- The world's largest free jazz festival.

It's gonna take place on Detroit's Heart Plaza over the Labor Day weekend.

This year's Detroit Jazz Festival artist in residence is saxophonist Joe Lovano.

Last month, Lovano held a workshop for Wayne State University music students and he sat down for a conversation with Detroit PBS contributor, John Penney of 90.9 WRCJ.

(jazz music) (jazz music continues) - I am here today with the artist in residence for the 47th Annual Detroit Jazz Festival.

Joe Lovano, it's a pleasure and an honor to be here with you.

- Thank you John, for me as well.

- Joe grew up in Cleveland in a very musical family.

Father being Big T, Tony who played the saxophone and his brothers, I guess were also musicians.

You picked up a saxophone when you were six.

It was an alto.

You had to grow into the tenor and your first teacher was your father.

And one of my favorite stories that you told once was how you were one day practicing scales and your father came in and said, "Play them like they're melodies."

- And this one day I'm playing, I'm going up and down the bars, you know, it's like an exercise.

And he's listening, and he was upstairs, he wasn't giving me a lesson at the time.

I was in the basement practice, he comes down with his horn and he said, "Oh yeah, Joey, yeah, mm-hm" And then he took a major scale and he just played (vocalizing).

(vocalizing continues) You know, he made it sound like a song.

The same notes of the same sequence that I was running around the horn, you know?

And man, that changed everything, and then he just split.

(jazz music) - You know, you again teach at Berkeley and you had a workshop with the kids here at Wayne State today.

What do you want them to take away from this workshop?

- Well, I just like the stress all the time about living in the library, the sounds and spirits of the masters on every instrument, no matter what your instrument is.

The more you do that, you know where people are from, who they came up with, how old they were, certain record you love or whatever, you know, it's up to you to create how you discover things.

You know what I mean?

What influences and how your influences can take shape for your artistry.

- The career has just been astounding and it's been a real pleasure to listen.

And you have really deep roots in Detroit.

- First of all, I'd just like to say it's a blessing to live in the world of music and put some ensembles together through the years and develop within the embrace of some amazing masters of the music.

And quite a few of them were Detroit Masters.

The Jones family, Hank Jones, Thad Jones, Elvin Jones.

I had a chance to be a part of the Thad Jones, Mel Lewis Band, and then the Mel Lewis Band when Thad went to Copenhagen, played in Elvin Jones Jazz Machine and toured Europe with him in 1987.

And then he recorded with me on one of my blue note releases, "Trio fascination" with Dave Holland on bass.

And then Hank Jones documented some recordings on "Blue Note."

- You first came to Detroit, I think in '74, I believe.

- 1974 I got the call from Dr.

Lonnie Smith, who was living around the corner from Baker's Keyboard Lounge.

He was looking for a tenor player and played in Cleveland with Lou Donaldson and had heard about me and someone gave him my family phone number and I got the call.

So I flew to Detroit and started to play with him, and that led to a lot of everything.

- And Jason Moran talked about a particular Detroit sound.

He described it as like the Detroit Bounce.

What is it?

Is there a Detroit well feeling?

- Well, the way I heard everything was through, it was a real like feeling in the beat and the harmony and the execution of ideas that were personal.

There was a certain sweetness in the way cats played also, it wasn't like an aggressive kind of approach.

(jazz music) - As the artist in residence this year, tell people what you're gonna bring to the festival.

- I'm gonna present my current quartet called the Paramount Quartet with Julian Lage on guitar, brilliant young guitarist, Asante Santi Debriano on bass, who played a lot with Archie Shep and Randy Weston and others, and Will Calhoun on drums, who's an amazing, explosive, beautiful musician.

- What makes it the Detroit Jazz Festival?

What's unique?

I mean, is it unique?

- Well, it's amazing to have like such an incredible venues to play at and have the audience and have it be a free open festival.

It's one of the most beautiful opportunities for all of us that are on tour all the time to see each other and hear each other and feel the beautiful space and the audiences here in Detroit that are so hip because of the history of the music here.