Creative industries in Washtenaw County add hundreds of millions of dollars to the local economy. In the weeks and months to come, host Deb Polich, the President and CEO of Creative Washtenaw, explores the myriad of contributors that make up the creative sector in Washtenaw County.
ABOUT JOHN E. LAWRENCE:
John E. Lawrence, a lifelong resident of Ypsilanti is one of Michigan’s most talented and respected guitarists. He has written sixteen instructional guitar books, produced and published four DVDs and recorded and produced 12 CDs. Former Head of the Music Performance Program and the Chair of the Performing Arts Department at Washtenaw Community College. He is also the author of a book entitled “Business Management For the Working Musician” A Step-by-Step Guide for Making Money Making Music.
Three books from John’s catalog are published by Mel Bay Publications Inc. and he was included in Mel Bay’s 2000 Anthology of Jazz Guitar which includes solos by some of the world’s finest guitarist. He has endorsement deals with Heritage Guitars and GHS Guitar Strings.
In the realm of performance, Mr. Lawrence served as musical director and lead guitarist for vocalist Carl Carlton for his “She’s A Bad Mama Jama” tour. They were the opening act for such famed artists as Smokey Robinson, Chaka Khan, Lionel Richie and the Commodores, Rick James, Teena Marie and Frankie Beverly and Maze.
John’s latest CD is entitled “Masterpiece Vol. 1” The first single released form the CD was “Photo Shoot” a soulful smooth jazz ballad released June, 2021. The second single “Movin Up To The Top” an upbeat party song released in February, 2022.
In 2019 John dedicated himself to writing and recording music fifteen to twenty hours a day and to date, he has written, recorded and produced over three hundred and fifty songs. That type of dedication has led to a collaboration with Grammy Award winning keyboardist / composer and producer Jeff Lorber. He has written, produced and performed on a song entitled “Leather Jacket” released July, 2022 and “Velocity” released March 2023 and “Wake Up The Groove Again” released November 2023. In 2024 you can look forward to a collaboration between Jeff Lorber on Keyboards and Saxophonist Gerald Albright with Paul Jackson Jr. on rhythm Guitar on a song entitled “Hipness”. The song features Gerald on the saxophone and myself on guitar.
In the summer of 2021 John embarked on another venture of the music business as a concert producer and promoter. John E. Lawrence Summer Jazz Series.
Free jazz concerts on Friday’s from 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. from July - September Labor Day Weekend. The series brought in national and international Smooth Jazz Recording Artists to perform each week. In three short years the series became a local and national institution.
RESOURCES:
John E. Lawrence Summer Jazz Series
TRANSCRIPTION:
Deb Polich: Welcome to 89 one WEMU's creative:impact. Thanks for joining me, Deb Polich, president and CEO of Creative Washtenaw and your host, as we meet the artists and creatives who infuse our towns with color, texture and sound. Musical sounds are what our guest, John E. Lawrence, knows best. A lifelong resident of Ypsilanti, Johnny is one of Michigan's most noted guitarists, a prolific composer, and as the former head of the music performance program and the chair of the performing arts department at Washtenaw Community College, an inspiring and beloved teacher. As if that wasn't enough, Johnny also had a dream. In the summer of 2021, Johnny took on the role of concert promoter and producer when he launched the John E. Lawrence Summer Jazz Fest. It was an instant hit, quickly attracting thousands. Johnny, welcome to creative:impact!
John E. Lawrence: Thank you for having me! I'm glad to be here!
Deb Polich: So, I'm imagining what might have prompted you after retiring from WCC, still an in-demand musician and a respected and prolific, as I said, composer and writer, to sit up and say, "I know what I should do! I should start a jazz festival!" Take us back to that moment. What made you decide to do that?
John E. Lawrence: Well, it started out just being one concert I wanted to do, and I wanted to call it a "give back" concert--give back to the community that has supported me all these years. And then I started thinking, "Well, I could make it a weekly thing and keep it going!" So I contacted Mayor Lois Richardson at the time of Ypsilanti and asked her, "What does she think of it?" And she liked the idea, and she said she has to run it by city council and did all that. And in a week before the first one, she gave me the okay to do it.
Deb Polich: Wow!
John E. Lawrence: So, I got on the phone and called up some of my friends. And I booked the whole series in like ten minutes, you know? Just. So, it's an easy thing for me to do, and it's fun.
Deb Polich: Now, is it an easy thing? Because the difference between performing, presenting and actually producing something and having to take care of all those details, you know it from the inside, but to actually do it as a producer, was there much of a learning curve for you?
John E. Lawrence: Not really.
Deb Polich: Oh, good.
John E. Lawrence: I'll tell you what the learning curve is--it's finding sponsors? I'm not used to asking people for money. I'll just put up my own money. I'm not used to that. And so, that's a learning curve. And I'm still not good at it.
Deb Polich: Well, you know, I say this often, especially when I'm working with students, there's very few people, and I can't even think of one who wakes up as a child and says, "I want to be a fundraiser!" I mean, it's just not usually a thing that most people do, and it takes a while to get comfortable doing it. Believe me, I know. So, you launched that festival. The original was at Frog Island. And that was in the middle of COVID.
John E. Lawrence: But just the week before they lifted the restrictions, we were able to do it. And I got the okay to do it. And we had to move from Frog Island across the street to Riverside Park. And that was an unexpected expense because Frog Island has a slab of concrete. That's a stage for us.
Deb Polich: Sure.
John E. Lawrence: And so, I didn't have to pay for a stage. But then, as soon as we moved across the street, I said, "Oh, we need a stage now," because I didn't want us to be at ground level. As you know, we need to be up and make this a certain look I was looking for. And so, that automatically added another $27,000 to the budget, but I knew we needed it. And so, I just said to myself, "We'll find it. We'll find the money." We did it.
Deb Polich: I'm familiar, having been a presenter and a producer throughout my career, what all it takes to do this and those unexpected costs that do come up, even if you are seasoned in doing what you're doing. So, I think you're just kind of charmed. You know, why do you think the whole thing worked out so quickly?
John E. Lawrence: I'll tell you the truth. I think I have a lot of support from the community. And I think that this is something that's bigger than me. I believe that God has his hand in it. And God was directing my path and made sure that things fell into place. And I can't take credit for it. You know, if you would have told me that I was going to be doing this a year before the first one, I would have told you you're out of your mind. This is too much to take on. But then, I just tried it, and it worked.
Deb Polich: Well, somebody is looking down on you with a lot of enthusiasm and support. WEMU's creative:impact continues. I'm joined by musician and impresario John E. Lawrence, whose Summer Jazz Fest at Ford Lake kicks off on July 5th. So, producing a festival for one night is a big deal. It's really costly, and doing it for weeks--well, eight times as costly in your case because you do it for eight weeks--you have the musicians to pay, plus all the production and promotion expenses. Yet, you made the decision to make this Summer Jazz Fest free to the public. Why?
John E. Lawrence: I think, and I don't know if I should say this or not, but I think they charge too much for for concerts nowadays. You know, people charge up anywhere from $500 to $1000 or $2,000 to get up close. And it doesn't cost that much to do it, you know? So, I figured, "Let me put on a concert where, first of all, I'll try to do it free or a minimal cost to the to the audience and see what happens." If we had 5-10,000 people there and everybody gave me $5, that would be enough money to cover the whole concert and have money left over for the next year, you know? And so, if everybody can get on board, but we need everybody to get on board and give us $5 or $10, then we can have our own concert series and claim it as our own and keep the cost down for everybody.
Deb Polich: So, that's a pretty good model. And you're lucky--or anyone's lucky--to have actually make that work. I know you also do sponsorships and your set-up as a nonprofit. Correct?
John E. Lawrence: That's right. John E. Lawrence Community Entertainment Nonprofit.
Deb Polich: Excellent! So, it's opening this season, July 5th. It's coming up really quickly, but what are you most excited about this season?
John E. Lawrence: I guess I'm most excited about the fact that every year it grows because people who come to have a good time and they tell others. And I'm looking forward to how big is going to be this year. Last year, I think that we were between 4000 and 8000 people. I'm looking forward to this starting out at 10,000 and going up from there.
Deb Polich: That's just remarkable! So, when you're there on a Friday night and the musicians are playing and the crowd is swaying and you're at Ford Lake, what do you think about when you look out over the crowd?
John E. Lawrence: Actually, every concert I walk through the whole entire audience unless I'm performing. I walk through the entire audience, shaking people's hands and thanking them for coming to the John E. Lawrence Summer Jazz Series. And you'd be surprised at how many people say, "This is cool the way you do this, the way you come out and you let people know that you're happy that they're here and they're welcome. You welcome people. It's like welcoming people into my home, you know? You come on and thank you for coming." And they appreciate it.
Deb Polich: Well, you're a host, and making people comfortable is part of really being a great host. So, you do generally have one concert that's yours.
John E. Lawrence: Yes.
Deb Polich: Every season. And I noticed this year is the end of the season. Is that how it's taking place all the time?
John E. Lawrence: Yes. It didn't start out that way. But the last two years, what happened is that I had an artist that was supposed to close it out, and they couldn't. They called me and said they couldn't do the last one. And so, I had to move them, and I just traded places with them. And I gave them my date. And I took the last date, and it ended up being the largest audience--the biggest crowd. Normally, it goes up ten weeks, and it goes all the way to Labor Day, the first Friday of September, Labor Day weekend.
Deb Polich: Okay.
John E. Lawrence: And so, I closed it out, and we had the largest audience of the summer. And so I said, "Well, maybe it's a good thing that I'm the headliner, you know, and I close it out!" And we did it again last year, and the same thing happened.
John E. Lawrence: But as we wrap up here, is this is a particular kind of jazz sound that you book?
John E. Lawrence: Right. Yeah. I tried to avoid duplicating with somebody else's doing. So, I'm doing smooth jazz.
Deb Polich: Okay.
John E. Lawrence: A lot of concerts do straight-ahead, or a lot of jazz festivals, they do straight-ahead jazz. And I like straight-ahead jazz. And I play straight-ahead jazz. But, why compete with them? Let them do their thing and then give another sector something else, you know? And it works out fine.
John E. Lawrence: Well, it's obviously working for you. And I haven't been yet, so I'll look forward to trying to get out there this summer and enjoy one of those evenings. But, I have to tell you. For somebody like myself who's been in this field for a long time, this magic that you have doesn't happen to most of us. And a lot of us struggle to make things happen. So, bravo to you!
John E. Lawrence: Thank you! Thank you very much! And I look forward to seeing you out there!
John E. Lawrence: I'm looking forward to it. Well, thank you so much for being on the show. And it's exciting to have something new on the roster of Washtenaw County offerings to our public and to bring people and attracting people from all over. So, again, bravo to you!
John E. Lawrence: Thank you!
John E. Lawrence: Thank you. That's John E. Lawrence, the energy behind the John E. Lawrence Summer Jazz Fest that runs on Friday evenings, July 5th through August 23rd this year. Find out more at wemu.org. You've been listening to creative:impact. I'm Deb Polich, president and CEO of Creative Washtenaw and your host, Mat Hopson is our producer. Please join us every Tuesday to meet the people who make Washtenaw creative. This is 89 one WEMU FM Ypsilanti. Public radio from Eastern Michigan University.
If you'd like to a guest on creative:impact, email Deb Polich at deb.polich@creativewashtenaw.org.
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