Kimmie Horne
2023-07-01 19:30 - 21:30, 2023-06-29 19:30 - 21:30 (America/Detroit)
Showtimes are at 7:30p & 9:30p for this performance. Doors open at 5pm for dinner. Seating begins at 6pm for “Dinner & a Show”. The second show starts seating at 9pm.
Kimmie Horne is an International Jazz Vocalist, model, and actress. She is a native Detroiter, descendant of the legendary songstress and actor Lena Horne, and niece of the late great singer/songwriter Cleveland Horne of the “Fantastic Four.” Kimmie has left her mark in areas around the world, including, Detroit, Chicago, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, LA, San Francisco, Jamaica, Ontario, Toronto, Puerto Rico, London, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and more. In addition to live performances, Kimmie touts her “High Standards,” “Loving This Jazz,” and “Live in Las Vegas” CD’s. Horne’s 2018 release of her new video, “As Long as I Live,” viewed by thousands, has received critical praise. Her songs, “I Hope You Dance,” and special arrangement of, “I Will Survive,” demonstrate her blend of talent and sophistication.
As a representative for Budweiser, luxury furriers, and celebrity spokesperson and model for Lincoln Automotive Group/Varsity Lincoln, Kimmie’s talent transcends beyond impeccable vocals alone. Her most recent acting role, is the featured singer in the much-anticipated musical thriller “One Harlem Night.” This all-star cast jazz musical, takes place at the beautiful Fisher Building in Detroit in early 2018.
Kimmie continues to expand her talents. Having launched her self-titled “Kimmie Honre Jazz Festival,” in 2016; this event has spun into a dynamic all-star musical line-up, and contributor of major charitable donations. The festival has established a relationship with, and is a supporter of, The Ronald McDonald House of Detroit organization, benefiting sick children and their families. The festival is preparing to expand nationally and internationally.
New partnerships, new music and video releases, as well as summer tours, including the annual trip to Japan, are just a few of the things on tap for Kimmie Horne. Always more to come!

DeSean Jones
2023-06-30 19:30 - 2023-07-01 09:30, 2023-06-29 19:30 - 2023-06-30 09:30, 2023-06-28 19:30 - 2023-06-29 09:30, 2023-06-27 19:30 - 2023-06-28 09:30, 2023-06-26 19:30 - 2023-06-27 09:30, 2023-06-25 19:30 - 2023-06-26 09:30, 2023-06-24 19:30 - 2023-06-25 09:30, 2023-06-23 19:30 - 2023-06-24 09:30 and 10 more dates
De’Sean Jones is a Detroit based saxophonist, billboard charting recording artist and grammy nominated arranger. Over the past 20 years De’Sean has toured the world recording or performing with music Icons like Stevie Wonder, Faith Evans, along with a host of Detroit Legends; Marcus Belgrave, The Clark Sisters, Kierra Sheard and techno pioneer Mad Mike Banks of Underground Resistance.
As a bandleader & producer Jones has curated an eclectic approach that is widely viewed as progressive and undeniably rooted in the rich history of black culture. De’Sean actively pushes the boundaries of social consciousness through music in ways that are authentic, emotionally dynamic and intellectually stimulating.

All musical projects from De’Sean Jones can be accessed through his record label KNMDK Records.

Noah Jackson & Full Circle: Residency & Session
2023-06-28 19:30 - 21:30, 2023-06-21 19:30 - 21:30, 2023-06-14 19:30 - 21:30
Showtimes are at 7:30pm & 9:30pm for this performance.
Doors open at 5pm for dinner. Seating begins at 6pm for “Dinner & a Show”. The second show starts seating at 9pm.
Musicians pay no cover when they bring their instrument.
A Detroit original, Noah Jackson is a bassist, cellist, and composer specializing in black american music and classical music. Aimed with a curiosity to where sound could touch audiences from within, he has both written and performed music for large international audiences since 2010. A graduate of Michigan State University (B.M.), and Manhattan School of Music (M.M.), Noah has performed with world renowned artists such as NEA Jazz Master Abdullah Ibrahim, Branford Marsails, Jason Marsalis, The Marsalis Family, Hugh Masekela, Nnenna Freelon, Kenny Garrett, Wizard Harper, George Burton, Jazzmeia Horn, and Christian Sands. Additionally, he’s performed in many prominent venues and jazz festivals including Radio City Music Hall, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Jazz @ Lincoln Center, Blue Note Jazz Club (New York City and Milan), Royal Albert Hall, Victoria Hall (Geneva), Jazz in Marciac (Marciac, France), The Library of Congress, The Kennedy Center, SFJAZZ, The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, London Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, and North Sea Jazz Festival. Noah Jackson also performed as part of the ceremony for the NEA Jazz Masters Award in 2019. He also recorded bass and cello on The Balance with Abdullah Ibrahim which reached #3 on the Billboard Jazz Charts (June 2019).
As a band leader, Noah had put on performances of original creative work with his band Full Circle. In 2011, he made his self-produced debut album, Contemplations- A Suite to critical acclaim and led Full Circle in the Detroit Jazz Festival in 2012. Since then, Noah has collaborated with a wide variety of artists across the jazz spectrum. In 2017, he has worked in collaboration with the American Ballet Theater with his string quartet Asè at Grace Farms in New Canaan, CT. Noah, along with vocalist and co-producer Candice Hoyes, were named recipients of grants for a double jazz and string quartet project: Ellington to the World: Generational Power in Black Culture and Spaces from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and the New York Council of the Arts. The work premiered at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in September 2019 and was performed to a sold out audience in The CUBE @ DSO in February 2020. As of March 2021, Noah has joined Cliff Bell’s in Detroit as Curator and Artist-in-Residence where he will perform with his group Full Circle and host sessions as well as bring in world-class talent to perform on it’s stage.
Noah is endorsed by Aguilar Amps, David Gage REAList LifeLine pickups, and NOAH Guitars of Italy. Noah currently resides in Detroit, Michigan.
Find out more about Noah here!

Straight Ahead
2023-06-25 17:30 - 19:30
Doors open at 4pm for dinner. Showtimes are at 5:30p & 7:30p for this performance. Seating for the shows begins at 4pm for the first show & 7pm for the second show.
Born in Detroit, MI, a crucible of jazz, Marion Hayden is one of the nation’s finest proponents of the acoustic bass. Mentored by master trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, Hayden began performing jazz at the age of 15. She has performed with such diverse luminaries as Bobby McFerrin, Nancy Wilson, Geri Allen, Regina Carter, Steve Turre, Lester Bowie, David Allen Grier, James Carter, Dorothy Donegan, Joe Williams, Lionel Hampton, Frank Morgan, Jon Hendricks, Hank Jones, Bobby Hutcherson, Larry Willis, Vanessa Rubin, Sheila Jordan, Mulgrew Miller, Annie Ross and many others. She is a co-founder of the touring jazz ensemble Straight Ahead- the first all woman jazz ensemble signed to Atlantic Records. She is a member of the Detroit International Jazz Festival All-Star Ambassadors touring ensemble.
Widely recognized as a standard bearer of culture and artistic history, Hayden received a 2019 Art X Grant and a Creators of Culture Grant for original musical works. She was Artistic Director for a 2018 Knight Arts Foundation Grant encouraging young women in jazz. In 2016 Hayden was honored for her work as a performer and educator with the prestigious Kresge Artist Fellowship- a 1 year fellowship and grant award given an elite group of creative artists. She was the recipient of a 2016 Jazz Hero Award.- a national award given by the Jazz Journalists Association- recognizing people who have made a significant contribution through their artistry and community engagement.
Find out more here!

Straight Ahead
2023-06-24 19:30 - 21:30
Showtimes are at 7:30p & 9:30p for this performance. Doors open at 5pm for dinner. Seating begins at 6pm for “Dinner & a Show”. The second show starts seating at 9pm.
Born in Detroit, MI, a crucible of jazz, Marion Hayden is one of the nation’s finest proponents of the acoustic bass. Mentored by master trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, Hayden began performing jazz at the age of 15. She has performed with such diverse luminaries as Bobby McFerrin, Nancy Wilson, Geri Allen, Regina Carter, Steve Turre, Lester Bowie, David Allen Grier, James Carter, Dorothy Donegan, Joe Williams, Lionel Hampton, Frank Morgan, Jon Hendricks, Hank Jones, Bobby Hutcherson, Larry Willis, Vanessa Rubin, Sheila Jordan, Mulgrew Miller, Annie Ross and many others. She is a co-founder of the touring jazz ensemble Straight Ahead- the first all woman jazz ensemble signed to Atlantic Records. She is a member of the Detroit International Jazz Festival All-Star Ambassadors touring ensemble.
Widely recognized as a standard bearer of culture and artistic history, Hayden received a 2019 Art X Grant and a Creators of Culture Grant for original musical works. She was Artistic Director for a 2018 Knight Arts Foundation Grant encouraging young women in jazz. In 2016 Hayden was honored for her work as a performer and educator with the prestigious Kresge Artist Fellowship- a 1 year fellowship and grant award given an elite group of creative artists. She was the recipient of a 2016 Jazz Hero Award.- a national award given by the Jazz Journalists Association- recognizing people who have made a significant contribution through their artistry and community engagement.
Find out more here!

Closed for a Private Event
2023-06-23
We will be closed this evening for a Private Event. Join us tomorrow or Sunday for Straight Ahead.

“Back to Black: An Obsidian Cabaret”
2023-06-22 21:00 - 22:30
“Back to Black: An Obsidian Cabaret”
Music Direction by Brian E. Buckner
The 3rd Annual Obsidian Theatre Festival kicks off this season with a one-night only Cabaret on Opening night.
Detroit Native and Award winning Poet, Ben Will teams up with Broadway star Lulu Fall and other local artists to present a fun and intimate evening of music. Don’t miss this special night filled with hits from the best of Broadway’s Black writers and musicians.
Cant make it to the event, checkout more content from OTF HERE!

Harmonica Shah and Howard Glazer
2023-06-18 17:30 - 21:00
Doors open at 4pm for dinner. Showtimes are at 5:30p & 7:30p for this performance. Seating for the shows begins at 5pm for the first show & 7pm for the second show.
Born in California, Shah also spent time in Somerville, Texas, with his blues harmonica and guitar playing grandfather, Sam Dawson. Dawson had recorded for both Alan Lomax and Duke Records. His mother, a beautician, encouraged him to be a salesman for Jet magazine in the latter part of the 1950s. This allowed Shah access to Oakland’s bars and clubs, where he heard musicians such as Lowell Fulson, Jimmy McCracklin, Juke Boy Bonner and Big Mama Thornton.
Shah told Living Blues magazine that his grandfather’s passion for the blues inspired him. “Well see I picked it up from him, he’d be out in the fields singin’ all that (sings in a slow moan) ‘Tell me how long, whoa, tell me how long it’s been since you’ve been away from home’ Well, that’s raw! That’s a big damn difference from ‘Good Golly Miss Molly'”.
He moved to Detroit in 1967, and worked for Ford Motors for fifteen years. Shah bought himself a cheap harmonica in 1976 and, while operating as a taxicab driver, Shah was introduced to local blues jam sessions. “Hell, that was it, no turning back then”, Shah recalled.

The Northwoods Improvisers
2023-06-17 19:30 - 23:00, 2023-06-16 19:30 - 23:00
Showtimes are at 7:30p & 9:30p for this performance. Doors open at 5pm for dinner. Seating begins at 6pm for “Dinner & a Show”. The second show starts seating at 9pm.

The Northwoods Improvisers first came together in 1976. Early versions of the band played collective electro-acoustic improvised music. In 1980 the band switched to an all acoustic instrumentation which has remained to this day. Mike Gilmore and Mike Johnston were founding members of the ensemble. Nick Ashton joined in 1986. The Northwoods Improvisers Sextet consists of Mike Johnston on bass, Nick Ashton on drums, Donovan Boxey on saxophones, Dominic Bieringa on saxophones, Jack O’Brien on cello and Mike Khoury on violin.

The Northwoods Improvisers have performed with several key musicians in their field, including Bill Smith, Eugene Chadbourne, Danny Spencer, Eddie Gale and most notably, working with the late Detroit composer Faruq Z. Bey formerly of Griot Galaxy. The group has released several CDs on the UK’s ARC label as well as on Entropy Stereo and Sagittarius A Star records based in Italy.

This most recent version of the sextet included the long standing rhythm section of bassist and drummer Mike Johnston and Nick Ashton, both very accomplished musicians with decades of collective history between them. Donovan Boxey and Dominic Bierenga bring a double saxophone attack with the two switching to different wind instruments between them. Together, they exceed the sum of their parts. Mike Khoury and Jack O’Brien along with Mike Johnston comprise a string section and bring the lushness of arco strings to the mix along with Eastern sensibilities.

The Northwoods Improvisers Sextet bring together through composed pieces with collective improvisation, eastern modes, and Native American elements to create music with references to indigenous sounds and the music of those who have been historically underrepresented in history. The Northwoods Improvisers Sextet has recently completed work on a new album which will be issued in September of 2023.

Personnel:
Mike Johnston – bass, Native American flutes, percussion
Nick Ashton – drums, percussion
Donovan Boxey – saxophones, melodian, percussion
Dominic Bierenga – saxophones, flute, bass clarinet, percussion
Jack O’Brien – cello, bass, percussion
Mike Khoury – violin
