They almost all don’t fit around that Tiny Desk.
Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble’s 11-person band dropped a surprise appearance on NPR’s popular Tiny Desk Concert series Friday morning. The eclectic and Detroit-centric band performed songs from their new album, “Groove in the Face of Adversity,” which was released in October on Mack Avenue Records.
“We are on a mission to promulgate the indigenous sounds of our hometown of Detroit, Michigan, ya dig,” Was said during the concert. The popular concert series from National Public Radio is known for its intimate, stripped-down style. It’s filmed in Washington, D.C.
The video set comes the same week as the announcement that famed producer Was and his group will be part of this summer’s Concert of Colors lineup. Don Was and his Detroit All-Star Revue will honor the legacy of “The Scene,” the local “Soul Train”-like show that aired on WGPR-TV from 1975-1987.
Was and his group, which includes many of the performers at the Tiny Desk Concert, will play July 18 at the Detroit Film Theatre. The date is part of a nationwide summer tour for the band.
Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble’s Tiny Desk concert featured Was on stand-up bass and lead vocalist Steffanie Christi’an. The band includes Wayne Gerard Milton on guitar, Luis Resto on keyboards, Dave McMurray on tenor saxophone, Vincent Chandler on trombone, trumpet player John Douglas and drummer Jeff Canady. The group was rounded out by percussionist Mahindi Masai and backing vocalists Herschel Boone and Terena Boone.
Along with original songs from their new album, the Grammy Award-winning producer Was, and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble performed “The Music Never Stopped” by the Grateful Dead and Hank Williams’ “I Ain’t Got Nothing But Time.”
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert hosts Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble
Reporting by Melody Baetens, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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