Alexander Zonjic | "Motor City Sway"

It’s been eleven years since contemporary jazz flutist Alexander Zonjic dropped a new album, making Friday’s release of his 13th collection, “Playing It Forward,” an event album. A genuine multi-hyphenate, Zonjic is a longtime multimedia personality (he hosts television and radio shows) and artistic director for nearly a dozen music festivals and concert series throughout Detroit and the Michigan region in addition to being a recording artist, explaining the lengthy gap between albums. Finishing the new Hi-Falutin Music release produced by GRAMMY-winning keyboardist Jeff Lorber was made possible because COVID-19 forced the cancellation of most of the calendar of live music events that Zonjic produces.  

Whetting the appetite of both radio programmers and fans alike is the disc’s first single, “Motor City Sway,” a tune written and produced by Pieces of a Dream’s James Lloyd. A fun video shot on stage and on the streets of Detroit (the Canadian-born Zonjic’s adopted home), including at the Motown Museum, reveals a “Motor City Sway” dance to go along with the funky R&B instrumental track currently climbing the Billboard Top 25 (https://youtu.be/Cba0NStZM_M).

“Playing It Forward” is an energetic blend of jazz, funk, fusion and soul comprised of five Lorber originals along with a handful of reimagined classics. The outing showcases the work of top shelf musicians, including guitarists Chuck Loeb (one of his final recordings before his passing), Paul Jackson Jr. and Michael Thompson, drummer Gary Novak, horn player and arranger David Mann, and 14-year-old South African keyboard phenom Justin-Lee Schultz, who can be seen performing a talk box solo in the “Motor City Sway” video.   

The album title intentionally riffs on “paying it forward,” which is something the benevolent Zonjic does generously throughout metropolitan Detroit and the Michigan region. The award-winning musician is organizing and headlining a November 13 fundraiser for Mariners Inn, a shelter and treatment center for the homeless.