Detroit Orchestra Dedicates Jazz Festival To Marcus Belgrave

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra is dedicating its three-day jazz festival to an internationally acclaimed jazz trumpeter who called the city home.

Orchestra officials say Marcus Belgrave’s “generosity of spirit and loyalty to community” embody the festival, “A Musical Tale of Two Cities: Motown Meets the Big Easy.” The event, which kicks off Tuesday, aims to explore how New Orleans and Detroit have dealt with man-made and natural disasters through their music and art.

Belgrave died last month at 78 of heart failure.

Photo: Detroit News, Ricardo Thomas/AP, file
33rd annual Detroit Jazz Festival, in Detroit, Mich.

One festival highlight comes Thursday, when the orchestra under Music Director Leonard Slatkin’s baton performs with the Terence Blanchard Quintet at the Max M. Fischer Music Center. “A Tale of God’s Will” commemorates the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and will be webcast globally.