Detroit drummer, producer, bandleader, manager, and label owner RJ Spangler is a journeyman musician who has done much to resurrect the careers of some forgotten blues artists. A versatile performer, Spangler has performed with such luminaries as Martha the Vandellas, James Carter, Big Jay McNeely, and many others. Introduced to jazz and blues by his uncle, drummer Bud Spangler, who played with Detroit jazz legends the Tribe, RJ grew up listening to the greats of the music. By the early '80s Spangler had formed his own jazz band, the Sun Messengers, who earned a Motor City Music Award in 1982. That group later re-emerged as the Sun Sounds Orchestra on 1991's Open the Doors.

Although he spent most of his teens and twenties focusing on jazz, Spangler never forgot about the blues. In 1994, he joined guitarist Johnnie Bassett for a concert date, later released as Live at the Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival. Bassett had fallen into obscurity since the time he was a successful session man in the '50s and '60s. After the gig, Spangler began working regularly with the guitarist and helped him get his career back on track, a trajectory that culminated in several more albums and a successful tour of Europe. His work with Bassett also garnered him a W.C. Handy Blues Award nomination in 2001. Since then, Spangler, who also runs his own Eastlawn Records, has performed and recorded with other legacy blues artists, including Alberta Adams, Joe Weaver, Odessa Harris, and others. He also records regularly with his own groups, delivering such albums as the 2012 trio date This Is What We Do, 2015's A Lil' More, and several with keyboardist and vocalist Bill Heid.

Along with his trio, the drummer also helms a handful of other bands, including large ensemble the Planet D Nonet, which he co-leads with trumpeter James O'Donnell. With a sound that runs the gamut from classic swing to bebop and avant-garde jazz, the nonet has released a bevy of albums including 2009's The Little Big Band, 2010's Viper Madness, and 2015's PD9 Township Jazz Project: Live at the Scarab Club. Along with recording, Spangler performs regularly in Detroit and the surrounding areas. In 2016, he joined longtime bandmate and collaborator saxophonist Rick Steiger for Reunion, a regrouping of their '70s hard bop and Afro-Latin ensemble Kuumba. That same year, he was back with the Planet D Nonet for A Salute to Strayhorn. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi