We’re at the Gretchen C. Valade Jazz Center on the campus of Wayne State University for an episode about the 46^th annual Detroit Jazz Festival. Over the Labor Day weekend, thousands of jazz fans will gather at Hart Plaza, Campus Martius Park and the Valade Jazz Center for the world’s largest, free jazz festival. Host Stephen Henderson sits down for a conversation with Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation President & Artistic Director Chris Collins and two of this year’s festival performers, bassist Marion Hayden and drummer Louis Jones III.

Collins talks about this year’s festival lineup, what goes into planning the event each year, and the importance of raising enough money to keep the festival free to attendees. He also discusses the legacy of the jazz festival as it quickly approaches a 50-year milestone.  Hayden and Jones, both native Detroiters, talk about their joy of performing in their hometown.

Additionally, keeping with a longstanding American Black Journal tradition, Collins unveils the official Detroit Jazz Festival poster to ABJ viewers and discusses the artist and concept behind the design. 

The show closes with a performance by the 2025 Detroit Jazz Festival Artist-in-Residence, pianist and composer Jason Moran. He plays “Reflections in D” by Duke Ellington in a performance recorded earlier this year during a festival preview at the Valade Jazz Center.