VARIOUS – John Sinclair Presents Detroit Artists Workshop – 2LP – Vinyl

2LP – Black Vinyl.Withextensive sleeve notes from John Sinclair, Robin Eichele and Herb Boyd. All tracks are remastered from the original tapes by Technology Works.

Strut and Art Yard present the culmination of a 5-year project researching the archives of author, DJ and activist John Sinclair with the first ever retrospective of the influential Detroit Artists Workshop spanning 1965 to 1981.

In the mid-60s, Detroit was nowhere, explains Sinclair. A decaying jazz scene, no community of poets, painters or writers so a group of young Detroit artists, most of us students at Wayne State University, got together in the late Summer of 1964. Led by Sinclair and trumpeter Charles Moore, the Artists Workshop Society was formed as a co-operative community, drawing upon the resources of every participating individual in order to perpetuate itself. They began to provide spaces in Detroit for musicians to rehearse and to promote live concerts showcasing a range progressive jazz artists across the city.

Between the mid-60s and the early 80s, Sinclair amassed a huge archive of recordings from the Workshop concerts featuring Detroit residents like Moores Contemporary 5, Ron English and Lyman Woodard alongside many other US jazz luminaries including Donald Byrd, Sun Ra Arkestra and Herbie Hancock. Dormant in the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Brooklyn for many years, Strut and Art Yard began their research into the archives in 2017.

This first compilation of Detroit Artists Workshop is a revelation for any fan of jazz, featuring previously unreleased recordings by Byrd, Moore, English, Woodard, Bennie Maupin and Teddy Harris accompanied by extensive sleeve notes from John Sinclair, Robin Eichele and Herb Boyd. All tracks are remastered from the original tapes by Technology Works.

Tracklist:

A1. John Sinclair Introduction / Yusef Lateef – Happy Ology
A2. Donald Byrd – Christo Redentor
A3. Donald Byrd – Blackjack

B1. Detroit Contemporary 4 – Effi
B2. Detroit Contemporary 4 – The Promise

C1. Bennie Maupin Quartet – Water Torture
C2. Ron English – Bees

D1. Teddy Harris – Passion Dance
D2. Lyman Woodard – Deja Vu
D3. Lyman Woodard Organisation – Help Me Get Away