Detroit
Detroit skyline
photo unidentified
1959 Cadillac Eldorado
Detroit is best known today as the world's automotive center
Music of Detroit
Detroit is renowned for its musical heritage, a long and rich history that includes Motown Records, which produced such hometown stars as Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, the Temptations and the Four Tops. Detroit is also often regarded as the quintessential Rock 'n Roll town. The area's famously avid rock fans have been celebrated in film and in song (e.g., Kiss' "Detroit Rock City"), and bands undertaking live albums often opt to record in front of Detroit's dependably enthusiastic crowds.
Detroit's influence on popular music cannot be overstated. Contemporary pop artists such as Eminem, Kid Rock and the White Stripes are part of a long lineage of Detroit stars that includes Aretha Franklin, Madonna, Bob Seger, Ted Nugent, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, George Clinton and Mitch Ryder. The MC5 is often credited for laying the foundation of heavy metal, the Stooges are considered the godfathers of punk rock, and Detroit was the birthplace of techno music in the mid-1980s. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Detroit [Jun 2005]
Detroit Riots, 1967
[...] After the riots of June 1967, Detroit went, as Ze'ev Chafets writes in Devil's Night, "in one generation from a wealthy white industrial giant to a poverty- stricken black metropolis." Starved of resources while the wealth remains in rich, white suburbs, the inner city has, largely, been left to rot.
Detroit techno [...]
The term Detroit techno refers to a style of techno music in the tradition of early (1985-1995) techno recordings from Detroit, Michigan, not necessarily indicating the music's geographic origin. A discriminating trait of Detroit techno is the use of analogue synthesizers and early drum machines for its production or - increasingly - the digital emulation of the characteristic sound of those machines.
roit techno is described as a combination of Kraftwerk and George Clinton thrown into an elevator by legendary DJ/producer Derrick May. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_techno [Mar 2005]
ause it's now accepted as undeniable history that Carl, Kevin, Derrick and Juan Atkins somersaulted dance and electronic music beyond disco, electro, Kraftwerk, Eno, Kraut Rock, P-Funk, New Romantic and New Order into something new. At the time they called it techno. --mixmag.net [Apr 2003]
Art
Black Mahogoni 2 (2004) - Moodymann
Black Mahogoni 2 (2004) - Moodymann [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Echoes
...one of the most distinctive musical voices in contemporary Black music.
Nuts
If Marvin Gaye were alive today this is the kind of music he’d be producing.
Album Description
Following on from the soulful house masterpiece that is Black Mahogani, the album, comes Black Mahogani 2, an altogether jazzier affair mixing mostly live elements with Kenny Dixon Jr’s (aka Moodymann) own un-definable genius production style.
Those expecting straight up deep house should tune out now as Kenny leads us into an exciting new territory under his Pitch Black City moniker.
Black Mahogani 2: The Pitch Black City Collection sees Kenny bring together some of Detroit’s finest and undiscovered musicians to produce an album on a par with jazz fusion classics from the likes of Herbie Hancock & Sun Ra. Essential. --via Amazon.com
see also: Moodymann - black music -