Detroit Brooks photographed by Eliot Kamenitz

The New Orleans Jazz Museum and Jazz Foundation of America present a performance featuring Detroit Brooks on Wednesday, January 11th at 2:00 PM CST.

This program takes place inside our third-floor Performance Center, listening room. Admission is free and open to the public, seating is limited and offered first come, first serve.

 Enjoy jazz music from home with the New Orleans Jazz Museum! Join the Jazz Museum online for our daily Live-Stream Concert Series, in which jazz musicians perform live from the Jazz Museum! Tune in at 2 pm on facebook.com/nolajazzmuseum/live to watch for free.

Detroit Brooks

Detroit Brooks, famed session and touring guitarist of the New Orleans music scene, has the most recognizable face in the city. An evening of his musical prowess, music critics, affectionados, or novices are testament of his smooth yet infectious stroke based in solid fundamentals. Often admired by guitarists world-wide, Brooks’ laid-back demeanor masks one of the most heralded and sought-after performers, songwriters, and session men of our time. Like most well-known singer/songwriters, his roots reach deep into the inner fabric of the famed “Bible Belt Superstars.” He began his career at an early age, touring with his famous family which includes his world-famous sister Juanita Brooks, of “Juanita’s Gospel Express,” as well as his acclaimed father, George A. Brooks, Sr., of the famous “Masonic Kings.” Like many accomplished guitarists, Detroit mastered his craft on the road where the performances were “long, free, and continuous.”

His skill, technique, and experience brought him quick recognition and the opportunity to play with gospel greats like Clarence Fountain & the Five Blind Boys, Dorothy Norwood, Reverend Ernest Franklin, Albertina Walker, Raymond Myles & The Rams, and the famed Zion Harmonizers. Detroit Brooks has continued to complement his development as a musician through intense study with guitar masters Roy Montell and Gary Haulette, as well as ongoing training and studies in improvisation and theory with Hank Mackie and composition and piano with Roger Dickerson. A virtual chameleon of various musical styles from Traditional Banjo to Improvisational Jazz, through Rhythm and Blues and Funk, Detroit Brooks is an unforgettable talent. A New Orleans music scene regular, Brooks’ dedication to mastery, or as we call it, “The Game,” has created the most requested guitarist in a city whose every breath has a musical overtone.

Detroit Brooks (guitar), Kanako F. Brooks (Keyboard/Piano), Alonzo Bowen (Saxophone), Donald Ramsey (Bass), Herman LeBeaux (Drums)