Jazz, classical and world music will fill the rooms of a 1927 historic Tudor Revival home in Palmer Woods as the neighborhood celebrates Black History Month with a concert on Saturday, Feb. 24.
It starts at 8:00 p.m. and there is a free educational concert for children from 5-6:00 p.m.
The Barefield Sextet will perform with guitarist/composer A. Spencer Barefield, Ian Finkelstein on piano, Marcus Elliot and Rafael Statin on saxophone, Jeff Pedraz on bass and Sean Dobbins on drums. They will blend their music in a home overflowing with Chinese, African and African American artwork.
There will also be a soul food-inspired feast with chicken, greens, mac ‘n cheese, yams and peach cobbler.
For tickets and more information go to palmerwoods.org or call 313-891-2514. The address of the home will be provided with RSVP/ticket purchase. Tickets for evening concerts are $50 (general admission) and $60 (reserved front area seating). There are discounts for groups of 10 or more.
“In the U.S., the month of February is observed as Black History Month, a time to remember the important contributions and achievements of African Americans,” Palmer Woods says on its website. “Undoubtedly, honoring and 
recognizing the myriad of accomplishments made by people of color should not be pigeon-holed into one month. However, we take this opportunity to pay special tribute to preeminent black jazz composers, musicians and trailblazers.”
The Barefield sextet will perform legendary jazz works from the 20th century to the present.
The group is made up of musicians with a deep knowledge of the classics of jazz, enabling them to perform challenging compositions by the recently departed piano virtuoso Geri Allen, as well as works by Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, and Barefield, whose decades of work will be showcased.
“Barefield’s synthesis of African string music, jazz, and timbrel investigations … coupled with his compositional versatility, merits special consideration … he is nothing less than captivating,” says Downbeat magazine.
Barefield has received numerous accolades and commissions from the Kresge Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, Arts Midwest, Arts International, Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA), Arts Foundation of Michigan, and others.
A widely acclaimed guitarist, soloist, composer and ensemble leader, he has performed, toured and recorded extensively for nearly four decades as an ensemble leader, soloist, and with many jazz giants, including Roscoe Mitchell, Lester Bowie, Oliver Lake, Richard Davis, Andrew Cyrille and Reggie Workman. He also has played at hundreds of festivals and concerts worldwide from the Detroit Institute of Arts to the Nickelsdorf and Leverkusener jazz festivals in Europe.
If you want to plan a little further, another concert will be held Saturday, March 24 featuring the World Music Sextet – Pamela Wise, piano/vocals; Wendell Harrison, saxophone/clarinet; Naima Shambourger, vocals; Damon Warmack, bass; Akunda Hollis, percussion, and Louis M. Jones, drums. The concert starts at 8:00 p.m.
The concerts are produced by Creative Arts Collective with the Palmer Woods Association and the support of Be Well Medical Center in Berkley, Barefield DesignWorks, Blossoms in Birmingham, City Living Detroit, the Michigan Chronicle, DetroitPerforms and WRCJ 90.9FM.
You can read more by clicking here.
— Lead photo by Barbara Barefield
Palmer Woods to celebrate Black History Month with jazz concert in historic mansion Feb. 24 added by Marge Sorge on
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