads the new top-shelf ensemble releasing its debut album next month, with tour stops in Traverse City, Lansing and Detroit. The Local Spins interview.
‘Groove in the Face of Adversity’: Don Was & The Pan-Detroit Ensemble. (Courtesy Photo)
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When Don Was kicks off his tour with The Pan-Detroit Ensemble at The Alluvion in Traverse City on Oct. 8, don’t expect to hear a set filled with “Walk The Dinosaur,” “Spy In The House Of Love” and “Shake Your Head (Let’s Go To Bed).”
While there may be a couple tunes by his band Was (Not Was) in the mix, this group will stick mostly to music from its upcoming album “Groove In The Face Of Adversity” and jazz classics by Yusef Lateef and The Grateful Dead.
Jazz classics by the Grateful Dead?
It’s all part of the plan, according to Was. As president of the iconic jazz label Blue Note and producer of The Black Crowes, Bob Dylan and John Mayer — plus co-founding the iconoclastic rock/funk/jazz band Was (Not Was) — the Detroit musician and producer embraces all forms of music. That includes the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, a band he formed when asked to fill a night as part of a Detroit jazz series for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
“I’ve been hearing the sound (of this band) in my head for about 40 years. I tried to get there,” he said.
Drawing from Detroit’s Soul, Power: Don Was (Courtesy Photo)
Previous attempts to bridge the divide led to Was (Not Was) and Orquestra Was, which released an album of Hank Williams covers done in a jazz and R&B style.
His eclecticism dates back to his beginnings in the Motor City where he absorbed the sounds of Iggy Pop and The Stooges, Horace Silver and Ron Carter, Motown, George Clinton of Parliament Funkadelic and more.
In 1979, pals Don Fagenson (aka, Don Was) and David Weiss formed Was (Not Was), adopting their common new surname. They recorded five studio albums and several compilations, featuring a rotating group of musicians and special guests such as Mel Torme, Ozzy Osbourne, Wayne Kramer of the MC5, Doug Fieger of The Knack and Frank Sinatra Jr. They hit the charts with “Walk The Dinosaur” and “Spy in the House of Love” before Don Was left to concentrate on producing.
He became hugely successful, handling production for The Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson and many more, with combined sales approaching 100 million records and winning six Grammy Awards. He also secured a BAFTA Award for Best Original Score (Backbeat), an Emmy for Music Direction (“The Beatles: The Night That Changed America”), and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association. He co-hosts “The Don Was Motor City Playlist” on Detroit NPR station WDET, and hosts “Dinner with Don Was” on SiriusXM.
Was also kept up his performing chops, playing bass on many of the albums he produced. He also toured extensively with Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros, a group he co-founded with Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir, hence the Grateful Dead connection.
Was says the opportunity to work with such diverse artists helped him as a musicians as well. “I had writer’s block. I thought, ‘What’s the point?’ I couldn’t get close as an artist (to them). I met my heroes. I was intimidated,” he says.
But after working with them long enough, he realized he had something they didn’t. “I looked at Willie. He couldn’t be me. I grew up in Detroit. He didn’t play sock hops at my junior high. I needed to be the best version of me you could.”
LISTEN: “Midnight Marauders,” Don Was & The Pan-Detroit Ensemble
Was eventually created the Don Was Allstar Revue, which for a decade-and-a-half has played at Detroit’s Concert of Colors and served as sort of an inspiration for and predecessor to the Pan-Detroit Jazz Ensemble.
While the Revue featured a varying set of performers, the Pan-Detroit Jazz Ensemble has a regular membership. Along with Was on bass, the group includes some of the Motor City’s most accomplished jazz performers, including Jeff Canaday (drums), Vincent Chandler (trombone), Steffanie Christi’an (vocals), John Douglas (trumpet), Wayne Gerard (guitar), Mahindi Masai (percussion), Dave McMurry (saxophone) and Luis Resto (keyboards).
“It reflected the vibe of Detroit music. It’s popular all over the world,” he says of music from his hometown. “It reflects the population of the city. It’s a working-class town.”
He sees a throughline in the music of the Motor City, in whatever form it emerges, from jazz to rock to electronica to hip hop. “Detroit has soul, power,” Was continues. “It’s raw. Motown, the Jones brothers, Yusef Lateef, the MC5, the Stooges: It’s all got a deep groove to it.”
The Debut Album
While he calls the Pan-Detroit Jazz Ensemble a soul-jazz band, he says all those artists he and the band members grew up listening to are in its genes. “We draw from everything, from everybody,” he says of the band that will also play Lansing and Detroit as part of an eight-city October tour.
Was says he continues to find joy and purpose in music. “If you allow music to be your friend, it will never let you down,” he says.
He continues to grow and develop as a musician himself. “I’m 73, and I’ve been playing a long time. I still discover little things, (like) in left-hand technique.”
The Pan-Detroit Ensemble will play two shows at The Alluvion on Oct. 8, at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. The 7 p.m. show is sold out; tickets for the 9 p.m. show ($33.65-$39) are available online here.
Was and the band follow that on Oct. 9 with a concert at Lansing’s Grewall Hall. Tickets ($34.02-$57.52) for the Lansing show are available online here.
The official album-release show takes place Oct. 11 at Detroit’s Majestic Theatre, with tickets ($49.85-$127.19) available online here.
VIDEO: Don Was & The Pan-Detroit Ensemble (Live on WDET)
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