Hip-hop icons Common, Madlib to join Karriem Riggins, pay tribute to J Dilla at Detroit Jazz Fest

The Detroit Jazz Festival has added several names to its lineup to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop and the Motor City's influence on the genre.

This week, the festival foundation announced that this year’s artist-in-residence, Karriem Riggins, will be coming in heavy with three shows throughout the festival’s Labor Day weekend run that will include special guests Common, Madlib, JRocc, Nick Grant and Detroit’s own T3 and Jessica Care Moore.

Common, the celebrated Chicago rapper and actor, previously joined Riggins at the festival in 2017 and 2019.

The free, four-day event will take place in Hart Plaza and Campus Martius Sept. 1-4, and will include 2023 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Louis Hayes, Regina Carter and Kenny Garrett — all of whom hail from Detroit. Riggins, also a Detroiter, is an award-winning jazz, R&B and hip-hop drummer, songwriter and producer who’s collaborated with jazz and pop musicians as Ray Brown, Paul McCartney, Roy Hargrove, Norah Jones, Esperanza Spalding, Cedar Walton and Milt Jackson, and hip-hop artists like The Roots, Kanye West, Consequence, singers Erykah Badu and Dwele and late Detroit rap producer J Dilla.

More: Detroit's rich jazz legacy celebrated at National Endowment for the Arts ceremony

A Dilla tribute, “J Dilla Lives Forever,” will be performed the evening of Sunday, Sept. 3, as a part of the weekend’s diverse offerings. T3, the lone surviving original member of the Dilla-led Detroit rap group Slum Village, is also set to perform at the festival. Common and Madlib were also frequent collaborators with the influential Dilla.

This whimsical and organic blend of jazz and hip-hop — a genre built on the back of jazz samples and collaborations — is expected to draw an even larger number than the festival’s 300,000 attendees who took part in the 2022 party, in the process exposing many forms of traditional and modern jazz to different demographics that may not normally be drawn to a traditional jazz festival.

“I grew up listening to all types of music,” Riggins told the Free Press in March, “from classical to of course jazz, and Afro-Cuban, rock, R&B. These are all the things that I love , so these are the things that I practiced growing up, and I practiced writing and rhythms. (The festival designation) gives me the opportunity to present the music that’s been a part of my soul since I was 4 years old. So, you’ll hear hip-hop, you’ll hear R&B. You’ll hear pretty much everything that I listen to.

“I think music should not have boundaries. Personally, I think when you start to have boundaries is when you hold back the progression of where it can go, in terms of being innovative. There’s no way to be innovative by having boundaries. There are a lot of people now who are open to the idea of blending not only hip-hop, but so many other genres into one and making something that’s special and new.”

The festival’s performance schedule was also updated this week, in a move that phased out Hart Plaza’s small Pyramid Stage and consolidated acts among the three major stages, changing stages and hit times for some musicians. An updated schedule can be found at the festival website, detroitjazzfest.org.

“The change this year allows for larger audiences and increased access to all of our artist performances,” said Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation President and Artistic Director Chris Collins. “In addition, whatever cost savings are realized will go toward maintaining and growing the incredible artist lineup at the Detroit Jazz Festival. We are excited about this year’s amazing jazz festival in downtown Detroit for so many on Labor Day weekend.”

Violinist Carter will be the special guest for a JazzChat Live! With Collins from 7-8 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 23. The event takes place on Zoom and is free to attend, but registration is required and can also be found on the festival website.

Contact Free Press arts and culture reporter Duante Beddingfield at dbeddingfield@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Hip-hop icons Common, Madlib to join Karriem Riggins at Detroit Jazz Fest