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City Slang

Bass and blood lines

Ralphe Armstrong boosts the D with live shows on the Web Cafe

Photo: N/A, License: N/A

Bassist Armstrong with Johnnie Bassett and Rayce Biggs at UDetroit Café

By Brett Callwood

Published: October 26, 2011

So now he's doing his weekly live sets and TV show and telling as many people as he can get to tune in how awesome Detroit is. He talks passionately about new musicians he's working with like Ashaki Zeigler, and the role his producer, Al Fields, plays in making the show work. He's not trying to hog any limelight. Armstrong just wants to make Detroit better.

"I've been in the entertainment business for a long time," he says "Frank Zappa was preparing us years ago to do a TV show for NBC which never came through. I also do a lot of comedy. I learned from Zappa how to entertain people. I hope I keep doing that. This is keeping me here in Detroit. I've been working with the Funk Brothers. Last year I was with Sting. But I want to concentrate on this show. I live downtown and I can walk to the studio. This is some cosmopolitan stuff here, like being in New York. Honestly, we're gonna bring this music business back. Give the young kids some place to go like I had when I was a kid. Detroit produces, I would say, 50 percent of the world's great musicians."

Can I get a "Hell, yeah"?

Ralphe Armstrong hosts a tribute show for his dad, Howard Armstrong, Oct. 28, with Ortheia Barnes, Ray Kamalay and Jeff Reynolds at the UDetroit Café; 1427 Randolph St., Detroit; 313-962-0660; seating starts at 6:30 p.m.; webcasting on UDetroit.com. Armstrong can also be heard 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Thursdays as part of the RGB Trio, anchoring jam session at Bert's Marketplace, 2727 Russell St., Detroit; 313-567-2030.

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