Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

This is the third of four pieces covering the 2021 Detroit International Jazz Festival. Two weeks before the festival, a decision was made to go to a virtual format due to the surge provided by the Delta variant of Covid-19. Three outdoor stages became three soundstages in the ballrooms of the Renaissance Marriott hotel. All sets were run back to back, with no overlap. This made roaming the grounds and catching at least a piece of everything, impossible. While the broadcast of Facebook and YouTube formats offered every note of the festival, we as media members were allowed into the soundstages to witness the music live. The broadcast crew and writers were the only members permitted in the broadcast area. In order to find time to write, have a bite to eat, or take care of any professional and personal matters, you literally had to pick and choose which sets to miss from the continual flow of performances from noon to midnite. Writing a set by set description encapsulating each performance became impossible. While in the soundstage, you could not tap into the broadcast for context, set lists and other helpful items. We were virtually in the dark, pun intended. The real stories began to emerge—the quick change to virtual, the amazing quality of the broadcast, the vibe of the music minus a live audience and exceptional deeds in terms of mentorship and impacting the future of jazz. Our times, the worldwide pandemic, was indeed a huge part of the story. And so you will find highlights of many sets, plus storylines that helped make the 2021, 42nd annual Detroit International Jazz Festival a unique success. Thanks to festival photographer Jeff Dunn, wonderful images of the four days are included.

Day Three: The Music Runs Deep... For Free

As Sunday dawned on the Detroit Jazz Festival, there were mixed emotions. The sun was out after a cloudy Saturday, unbeknownst to most, as festival participants had moved from gig to gig within the confines of the climate controlled Marriott, essentially unaware of the goings on outside of those walls. The Saturday evening hang out on the patio off the third floor lobby was outstanding—musicians and media members enjoyed the cool night air, a few drinks, and the fellowship of friends. Many became re-acquainted after nearly two years of absence due to the pandemic. Sunday was the most active day of the festival, with hour sets hitting in seventy five minute intervals across the three sound stages. DJF was a bit more than half way through, and the festival production was receiving rave reviews. The audio and video quality was remarkably bordering on excellent. Somehow, the musicians and production personnel had managed to not only put the music out on the airwaves, they had managed to maintain the vibe only a free festival can provide. The good work of getting the music out to the people for free had not skipped a beat from the point of view of the audience.

The early afternoon saw the Absopure stage host a grouping of musicians united as jazz educators in Michigan. Guitarist