Detroit Sound Conservancy

08/28/2026

🔥🐦 BLUE BIRD BBQ 🐦🔥
Music by Blue Bird Collective and AK

Hard hat tours of the Blue Bird rehabilitation in progress!
Saturday, Sept 19 | 2–5 PM | 6532 Beechwood, around the corner from the Blue Bird Inn

Free with RSVP — RSVP in advance: https://detroitsound.app.neoncrm.com/nx/portal/neonevents/events?path=%2Fportal%2Fevents%2F50979

Join us for an afternoon of food, music, and community at the annual Blue Bird BBQ! This free, family-friendly celebration brings together neighbors, friends, and the DSC family to celebrate another year of keeping Detroit's sound alive.

Announcing the Blue Bird Collective — Naima Shamborguer, Ingrid Racine, Pamela Wise, Marion Hayden, and Gayelynn McKinney. This ensemble carries on a house band legacy that started at the Blue Bird in 1948, when Buddy DuBois hired pianist Phil Hill to lead a band devoted to bebop. By 1949, Charlie "Yardbird" Parker was jumping in from the audience for jam sessions. Over the years, Blue Bird house bands helped launch the careers of Detroit musicians like Elvin Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris, and Terry Pollard.

We also welcome AK to DJ and bring us the sounds of Detroit through the afternoon.

Also this year — hard hat tours of the Blue Bird Inn! Walk the space, see the rehabilitation up close, and check out progress on the building. We'll share more about our work and what's next.

The BBQ is more than food and music. It's a chance to stand together for Detroit's sound and support the work that makes preservation and celebration possible.
🌞 Free + BYO chairs

08/21/2026

Happy Friday ☀️

How does Agriculture, Music and Archiving shape our memories and what are their sonic intersections?

Afro Moone x Detroit Sound Conservancy Presents : SONIC MEMORY CIRCLES 🌞

FREE RSVP @ LINK + UPON ARRIVAL
Detroitsound.org/smc/

We are excited to share space with you at our first Sonic Memory Circles session! Located in the heart of Jefferson Chalmers (also known as Little Venice) at Feedom Freedom Growers Kulture Hub, this intimate honoring brings together performances and community dialogue exploring sound and memory with very special guests who’ve greatly impacted Detroit’s community and abroad:

Wendell Harrison

Myrtle Thompson Curtis

Jon Dixon

Moderated by Michelle Jahra McKinney

Installation “Cycles of We” presented by : iii (Triniti Watson)

Food provided by: Roti Baby

📍 291 Manistique Kulture Hub
🕡 6:30pm to 9:30pm
🗓️ August 23rd

FREE RSVP @ LINK + UPON ARRIVAL
Detroitsound.org/smc/

08/21/2026

Sunday! Hope you can join!

Free with RSVP: RSVP HERE Suggested Donation $20 Sonic Memory Circles is a community-centered program that explores the intersection of archival sound, lived experience, and mental health. Led by sound practitioner Sophiyah E., who brings years of experience in providing sound-based healing practice...

08/21/2026

Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Charlie Parker all played the Blue Bird Inn, a neighborhood bar at 5021 Tireman on Detroit's west side, and more than $2 million in grants is now rebuilding it.

The Detroit Sound Conservancy bought the building, put a new roof on in 2021, and broke ground on the renovation in September 2023. The funding includes $1.9 million from the Mellon Foundation and another $100,000 announced this week. The plan is a working music venue, not a museum, though there's no opening date yet.

In 2016, they went into the abandoned building and pulled the original stage out. They've kept it ever since.

08/15/2026

As walking bodies of water, we are all archives.

Join us at the Kulture Hub for an exclusive conversation with Wendell Harrison, Myrtle Thompson Curtis, and Jon Dixon, moderated by Michelle Jahra McKinney.

Afro Moone and Detroit Sound Conservancy present our first session of Sonic Memory Circles, a community dialogue and performance exploring the intersections of agriculture, music, and how sound shapes our memory. Free with RSVP.

Sonic Memory Circles is a community-centered program exploring the intersection of archival sound, lived experience, and the science of sound wellness. These sessions uplift and preserve Detroit's history, where intergenerational community members exhibit their craft, share stories, and explore the role sound has played in their unique journeys. Each session features a guided conversation with a community member, supported by a sound-based demonstration and an interactive exhibition.

Exhibition by iii (Triniti Watson). Moderated by Michelle Jahra McKinney. Catered by Roti Baby.

What sounds come to memory when you think of Detroit? How do we preserve these memories and honor those who've helped create them?

Sunday, August 23rd, 6:30pm to 9:30pm at 291 Manistique, Kulture Hub. Free with RSVP.

Free with RSVP: RSVP HERE Suggested Donation $20 Sonic Memory Circles is a community-centered program that explores the intersection of archival sound, lived experience, and mental health. Led by sound practitioner Sophiyah E., who brings years of experience in providing sound-based healing practice...

08/14/2026

Our 2025 Annual Report is here — later than planned, but full of work we're proud of.

This year we restored the Club Heaven Sound System at the Motown Mansion with Audio Rescue Team. We brought Harold McKinney's music back to life at Moondog Cafe. And we added more than 30 new collections to the archive, including continued work on the Women in Jazz Collection.

Read the full report: https://detroitsound.org/annual-report/

07/31/2026

In Memoriam & Libations: John "Jammin" Collins

To John: Thank you for your life and passion for this music and culture.
DSC would not exist with John. John embodied and shared a profound commitment to the importance of Detroit’s music and heritage. He shared knowledge and led by example.

John was a person of inclusivity, accuracy and honesty. He wanted the facts straight. In a world where folks don’t know where Techno is from, he worked to give credit where credit is due. He worked hard to recognize those who had not yet been, particularly through his advocacy work sharing Spirit of Detroit Awards.

Music was a medium for John to share his higher gifts. He knew that music made us happy and brought us together. This sense of family and community was of the highest order. He worked hard to keep the peace. He looked you in the eye and acknowledged you. His gratitude was palpable and vibrant. He mentored, taught and guided so many of us.

John partnered with DSC across programs, DJ’d our events and was a staple of our tour program, where he always found time to share Underground Resistance’s Exhibit 3000 with Detroiters and visitors from around the world. He was always available to share his thoughts, insights and vision for this work and the culture.

In 2016 he encouraged DSC to surface the history of Dance Detroit. In 2017, he DJ’d our 5th birthday party. Last year, John was one of the first DJs to bless the restored Club Heaven Sound System. It was an honor and a privilege to hear his voice through the speakers across time and space.

DSC carries on our work with the spirit of John Collins at the forefront of our hearts and minds. In the past year, DSC has begun to work more closely with UR to help preserve the vitally important legacy and we look forward to sharing more about this partnership soon.

Our deepest condolences go out to all those you touched. We send our heartfelt thoughts to the Collins Family and broader community that John cultivated through his life.

We will share more details from the family and arrangements as they become available.

You can read our full statement on our https://detroitsound.org/john-collins/in-memoriam/2026/

07/21/2026

07/13/2026

📼Tape Preservation Highlight

Meet Derrick, a volunteer audio archivist with Detroit Sound Conservancy who specializes in reel-to-reel.

"I recently started working on a collection damaged in a flood. Mold, water damage. These tapes needed careful cleaning and rehab before they could even be played. It's slow work, but it's rewarding."

4 tapes down. Fully rehabbed, fully digitized and soon accessible.

Swipe to see the before and after ➡️

Tape is a remarkable recording medium — but it's not permanent. Every year, more recordings are at risk from age, water, heat, and improper storage. Without preservation, pieces of Detroit's musical history can disappear for good.

Got studio masters, live recordings, or demos sitting in a closet? Don't wait until it's too late. DSC can evaluate, restore, digitize, and preserve them. Send us an email [email protected] to start the process.

All of this work takes time, energy and money. Please consider making a donation today to help support continuing to preserve Detroit’s music heritage like this.

📩 Donate https://detroitsound.app.neoncrm.com/forms/donate

05/15/2026

On Detroit’s Old West Side, the Blue Bird Inn helped shape the sound of modern jazz.

Known as the bebop academy of the Midwest, The Bird welcomed artists like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan, Tommy Flanagan, Harold McKinney, and so many others who helped define Detroit’s musical legacy.

Today, that legacy is continuing to take shape.

As we celebrate 14 years of preserving Detroit’s musical heritage, work is actively moving forward on the rehabilitation of the Blue Bird Inn, with foundation work underway and plans to begin programming in the space by the end of this year.

Your support helps make projects like the Blue Bird Inn rehabilitation possible. Click the link in our bio to help sustain DSC’s work today.

We’re also excited to share that Detroit Sound Conservancy has purchased the green space next to the Blue Bird, creating new opportunities for community gathering, outdoor events, and neighborhood connection.

What is taking shape here is more than a rehabilitation project. It’s a home for Detroit’s musical legacy.

Explore DSC’s Blue Bird Inn Collection to learn more about this historic and influential place through the link in our bio.