CuriosiD: What happened to Detroit jazz venue Strata Concert Gallery?
In this episode of “CuriosiD,” we answer a question about the short-lived, but well-loved jazz venue located just around the corner from WDET’s studios.
Concert poster promoting a Herbie Hancock concert at Strata Concert Gallery in Detroit.
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In this episode of CuriosiD, we answer the question:
There’s all these venues I’d like to learn more about. Which ones should I know about?
The short answer
Pete Pasque asked this question of CuriosiD because he was listening to an album from Charles Mingus called Mingus – Jazz In Detroit – Strata Concert Gallery – 46 Selden. It was one of several albums that was recorded in the early 1970s for the artist collective known as Strata.
The first Strata Gallery was on Michigan Avenue in Detroit’s historic Corktown neighborhood, but moved to the location at 46 Selden, across from the present day home of The New High School For The Performing Arts.
The idea guys
Keyboardist Kenny Cox and trumpeter Charles Moore were the driving force behind the creation of the Strata Gallery. Cox and Moore were the principals in the Contemporary Jazz Quintet (CJQ), and they wanted to create a venue where the community could discover jazz music from both local and touring artists of the day. Self-determination was also crucial for the artists who would create and then manage Strata Gallery.
Ken Cox formed Allied Artists Association of America (AAAA), rounded up support from the Michigan Council For The Arts, and the gallery started with a limited budget — but a lot of artistic enthusiasm.
Bud Spangler was also involved in the early days of Strata. Besides being a talented musician, Spangler was also a broadcaster and eventually the program director at WDET.
Sadly, Cox died in 2008, followed by Spangler and Moore in 2014.
Strata Concert Gallery co-founder Ron English shares stories
Ron English, another founding member of Strata Gallery, still performs and teaches around metro Detroit. English was able to tell some great stories about the early days of the Strata Gallery, and fill in some fascinating details, including:
- Why the British art-rock of the era helped to bring about the need for a unique Detroit jazz venue
- The mission of Strata Concert Gallery as an artist collective
- How Strata helped to bring Detroit artists back home to Detroit
- How Strata Records started
The Strata mobile recording truck
The mobile recording truck at 46 Selden was owned by filmmaker Steve Gebhardt, working with John Lennon and Yoko Ono on experimental films during the late 1960s and early ’70s.
Ono asked Gebhardt if he would capture footage of a concert she and Lennon were appearing in Ann Arbor on Dec. 10, 1971. Of course, that concert was the John Sinclair Freedom Rally at Crisler Arena, urging the release of activist John Sinclair — who was serving a 10-year sentence for possessing marijuana. The footage would be used for the concert film “Ten for Two.”
The very same truck that Steve Gebhardt used to record the audio at Crisler Arena went back to New York, only to be picked up by Ron English a couple years later to then be used as the mobile recording unit at Strata Concert Gallery.
As for John Sinclair, he was released from prison two days after the rally in Ann Arbor. He died earlier this year at the age of 82.
“I had two small children…I was a publicly branded ‘troublemaker and bad guy.’ How am I gonna make a living?” – John Sinclair to Ann Delisi on “Essential Conversations” in 2020
In another interesting twist, when Sinclair was released from prison, he called on Ken Cox and Charles Moore to see if he could join the team at Strata Gallery to help them with publicity for their concerts and record releases. The former MC5 manager became an integral part of Strata through the end of the 1970s.
Strata Concert Gallery struggled financially throughout its lifetime and leaders were forced to close the venue in 1976.
Strata concerts live on WDET
Spangler, Cox and Moore were former radio hosts on WDET. Occasionally, they would host their shows from Strata Concert Gallery at 46 Selden. The 1973-74 season included Ornette Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Lyman Woodard — and the album that motivated Pete Pasque to contact WDET, Mingus – Jazz In Detroit – Strata Concert Gallery – 46 Selden.
Meet the listener
WDET listener Peter Pasque of Ann Arbor posed our CuriosiD question this month. Originally from Pleasant Ridge, Peter is now an educator at the University of Michigan and loves live music and theater. Still an avid concertgoer — and now sharing that passion with his daughter — Peter started his love of live music at the clubs, theaters and raves in Detroit back in the 1980s, from Blondies to Cobo.
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