Live & Local: Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble Defies Genre with New Album

Don Was: I believe it's all held together by the common musical language that the nine musicians and the band have. But this is the kind of thing that a record company might call it a marketing nightmare, but I don't believe that, especially after being at Blue Note Records for 14 years. And I understand that people don't think in terms of genre. They think in terms of how they respond with their heart. You know, how does the music make you feel? And they don't really care what label you put on it. Genres are good for organizing record stores, I think. Yeah, but for the most part, I don't know any musicians who sit there and think, all right, in two bars, I'm going to play a blues lick, and then I'll wait, then I'm going to throw in a country lick. You don't think that way, in fact, you don't think if you're doing it right. You just play and whatever's inside of you comes out. So, I think the album pushes the boundaries of genre a little bit. And I'm proud of that. And I'm proud of the way people are responding to it, which is (that) they kind of like that.

I always hid behind band names. So, we had Was (Not Was), we had Orchestra Was, and there was like Safety in Numbers. But it's the first time I ever put my name on something. It's a little scary, but what the heck!