Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble

Six-time Grammy Award-winning producer, musician, songwriter and Blue Note Records president Don Was is hitting the road with his band, the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, for a six-state tour celebrating the release of the group’s debut album, “Groove in the Face of Adversity,” out Friday (Oct. 10). At each show, including Thursday’s Lansing date, the band will perform songs from the new album, as well as the entirety of The Grateful Dead’s “Blues for Allah” LP, which turns 50 this year. Tickets are available at hall224.com. 

The Pan-Detroit Ensemble is a nine-piece “soul jazz” group, in Was’ words. Members include Southeast Michigan jazz veterans Jeff Canady on drums, Vincent Chandler on trombone, Steffanie Christi’an on vocals, John Douglas on trumpet, Wayne Gerard on guitar, Mahindi Masai on percussion, Dave McMurray on saxophone and Luis Resto on keyboards. 

“We’re the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, and we are on a mission to promulgate the music of our hometown,” Was said in a news release. 

The album blends “steamy jazz, juke joint blues and loose-limbed funk,” encompassing the sounds fans have come to know and love from Was over the years. 

“I see us as ambassadors of this thing, and I don’t think anyone else is really doing that,” Was said. “And I’m proud of the fact that it’s not just a museum of sounds. We’ve taken all these fundamentals we’ve learned and are creating something new and fresh with it.” 

In his more than five decades in the industry, Was has produced albums for The Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, John Mayer, Willie Nelson, Elton John and beyond. He was a founding member of the pop-rock band Was (Not Was) and has toured extensively with Wolf Bros, a rock band led by Grateful Dead guitarist and vocalist Bob Weir. He hosts the annual Detroit All-Star Revue, as well as leading the house band. He has two radio shows, “The Don Was Motor City Playlist” on Detroit NPR affiliate WDET and “Dinner with Don Was” on SiriusXM, and several film credits as a music director or consultant for hits such as “Thelma and Louise,” “The Rainmaker,” “Toy Story” and “The Paper.”