Three nights of Pops' music
Every player on the bandstand tonight can offer one song you can own. Tap play for a short preview, and take the music home before the last note.
The Setlist
Saturday, November 14: one set streams live on YouTube.
On the Bandstand
Bass and Musical Director
Nick Sample is a bassist who has spent 30 years touring the world, and the son of Joe Sample. He leads the Joe Sample Heritage Session through Holican Cultural, the nonprofit he founded to keep Pops' music on the bandstand and bring young players up alongside it.
Piano
Phil Whitfield is a pianist, composer and producer who trained in classical piano and composition at the University of Windsor. He has played with Martha Reeves and The Vandellas, Motown Funk Brother Dennis Coffey and Andrea Bocelli, has performed for President Barack Obama, and recently joined Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble. His piano piece "Summer Stroll" appears in the film "The Big Fix."
Song coming soon
Guitar
Matt Callaway came up through the jazz program at Wayne State University. At the 2008 Detroit Jazz Festival he shared the stage with Mike Stern, who said afterward, "this kid will be a great player some day." He is a permanent member of the Gene Dunlap Band and teaches at the Detroit School of Rock and Pop Music.
Song coming soon
Drums
Jeff Canady started playing drums at age four and was a church's full-time drummer while still a child. As a producer he took two Willie Bradley singles to #1 on the Billboard jazz chart, and he is the drummer in Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble. He has led his own band on this very stage at the Dirty Dog.
Song coming soon
Tenor Sax
Detroit saxophonist Daryl Beebe took his single "Breathe" to #6 on the Billboard Smooth Jazz chart, and eight of his singles have aired on SiriusXM Watercolors. He has shared the stage with Norman Brown, Will Downing, Stephanie Mills and Martha Reeves. Off the bandstand he is a preacher and a school administrator in Wayne-Westland.
Song coming soon
Special Guest · Friday and Saturday
Alto Sax
Tre Smith is an alto saxophonist studying at Wayne State University, chosen for the Heritage Session by Professor Vincent Chandler. He joins the band Friday and Saturday on Chain Reaction and Way Back Home.
Tre is paid like everyone on that stage. Pops always made room for young players. So do we.
The Story
Joe Sample (1939 to 2014) was a pianist and composer from Houston who co-founded The Jazz Crusaders, later The Crusaders. He co-wrote "Street Life," and his music crossed jazz, funk and soul for more than five decades.
Pops always made room for young players on his bandstand. We still do.
Holican Cultural
Holican Cultural is the nonprofit behind the Heritage Session. Every student who sits in with us is paid, rehearses with the band and plays a real room. Your gift covers their stipend first, then rehearsal costs, and anything beyond goes to the year-round student program.
Back the Bandstand More about Holican Cultural