Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble

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2024 Concert Series sponsored by

One of America’s most prolific and successful pop and rock producers.

—AllMusic

Don Was has enjoyed a long and multifaceted career as a musician, record producer, music director, film composer, documentary filmmaker, and radio host. Since 2011, he has also served as president of venerated jazz label Blue Note Records.

For his work as a record producer, he has won six Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year in 1989 for Bonnie Raitt’s Nick of Time and Producer of the Year in 1994. Records that he has produced have sold close to 100 million albums for a wide array of artists, including the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, John Mayer, Ringo Starr, Wayne Shorter, the B-52’s, and Charles Lloyd.

Made up of stellar jazz musicians from Was’s hometown of Detroit, the Pan-Detroit Ensemble performs a mix of new originals, interpretations of songs written by artists including Yusef Lateef, Olu Dara, and Henry Threadgill, and updated cuts from albums that Was recorded with Orquestra Was and Was (Not Was).