Quicken Loans Returns as Presenting Sponsor of the 2017 Detroit Jazz Festival

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Quicken Loans returns as 'Presenting Sponsor' of the 2017 Detroit Jazz Festival

DETROIT – For the second consecutive year, Quicken Loans has partnered with the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation as the presenting sponsor of the world’s largest free jazz festival. This year’s festival features one of its most exciting and powerful lineups in its nearly four-decade history.

“We are incredibly thankful to have Quicken Loans carry on their support of our beloved Festival,” said Gretchen Valade, chair of the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation Board of Directors. “This past year we have seen how our partnership has helped us strengthen our year-round education and music programs. This ultimately benefits the people of Detroit and speaks to Quicken Loans’ dedication to making the city a better place to live through their philanthropic efforts.”

The Foundation and the nation’s second largest retail mortgage lender also announced this year’s highly anticipated lineup will include Karriem Riggins, the Featured Artist of “The Untitled Series.” Riggins is best known as a jazz drummer and producer for artists like Common, Slum Village, Talib Kweli, Kanye West, Erykah Badu and The Roots, but he doesn’t categorize himself as anything but an artist. Additionally, Riggins has worked alongside Elvis Costello, Diana Krall and Paul McCartney.

“This year’s star-studded lineup brings excitement like never before, sure to please the most serious jazz enthusiasts and casual music fans alike,” said Helen Johnson, Quicken Loans vice president of Strategic Investments. “As a proud Detroit-based company, we are always looking for opportunities to support organizations and events that bring people to the city and showcase its culture and diversity.”

Launched last year and sponsored for the second consecutive year by Quicken Loans, “The Untitled Series” brings an eclectic and inclusive style of jazz for people of all ages to the Festival. As the Untitled Featured Artist, Riggins will participate in two “Music with a Purpose” performances over Labor Day Weekend – one with Common and a special guest and the other with Esperanza Spalding in a unique duo performance.

• 2017 Untitled Featured Artist: Karriem Riggins Live featuring Common and Special Guest – Music with a Purpose will take place at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 3, on the JPMorgan Chase Main Stage. This musical journey will take fans on a ride through music from Common's repertoire with heavy elements of freestyle.

• 2017 Untitled Featured Artist: Karriem Riggins Live with Special Guest Esperanza Spalding – Music with a Purpose is the final act in “The Untitled Series” and takes place at 5:45 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 4, on the Absopure Water Front Stage. This collaboration will be fused with loops and soulful interludes and is an improvisational experiment that only can be seen live at the Detroit Jazz Festival presented by Quicken Loans.

“We are thrilled to have Quicken Loans as our presenting sponsor once again and spearheading our ‘Untitled Series’,” said Chris Collins, president and artistic director of the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation. “With their support, we have signed on a phenomenal group of artists with a range of textures, who we know are going to mesmerize not only jazz aficionados, but help us showcase the power of jazz to a whole new demographic.”

The rest of “The Untitled Series” and their performances are as follows:

• Miles Mosley + The West Coast Get Down; 8:30 p.m. on Friday and 8 p.m. on Saturday on the JPMorgan Chase Main Stage

• Theo Croker Escape Velocity; 3:45 p.m. on Saturday on the Absopure Water Front Stage

• Donny McCaslin Group; 4 p.m. on Saturday on the JPMorgan Chase Main Stage

• Cameron Graves; 3:15 p.m. on Sunday on the Carhartt Amphitheater Stage

• Kamasi Washington; 8 p.m. on Sunday on the JPMorgan Chase Main Stage

• 2017 Artist-in-Residence Quintet: Wayne Shorter, Leo Genovese, Esperanza Spalding and Terri Lyne Carrington; 9:15 p.m. on Sunday on the Carhartt Amphitheater Stage

“Being from Detroit, I've always been an admirer of the Jazz Festival and its support of the music in the city,” said Riggins. “I am extremely honored to be a part of such an incredible Series that I feel adds diversity to what is already the most amazing jazz festival in the world.”

Riggins’ involvement with “The Untitled Series” and the Detroit Jazz Festival presented by Quicken Loans goes beyond his signature performances — it reaches the future generations of jazz musicians. This fall, Riggins will return to Detroit for an educational workshop to work with jazz students from the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

On-site and out-of-town jazz enthusiasts who want to watch “The Untitled Series,” among other performances, can livestream acts from all four stages, all four days, via the Detroit Jazz Fest LIVE! app. It costs $10 to watch the performances, while Festival maps and other details can be viewed on the app for free. The app can be downloaded at live.detroitjazzfest.org or through the Google Play Store.

To see Festival performances in action and avoid the commute to the 38th Annual Detroit Jazz Festival presented by Quicken Loans, attendees can book their stay at the Festival’s official hotel, the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center. Visit www.detroitjazzfest.org for more information.

About Quicken Loans
Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc. is the nation’s second largest retail home mortgage lender. The company closed more than $300 billion of mortgage volume across all 50 states between 2013 and 2016. Quicken Loans moved its headquarters to downtown Detroit in 2010, and now more than 17,000 team members from Quicken Loans and its Family of Companies work in the
city’s urban core. The company generates loan production from web centers located in Detroit,

Cleveland and Scottsdale, Arizona. The company also operates a centralized loan processing facility in Detroit, as well as its San Diego-based One Reverse Mortgage unit. Quicken Loans ranked “Highest in Customer Satisfaction for Primary Mortgage Origination” in the United States by J.D. Power for the past seven consecutive years, 2010 – 2017, and highest in customer satisfaction among all mortgage servicers the past four years, 2014 – 2017.

Quicken Loans was ranked #10 on FORTUNE magazine’s annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list in 2017, and has been among the top-30 companies for the past 14 consecutive years. The company has been recognized as one of Computerworld magazine’s ’100 Best Places to Work in IT’ the past 13 years, ranking #1 for eight of the past twelve years including 2017. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rock Holdings, Inc., the parent company of several FinTech and related businesses. Quicken Loans is also the flagship business of Dan Gilbert’s Family of Companies comprising nearly 100 affiliated businesses spanning multiple industries. For more information and company news visit QuickenLoans.com/press-room.