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THE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE
Jackson Now, what I want to come out of this is a clear understanding of what his policies will be. I understand that criticism has come about me allowing Mr. Trump to come and speak at Great Faith Ministries. But you gotta understand that we are in a race, and there’s two people in the race. Mr. Trump may become the next president. I’m not a journalist, but I’m a broadcaster, and my network goes to millions of homes, and I owe it to the viewers to bring both sides. This is not an endorsement. This is engagement. And we have given Hillary Clinton the same opportunity. (She has not yet responded.) This is not to put one up above the other. This is to inform our community of what they will do if elected. you
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into our community and build the neighborhoods back up, and what commitment is he going give to us as a people?
Why did Trump?
Aug. 31 - Sept. 6, 2016
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interview
This gives us an opportunity to not just myself but the congregation. I teach my congregation to be educated in their voting. For us to vote in this day came with a price, and we inherited that price. Don’t sit down because you may not like a candidate or you may not understand a candidate. So we need to hear both sides. And I don’t need a guardian to tell me who to listen to and who not to listen to. When you get grown enough, you should be able to discern what you can see and what you can’t see. And for people to say Donald Trump, is he manipulating the black vote? Come on now, all politicians want your vote. But I’m just trying to say that we’re not stupid.
Black people can discern what’s real and what’s not. And let them be able to decide. So that’s why, in the congregation, when Mr. Trump lays out his plan, then people can hear it for themselves. But don’t just tell me what I can’t hear. Let me be independent in my thinking and in my vote. Do you plan to ask Trump about the charges that he is a racist? That he is affiliated with racist groups? I will bring up (former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard) David Duke, who did endorse him, and let him answer for himself. But I want to have on the record what Donald Trump is going to do if elected president, and then let the people decide and make up their own minds. We’re not here to say we agree. We’re here to listen. A person who committed murder, killed a child, whatever it may be, we still give them a right in our nation to be heard. Understand, this is a very emotional race and also a very critical race. And I feel that everyone should make their own decision on which way they’re going to go. I can’t just make my decision based on what I’m hearing from sound bites, or edited clippings or what somebody else tells me. Let me, and let every voter hear for themselves. Because the next president could decide the future of not only us but our children and grandchildren. I have nine children and 19 grandchildren and I want to know what their tomorrows are going to be. And don’t tell me African Americans are not smart enough to know when they’re being bamboozled or they’ve been told the truth. That’s it.
George Benson has a special love for Detroit
This year’s Detroit Jazz Festival opening night headliner shares why the Motor City is such a special place for him By Keith A. Owens Senior Editor
New Orleans drummer Shannon Powell works with WSU students during Jazz Week. — Photo credit: Alisha Dixon
Jazz Fest
our organization. We are proud to see where the music has taken our alums over the last decade.” Jazz Week’s collaboration with Wayne State, Collins said. has been shaped by Detroit’s rich legacy of jazz. “Because we are the oldest jazz program in the region, we are fortunate in that we have a long and impressive list of alums that have gone on to have great careers,” he said. “The tremendous legacy at Wayne State University and the city of Detroit is attached to the development of creative music.” Jazz Week participant Trunino Love, a trumpet player and 2016 graduate of the Detroit School of Arts, said he has participated in the program for three years because of his love of music and the opportunity to learn from professional musicians. “I wanted to get more knowledge of the music and I felt like this program would help me and push me to where I need to be. This is one of the art forms that I know everyone’s invited. It’s open to any and everybody,” Love said. “I love jazz because it helps me express myself more. It’s very open and very free. I can express myself and tell a story that I can’t tell verbally through music.” The 37th Annual Detroit Jazz Festival,
Best in Black the contributions of black businesses in Detroit are unlike anywhere else.
From page A-1 presented by Quicken Loans takes place Labor Day weekend. The four-day festival’s lineup includes George Benson, Roy Hargrove and the Wayne State University Big Band, among others. “The jazz tradition in Detroit is iconic and known worldwide. Today, it’s a vibrant scene that is constantly evolving and growing and our festival continues to nurture and support it,” said Gretchen Valade, chair of the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation Board of Directors. “With the wonderful Ron Carter as our artist-in-residence, we are taking the music to a new level of Detroit connection. And, once again, we hope the festival transcends the music itself and gets people downtown to see and experience Detroit’s distinct flavor. We look forward to adding to Detroit’s jazz tradition and another Labor Day weekend to remember.” Legendary bassist, and Cass Tech graduate, Ron Carter — the most-recorded bassist in music history with more than 2,000 recordings to his credit — is the cornerstone of this year’s lineup and will perform four times throughout the weekend including nonet, trio, quartet and big band sets. For more information, go to detroitjazzfest.com.
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A few of this year’s top nominees include TV Lounge, the Martin Luther King, Jr. High School Marching Band “As you know, beand council member cause of the great migraMary Sheffield. tion in the early 1900s Attorney Ray Paige, and the tremendous mione of Best in Blacks figration of African Amernalists, said he is proud icans moving from the to be nominated. South to the North, Detroit was a place for good “Anytime we get an jobs and good wages. opportunity to praise The black middle class Dimitrious Oliver, founder, owner and black excellence it arrived here, and with operator of Doctor Detroit Auto De- takes away the stereothat, a progressive Afritailing, was nominated in the Best Car type that black entrecan-American commupreneurs are not as nity was formed. Since Wash/Auto Detailing category. — Photo good a white entreprecredit: Maurice Sanders the 1900s, African neurs. I’m happy to be Americans have sought to be successful in nominated amongst a group of people that I entrepreneurial and economic activity,” said respect,” said Paige. Harris. So far, community participation for Best “When Coleman Young was elected in Black has been high. We have received mayor, you saw a tremendous amount of over 2,500 nominations, including 700-plus growth after the civil rights bill and affirmalocal businesses, church organizations, frative action took place. Out of those policies, ternities, schools and other categories. there was opportunity for African AmeriThe final round of voting is open now and cans to participate. A lot of large firms have been able to grow since, mainly because of ends Sept. 23. Top winners for each category will be announced at the Best in Black the Big Three.” Awards on Oct. 20 at the Music Hall presentThe Michigan Chronicle created Best in ed by UAW Ford. Other sponsors include Black to promote black businesses in Detroit and to show that African Americans AT&T, Cricket Wireless and Metro PCS. To cast your vote for the best black support black businesses. Detroit’s recent resurgence has given restaurant, barber, pastor and many more, birth to new black businesses that help im- please go to bestinblackdetroit.com. prove the communities they serve.
Guitarist-singer George Benson is a jazz legend. Certainly he is not the first jazz legend to headline the Detroit Jazz Festival, but for many jazz guitar lovers, Benson represents the mountaintop as someone whose career has spanned more “traditional” jazz to being a pioneer who broke open the doors to what some consider to be a more accessible and popular jazz style. Same as anyone who charts new territory, Benson has certainly attracted his detractors who remain upset with his crossover appeal, but no one can dispute his immense talent nor his commitment to the music. In a brief interview with the Michigan Chronicle, Benson spoke glowingly of his feelings about Detroit and Detroit’s contribution to the world of music. What are some of your favorite memories of Detroit? The last time I was in Detroit we played at (one of the) casinos. That was quite outstanding. It was awesome, man. Aretha Franklin came and hung out with us. Really great. First of all, the Motor City is known for sound. It’s the best music city on the planet Earth. Nobody can match Motown’s music. Years ago they had the great radio stations WCHD, WCHB, WJZZ and I think Dr. Bell used to own that. But it was a funeral home! He was a funeral home director, or owner, and he had a radio station in back of the funeral home. And we used to have to go past the caskets to go in the back and talk on the radio in this little tiny booth. But you know something man? It was exciting, because we knew we were talking to a great deal of Detroiters, you know? Because they were tuned in to that station.” And my favorite thing at night when I got off from work, we used to work at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge. And when I got off of work I used to ride up and down Eight Mile Road and listen to the radio at night. It was nothing more clear and more beautiful. So that is part of my great memories of Detroit. First time you came to Detroit? I played there with Jack McDuff, and they were just building a place called the 20 Grand. Remember that? The 20 Grand. I don’t know if it still exists, does it still exist? (Benson is told that the 20 Grand is long gone.) Shows you how fast time goes! It was brand new then, and I remember meeting Berry Gordy there. And he was a legend already because of all the wonderful music they were making at Motown. So I met him there. And I didn’t see him again for another 45 years. I just saw him, me and Al Jarreau were doing a TV show out in LA, and he happened to be there. So we got together and took some pictures and did a small interview. It was really incredible man. So a lot of wonderful things have happened to me since then. My career blew up quite nicely. Who are some of the Detroit musicians you’ve worked with? I think Kenny Burrell is from Detroit, isn’t he? Yeah, he’s fabulous. He’s one of the top musicians out of Detroit. But of course, all of the great ones in the R&B world, the
pop world. Stevie Wonder, when he was a teenager, I met him. Smoky Robinson, I met him the week he got married to his first wife, Claudette. The very week he got married, I think it was back in 1961 or something like that, I met him. Here’s a good story. One day, I was living in Hawaii on the island of Maui, now this is, like, I don’t know, 35 years later? And I saw a guy standing in front of the hotel with a guitar in his hand and I went up to him, because all guitar players are like brothers, and I said, “Hey man, my name is George Benson.” And he said, “Hey, wow, George Benson!” And I said, “What are you doing?” And he said, “I play guitar with Smoky Robinson and the Miracles.” And I said, “Yeah!” I looked at that (guitar) case and I said, “How long you been playing with him?” He said, “Since the beginning.” I said, “Let me tell you what you got in that case. It is a Les Paul Custom. It’s black, it’s got three pickups on it, gold.” He said, “Man, how did you know that?” I said, “Because I was there the week you bought it. It was brand new.” And we had a great time talking about that. (Editor's Note: Benson was referring to Marv Tarplin.) For the Detroit Jazz Festival, can you give us a preview of what to expect? Yeah, I don’t have a set program. I don’t design a program. I walk out in front of that audience, and you know we got control of a lot of my repertoire, we can pick any section of what I do, and grab a few tunes from that section and do it. We know basically what people came to hear. So we come with the hits. We know what they come to hear. And then we throw some things in between. But we don’t have a set program, because if you have a set program and it starts going downhill, you have programmed in a downhill section and it’s hard to get out of that. So now, if something starts going downhill, I simply grab one of them “up” tunes, and bring them right back up. That’s much better, I can tell you. I forgot to mention Marvin Gaye too, the story about him coming to Motown after leaving the Moonglows, one of my favorite groups in history. Him and Harvey Fuqua, his manager. And they stumbled into Motown and ended up marrying Berry Gordy’s sisters. And so their lives were actually made from that point on. But Marvin had so much talent, he brought something to the company. He (generated) a whole lot of money and sold a whole lot of records. But when he first came there he was really down and out. They were on their last leg, you know. It’s a great story, and it shows the power of Motown is what I’m saying. And the power of Berry Gordy that he recognized that talent and put him out front with his A team of musicians, including the great James Jamerson, who is one of my favorite musicians of all time. And Eli Fontaine. Motown means a lot to me.” So what’s coming up in the future? Seems like they’ve always got something for me to do. They’re thinking about doing a film about my life story. We got a book out, you know, about my life story. They’re thinking about turning it into a film.