Jazz On A Tuesday Night In Detroit

I was in Detroit a couple of weeks back. The highlight of that visit was a trip to the area around 8 mile road. Those of you who are not familiar with this seemingly innocuous name, this is the road around which the action happens in Eminem's movie "8 mile". Detroit has a long music history made famous by Motown Records, Marvin Gayes, Eminems and Kid Rocks of the world.

Wikipedia has the following description for the 8 mile road:
"Eight Mile Road is a road which forms the boundary between predominantly African American Detroit, Michigan and the city's mostly white northern suburbs. The term "8 Mile" therefore represents a barrier that is difficult to cross."
And really, when you go there, you can feel it. I can vouch for it because I have stayed in parts of LA which are exactly like this. Places which have a lot of history, culture but that have gone through changes because of changing demography & economic situation of people living in that area.

Detroit has consistently lost population in the last decade. Once it used to be the 4th largest city in US but now it is ranked at 11th. Manufacturing jobs in auto industry have slowly disappeared and you can see the effects. From just one look when your plan is landing, you can see that this place is definitely not rich.

So the first time we go in the 8 mile area, we are not sure if we want to spend too much time there. But as is true with any thing forbidden, we end up at the place a week later. Still, we are not sure about parking on the street...so we go out of our way to make sure that we park the car at a proper parking...so Detroitish!!!

It is Tuesday night and we end up in a Jazz bar called Baker's Keyboard Lounge. The Alma Smith trio are playing and I can't tell you how good or bad they are. But one thing is for sure...they sound phenomenal at that time. Probably because we are tired after a hard days work. Or probably the food( Baked Potatoes, Broccoli, Cheese & Sour Cream) is so bad that Music is the only thing that can keep me alive!! I am seated at an interesting angle from the stage because I can only see the back of the singer. I am sure she is female and her voice is incredible. I am beginning to assume that she will be young as well...turns out, she is not. But really, if I had seen an old woman like her not knowing that she can sing as well, nothing could have been more ordinary. But music I guess has that effect. It really brings out a completely different aspect of beauty. She sings some good numbers...the way Jazz should be....slow, smooth...something that will make you sleep. We hear the music for another one hour and then head back.

By the way, food in Detroit is very good specially if you like Mediterranean food. We actually end up going twice to this restaurant called LaSheesh on 12 mile road. I have never had a Garlic Chutney so plain, so simple and still so tasteful with Pita bread before..