The Don Was Detroit All Star Revue will perform "A Salute to The Scene" at this year's Concert of Colors festival, scheduled for July 15-19 at venues across Detroit.
The show runs 9 to 11 p.m. on Saturday, July 18 at the Detroit Film Theatre. Hosting duties go to Nat Morris, the original host of The Scene, alongside WDET broadcaster Ann Delisi.
The Scene ran on WGPR-TV from 1975 to 1987 as Detroit's answer to Soul Train, broadcasting young Detroiters dancing to funk, R&B, and early techno acts including Cybotron. The Electrifying Mojo ran a parallel operation on WGPR and WJLB, building an audience on eclectic playlists that mixed Prince, Kraftwerk, and the B-52s. "Nat Morris, along with The Electrifying Mojo, totally changed the culture in Detroit and, in doing so, impacted music globally," Don Was said in a statement. "We're gonna have a blast playing all of those great songs. I think it'll be the best Detroit All Star Revue ever."
Was is a Detroit-rooted record producer and president of Blue Note Records whose Concert of Colors appearances have anchored the festival's largest evenings. Previous All Star Revue sets honored George Clinton and Iggy Pop. This year's band includes members of Was's recent project, the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, plus Stephanie Christi'an, Carol Hall, Herschel Boone, Mike Ellison, Isis, Sir Harry Bowens, Donald Ray Mitchell, Felix Morris, Phayme, and Carson Mac. The house band: Dave McMurray, Luis Resto, Jeff Canady, Wayne Gerard, Mashujaa Masai, Prof. Vincent Chandler, John Douglas, and Brian Roscoe.
Was dedicated the performance to Ismael Ahmed, who co-founded Concert of Colors in 1993 with the New Detroit organization. Ahmed died January 31 at age 78. "He was a great Detroiter and a great American, whose entire life was devoted to bringing people together in the name of liberty and justice for all," Was said. "As an activist, cultural curator and friend, he is irreplaceable but his spirit continues to loom large over the festival."
The rest of this year's lineup includes a Motown Revue; "Miles From India," a celebration of Miles Davis material reimagined as Indian classical music; Sean Blackman's In Transit; Cambodian rock band Dengue Fever; the J Dilla-inspired Burnt Sugar Arkestra; and reggae act Steel Pulse.
Concert of Colors launched in 1993 as a free festival designed to bring together metro Detroit's different ethnic communities and has run every year since. The math on Ismael Ahmed's founding vision: thirty-three years, still free, still running across venues in the city.
Full schedule at concertofcolors.com. The Scene tribute is July 18, Detroit Film Theatre, 9 p.m.
