“I know it’s jazz fest,” Detroit poet laureate Jessica Care Moore told the crowd at Hart Plaza on Friday night, Aug. 29, “but we’re doing something different.”

No lie there.

Moore’s remark came in the midst of a groundbreaking combination of her, electronic pioneer Jeff Mills and pianist Jason Moran, the Artist-In-Residence for the 46th annual Detroit Jazz Festival that runs through Monday, Sept. 1. More than merely unique, the 80-minute exposition was unlike anything that’s been part of annual Labor Day weekend tradition before, a multi-disciplinary interweaving of sensibilities and philosophies that used obvious preparation to create a foundation for anything-goes improvisation, and the trio delivered it as smoothly as if they’d been playing together for years.

The New York-based Mora

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