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Gary Schunk, A Jazz Survivor's New Lease On Life

Detroit Music Factor

Detroit jazz pianist Gary Schunk has never lacked for talent, ideas and great stories.  What he has lacked is the opportunity to be heard by a wider national audience.  The Gary Schunk Trio's new album Kayak (Detroit Music Factory Records) features Peter Erskine - should rectify that unfortunate situation. 

Gary visited the WEMU studio to talk about the musical alignment of the stars that produced this expressive and musically significant piano trio date.  Despite an automobile accident which hospitalized Gary for three months, the CD was released, and Gary now has a new lease on life. 

Gary’s years of experience playing at Detroit’s legendary Baker’s Keyboard Lounge and memorable Ann Arbor venues such as The Bird Of Paradise Jazz Club, The Earle and the Del Rio inform his playing today.  But as you listen to Gary’s brilliant technique on Kayak or the two other recent releases that feature his distinctive piano work:  Alamode Featuring Curtis Fuller by Ron Kischuk And The Masters Of Music Trombonesand Most Triumphant by Walter White, you will hear that Gary Schunk continues to push his musical concepts forward and is a growing, surviving veteran jazz musician worthy of national attention.

Linda Yohn simply cannot remember a day in her life that was not filled with music. Her early life was full of changes as the daughter of a well-respected cancer research scientist who moved his family about, but one thing was constant: the love of music instilled by her mother. So, when it seemed life was too hard to bear, young Linda would listen to her radio, play her guitar, dance her heart out and sing at the top of her lungs. So, it isn’t so strange that “older” Linda still does all those things!