Stellar Latin jazz band Aguankó playing Michigan Jazz Festival fundraiser Sunday afternoon
Inject some fun into your afternoon this Sunday with the sunny rhythms and cool breeze of swinging Latin jazz while helping a local organization.
The Michigan Jazz Festival, held the third Sunday in July each year, is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2025. The free-entry, one-day event features over 40 musical groups across seven stages, and exclusively includes Michigan musicians or those who have Michigan ties.
On Sunday, April 13, in Livonia, the festival will host its annual spring fundraiser, which helps keep the festival free to the public.
This year's fundraiser at Livonia's Schoolcraft College Vistatech Center features the accomplished metro Detroit Latin jazz combo Aguankó. The band will feature leader Alberto Nacif on congas and percussion, Wesley Reynoso on piano, Pat Prouty on bass, Russ Miller on sax and flute, Charlie Miller on trumpet, Leonard King on drums, and Rob Killips on trombone.
Aguankó's most recent album, 2023's 'Unidad,' reached the top of The Roots Music Report's Top 50 Jazz Album Chart. At Sunday's event, Nacif said the band will play songs from four of their five albums (the fifth one being a Christmas record).
He also said that being a part of Detroit means a lot to him.
'I was born in Mexico,' Nacif said, 'in the south, in a state called Oaxaca. We came here when I was a pre-teen – like, 12, 13 – and according to my mom, I learned English very quickly. In a matter of months, I was speaking the language pretty well. My mom was widowed at a very young age; my dad died at 38 in a car accident. She wanted to come up here and be with her two brothers and two sisters who were here, working.
'We lived in a house on Lothrop, right across from the Fisher Building, and then we moved to Highland Park, and then we moved to Huntington Woods. I went to Detroit Catholic Central High School and Wayne State University. So, even though I'm Mexican, I just feel like I'm from here. This is my home.'
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Nacif, who now lives in Brighton, serves his community as a full-time doctor, specializing in family and lifestyle medicine.
'It's fun,' he said. 'People ask me, 'Is it tough to do both?' and I say no. It really takes the same skill set, which is to make sure you have the absolute best team possible, make sure that you're always prepared, and make sure that you deliver what you want to deliver.'
A Michigan Jazz Festival veteran, he praised the festival and the talent it collects.
'It's a really big jazz festival,' Nacif said. 'I know that there is the Detroit Jazz Festival, which is bigger. But the reason I like the Michigan Jazz Festival is, number one, it really focuses on the local talent, and we have loads of local talent that are good enough to be international talent, anytime, anyplace. The other thing I like about it is it's free, and it's in the campus of a well-regarded college. There's something to it being sort of in the middle of a working-class city, you know?
'I really, really love playing there, because the audiences are so appreciative and sophisticated.'
Festival board member Bart Polot agreed.
'There's no other festival quite like it,' said Polot. 'And to be able to have all this music within walking distance, one stage to another – it's probably the most accommodating jazz festival around. In order to keep it free, in order to pay all the musicians and have all the other amenities that we have, we really rely on the generosity of jazz supporters. So, if you love jazz and you live in the southeastern Michigan area, you want to support the Michigan Jazz Festival by coming out.'
Sunday's concert will begin at 3 p.m. at the Schoolcraft College Vistatech Center at 18600 Haggerty Rd., Livonia. Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 at the door; advance tickets can be purchased at michiganjazzfestival.org.
The 30th Michigan Jazz Festival will take place on Sunday, July 20, at the same location.
Contact Free Press arts and culture reporter Duante Beddingfield at dbeddingfield@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Latin jazz band Aguankó playing Michigan Jazz Fest fundraiser Sunday
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