“In the music business, people think that if you’re different, it’s a marketing problem,” says Don Was , who’s in the sixth decade of a one-of-a-kind career: producer for superstars, bass player, Blue Note Records president , and co-founder of the eclectic band Was (Not Was). “Instead of being a problem, it’s actually your superpower.”

Was, a Detroit native who’s worked with the Rolling Stones , Bob Dylan , Bonnie Raitt, Brian Wilson and Willie Nelson , among many others, just released his first album under his own name — the jam-friendly, funk-and-jazz-influenced Groove in the Face of Adversity , featuring his Pan-Detroit Ensemble. The tracks jump genres, from a 10-minute version of Hank Williams’ “I Ain’t Got Nothin’ But Time” to a timely take on Curtis Mayfield’s “This Is

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