Now in it’s 47th year – the Detroit Jazz Festival continues to be the world’s largest free jazz festival, featuring world-class talent, over Labor Day weekend. The Borderland Ensemble makes its DJF debut on Saturday, September 5th on the Pyramid Stage at Hart Plaza.
The Borderland Ensemble is a cross-border jazz collective based in the Windsor–Detroit region, led by trumpeter and composer Austin Di Pietro. The group draws on its unique geography — two cities, two countries, sharing one river — as both subject matter and creative fuel.
The ensemble plays original music rooted in the jazz tradition: hard bop and post-bop at the foundation, with contemporary influences woven throughout. The music explores what it means to make art across a border at a moment when that border feels more fraught than ever — treating division not as an obstacle, but as a source of creative possibility.
The group’s Detroit Jazz Festival debut arrives in support of its first album, Live at Mackenzie Hall Jazz, released July 3, 2026. Performing here — situated just steps from the Detroit River and international boundary — is a natural extension of the cross-border conversation the ensemble was built around.
Featuring Alex Colista, Tom Bartelmay, Aya Sekine, Trevor Lamb, and Zachary McKinney.
Organized by
September 5 @ 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Cost: 0
Event Website/Tickets
Detroit Jazz Festival
1 Hart Plaza
Detroit, MI, United States,
48226