2017 Detroit Jazz Fest lineup: Wayne Shorter, Regina Carter, Kamasi Washington, Herbie Hancock, and dozens more

Today the Detroit Jazz Festival (which as we all know is the world’s largest free jazz festival) announced its artist lineup for the 38th annual Labor Day weekend event.

The diverse lineup is anchored by 2017 Artist-in-Residence Wayne Shorter, a revolutionary saxophonist and composer globally recognized for his immense contributions to the music. Live sets will take place Sept. 1-4, 2017, on four stages in downtown Detroit. This a seriously solid lineup, with much for both neophytes and heads to enjoy, if you'll allow that cliche.


Shorter helps to set the tone for the festival by jumpstarting performances on opening night with a quartet featuring Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci and Brian Blade. Additionally, Shorter also will participate in other special artist collaborations throughout the fest. One of these rare performances is a Wayne Shorter Quintet with Geri Allen, Leo Genovese, Esperanza Spalding and Terri Lyne Carrington, which takes place that Sunday night. (Show up early for that one if you want to snag a seat.) Shorter will also be featured in an additional collaboration on Monday, making its North American debut: Wayne Shorter Quartet with the Detroit Jazz Festival Orchestra perform Emanon.

We are stoked to hear that Kamasi Washington is among the performers this year, as we missed his Ann Arbor show last year after running a feature by Ana Gavrilovska for that show.


Daily highlights include:

Friday, September 1:
· Wayne Shorter Quartet featuring Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci and Brian Blade
· Herbie Hancock

Saturday, September 2:
· Hudson (with Jack DeJohnette, Larry Grenadier, John Medeski, and John Scofield)
· Dee Dee Bridgewater
· Spanish Harlem Orchestra
· Miles Mosley + The West Coast Get Down
· Billy Childs Quartet: Rebirth


Sunday, September 3:
· Cameron Graves
· Sean Jones Quintet
· Kyle Eastwood Quintet
· Akihiro Nishiguchi Trio
· Kamasi Washington
· Kat Edmonson
· "Wide Angles: The Music of Michael Brecker" under the direction of Gil Goldstein Featuring: Joe Lovano, Donny McCaslin, Rick Margitza, John Patitucci, Brian Blade, and members of the DJF Orchestra

Monday, September 4:
· Vijay Iyer
· Regina Carter: "Simply Ella"
· Stanley Clarke
· "The Music of Elvin Jones," featuring Dave Liebman, Gene Perla, Adam Niewood, Adam Nussbaum

As always, the full festival schedule will be available at detroitjazzfest.com as the event nears.