2022 Guest Curators

  • Michael Malis is a composer, pianist, and music educator based in Detroit, Michigan. A multi-faceted musical artist, he works across genres in improvisational, concert music, and interdisciplinary settings. His 2022 release From Darkness We Awaken, featuring chamber-improvising ensemble Virago was released on Brisbane Australia-based MADE NOW MUSIC and called “transfixing” with a “disarming intensity” (All About Jazz). His duo project with saxophonist Marcus Elliot, Balance, has been praised as “contemporary jazz of the highest order, a benchmark for where the genre can go” (Detroit Metro Times.)

    As a composer, Malis has been commissioned by Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, Chamber Music Society of Detroit, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Detroit Composers’ Project, Virago, Hole in the Floor, and others. As a pianist, he has shared the stage with such luminaries as Marcus Belgrave, Gerald Cleaver, Jaribu Shahid, John Lindberg, William Hooker, A. Spencer Barefield, Tyshawn Sorey, Brandee Younger, J.D. Allen, and Marion Hayden.

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  • Live electronics, amplified cactus, and a ton of drums comprise the auditory arsenal of Detroit Bureau of Sound aka ZacDBS. A fondness of everything loud developed at a young age and led DBS through boom/crash classical percussion study into the realm of big PA systems blaring analog synthesizers in dark rooms. DBS's musical persuasion comes from unorthodox techniques of experimental composers from the past hundred years - Iannis Xenakis, Wendy Carlos, John Cage, and ultimately the futuristic dance music from Detroit known as techno.

    DBS is fundamentally inspired by our relationship with sound as a species; that since the dawn of humankind, rhythm and pitch have been tools of communication, morphing into language over time, then into "ear art" beyond the bounds of spoken expression. With a mess of modular synthesizers and some fun sonic party tricks, DBS's music enables deep listening environments for controlling mind, body, and energy.

    Visit DBS’ Website

2023 Guest Curators

  • The Bass speaks in the hands of award-winning artist Marion Hayden. Mentored by master trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, Hayden began performing jazz at the age of 15. She has performed with such diverse luminaries as Bobby McFerrin, Nancy Wilson, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Geri Allen, Regina Carter, Steve Turre, Lester Bowie, David Allen Grier, James Carter, Dorothy Donegan, Frank Foster, Jon Hendricks, Hank Jones, Bobby Hutcherson, Larry Willis, Sheila Jordan, Mulgrew Miller, Carole Bufford and many others.

    Her creative practice centers around her ensemble Legacy– formed in 2003. Legacy performs original, narrative driven compositional works within the framework of jazz and improvised music. The ensemble also specializes in preserving and expanding the legacy of musicians from her hometown of Detroit, MI. She is a founding member of the Jazz Education Network’s Sisters in Jazz program and a co- founder of the Grammy nominated ensemble Straight Ahead- the first all-woman jazz ensemble signed to Atlantic Records.

    In recognition of her artistic creativity and originality, Hayden was honored with the Kresge Artist Fellowship, a fellowship and grant award of unrestricted funds to support the fellows’ creative practice. She is a recipient of a U.S. Congressional Commendation, the Jazz Hero Award from the Jazz Journalists Association and the Vision in Excellence Award from the National Conference of Artists.

    As an arts advocate, Hayden has served as panelist or consultant for numerous national and statewide arts organizations including Jazz Education Network, Chamber Music America, the McKnight Foundation, Arts Midwest, South Arts, the Detroit Council for the Arts, Michigan Council for the Arts, Detroit Historical Museum, and the Charles Wright Museum of African American History.

    Hayden is a Lecturer in the Dept. of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation at University of Michigan and Director of Jazz Bass and Jazz Ensembles at Oakland University. A passionate advocate for community youth music education, Hayden holds youth education positions at Michigan State University, Centrum and the Detroit Jazz Festival. As well, she conducts the Next Gen Ensemble- a performing group showcasing emerging musicians.

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  • Maritza Garibay is a musician and music educator from Detroit, Michigan, and a recipient of the 2022 New Music USA Creator Development Fund for her first opera, Cleansed. A violinist and orchestral conductor, she has shifted her focus toward experimental sonic explorations with homemade analog synthesizers and effects. She performs these instruments in her abrasive ambient duo, Dominant Hand. Her current graduate work reflects on the diaspora of Pauline Oliveros’s deep listening pedagogy in the BIPOC sound art community.

    Visit Maritza’s Website