the scott gwinnell jazz orchestra
The Scott Gwinnell Jazz Orchestra is a 16-piece modern-jazz big band, that performs every Wednesday night at Cliff Bells in downtown Detroit. The group was founded and is led by Scott Gwinnell, jazz pianist, composer, and arranger based out of Detroit.
The Jazz Orchestra has been together for 7 years with, a 2 year hiatus, playing weekly at at four different clubs throughout its tenure.
The now defunct, Music Menu Cafe was the fledgling band's first home. They were the only Jazz band in an eclectic mix of bands and music styles. They should be given credit for taking on such a profitless venture, supporting a musician and a band with not much of a "name". Like many bands in nightclubs, the gig had run its course, and it was time to move on. We, shortly thereafter, moved to the Berkley Front, in suburban Detroit. We played there for a few chaotic months but never really took off. The Berkley Front was more of a rock and roll bar and had little patience or understanding for Jazz. After a few months off, the band moved into the place that garnered the most attention for the Jazz Orchestra: The Cadieux Cafe.
The Cadieux Cafe is a corner-bar on the east side of Detroit that is famous for its Belgian cuisine and libations, as well as "feather-bowling". Go to the Cadieux Cafe for an explanation of feather-bowling; I don't know if an accurate description can be given in a sentence or two. The group prospered in the small room, making a lot of contacts and bringing in a fair amount of musicians and notable Detroit personalities. Even though there were disadvantages to playing that room, the Jazz Orchestra had finally found a home. Throughout its 3 year tenure there, the band grew the most, becoming an entity on the Detroit music scene.
The Scott Gwinnell Jazz Orchestra played some interesting gigs during its time at the Cadieux. The pinnacle was probably a concert with jazz saxophonist, Dave Liebman at the 2003 International Association of Jazz Educators Conference (IAJE) in Toronto, Canada. They did a Christmas fund-raiser gig with vocalist, Barbara Ware to make ensure that everyone could be financially compensated to get to Toronto. We also had gigs at the Michigan Jazz Festival, Ed Love show on WDET 101.9, Concert in the Village in Grosse Pointe, and Fendale Jazz Festival.
The Jazz Orchestra also recorded a CD in 2001. The title, Basement Vibes, was named after a 3-part suite that Gwinnell wrote as the feature for the CD. The group also featured legendary Detroit trumpeter, Marcus Belgrave, who sat in on many a night at the Cadieux. The CD was met to much acclaim, and even garnered a Detroit Music Award for Gwinnell in 2002. (best jazz composer) The CD is available on CDBaby.com.
A couple of years later, in June of 2006, the band began a new gig at the new jazz club downtown, called Cliff Bells. Cliff Bells is a beautiful, art-deco nightclub in the Fox Theatre district that features jazz exclusively. Even though they started the gig with the intention of playing every week for a month, the management extended the invitation indefinitely. 2007 has been an exciting year for the orchestra. They started off the year playing with vocalist, Aria Hendricks. Aria is the daughter of jazz vocalese pioneer, Jon Hendricks. She definitely takes a back seat to no one when she is on the stage. In the summer, the group performed on the Ed Love show on WDET 101.9, Detroit. On Labor Day weekend the Jazz Orchestra played to great acclaim at the Detroit International Jazz Festival, and on the same evening hosted trumpet phenom, Dominick Faranacci. As Gwinnell and others write more arrangements for the group, talk of another recording has started. In the meantime, you can hear the group every Wednesday night at Cliff Bells, playing two shows; the first show is from 9:30-10:45pm and the second show is from 11:15pm to 12:30am.
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all Cliff Bells Scott Gwinnell Jazz Orchestra photographs by Christos Moisides
The group plays at Cliff Bells every Wednesday night with 2 shows at 9:30pm and 11pm. The cover charge is $3
Cliff Bells is located behind the State Theatre on Park St. just north of Grand Circus Park
www.cliffbells.com for more info
