For decades, Detroit wasn’t just a stop on the map for musicians, it was the destination. As jazz evolved and musicians migrated north during the Great Migration, Detroit became a place where the genre flourished. Venues like the Blue Bird Inn, Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, and countless others created space for jazz musicians to play, experiment and make lasting connections.

Oral historian Veronica Johnson has partnered with the Detroit Sound Conservancy to help chronicle the women whose voices helped shape that legacy and whose stories are too often left out. The Detroit Women in Jazz Oral History Project includes interviews with prominent female musicians like Marion Hayden, Pamela Wise, Joan Belgrave, Gayelynn McKinney, Taslimah Bey and others, which are accessible to the public. 

In the interviews, Wise reflects on the footing she found as a musician in Detroit, and Hayden recalls early support from artists including Wendell Harrison and Marcus Belgrave. Also, Bey shares how Detroit’s jazz community surrounded her with support during one of the hardest moments in her life. 

One Detroit contributor Cecelia Sharpe of 90.9 WRCJ sat down with Johnson at Aretha’s Jazz Café to talk about the women who shaped Detroit’s jazz scene and how their stories are being preserved.  

Plus, Sharpe talks with Michelle Jahra McKinney, director of the Detroit Sound Conservancy, about efforts to restore historic venues like the Blue Bird Inn and keep Detroit’s music legacy alive for future generations.