Music In Homes: Planet D Nonet (PD9) South Africa Project

Garden Concert

PD9’s Township Jazz Project focuses on great South African jazz artists, including Abdullah Ibrahim, Hugh Masekela, the Brotherhood of Breath, Winston “Mankunku” Ngozi and others. It’s an exciting mix of Apartheid-era Township African melodies and rhythms, with some avant garde leaning soloists. Musicians include saxophonists Justin Jozwiak, Daniel Bennett, and Joshua James, co-bandleader James O’Donnell on trumpet and percussion, trumpeter Ken Ferry, trombonist John Tbone Paxton, pianist Phillip Hale, Damon Warmack on electric bass, Akunda Hollis on djembe, and bandleader percussionist RJ Spangler. Well known on the Detroit jazz scene, Spangler earned his first Motor City Music Award in 1982 with a band he co-founded, the Sun Messengers. After 15 years as a Messenger, RJ directed Detroit blues guitar master Johnnie Bassett’s band and travelled worldwide with him. With O’Donnell, Spangler is the guiding force behind PD9, an incredibly busy band known for playing swing, blues, space-age jazz and classic American songs.