Show preview: Oliver Lake Organ Quartet at Jazz Fest's pyramid stage on Sun., Sept. 6

By Mike McGonigal

Sep 1, 2015 at 12:14 pm

Audio By Carbonatix

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There is so much exceptional music going on at the Detroit International Jazz Festival, which kicks off this Friday, Sept. 4, that there is no way you'll be able to see everything you want to see — even if you're a casual jazzbo.
Leafing through the schedule the other month while figuring out how to cover this mammoth thing, I was very pleased to see a listing for the Oliver Lake Organ Quartet. I've seen the saxophonist once years ago, and though I only own one of his albums, 1976's Holding Together, that thing's really good. It simmers, then burns, then simmers again.
I didn't know that Lake has been leading this organ quartet for a number of years no. The YouTubes I've seen (linked here) are exceptional; he even does his own take on "Walk With Me, Lord" (I'm kind of a gospel nut)! I love that Oliver Lake is going so strong now that he is in his early 70s. Long may he run.

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About The Author

Mike McGonigal

Metro Times music editor Mike McGonigal has written about music since 1984, when he started the fanzine Chemical Imbalance at age sixteen with money saved from mowing lawns in Florida. He's since written for Spin, Pitchfork, the Village VOICE and Artforum. He's been a museum guard, a financial reporter, a bicycle...