City marks Jazz Appreciation Month with major event at 12 venues

By Natasha Lovato

Denver’s rich jazz history is about to be recognized on a much larger scale during the inaugural Denver Jazz Fest. In the 1930s, the historically black Five Points neighborhood was a prominent stop for bands on their way from Chicago to the West Coast and was often referred to as the “Harlem of the West.” Jazz clubs like The Rossonian, The Casino Ballroom, and Sonny’s Lounge hosted some of the greatest jazz musicians of all time, including the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald.

Now, during Jazz Appreciation Month, Denver’s jazz scene will get the cultural recognition it deserves from Thursday, April 3, through Sunday, April 6.

Denver Jazz, a Colorado nonprofit, was created to shine a spotlight on the art form by hosting jazz performances and educational events throughout the Denver-Boulder area through the Denver Jazz Fest.

The four-day event will show off a wide range of styles and will offer exciting and culturally relevant events for every audience.

Shows will take place anywhere from a neighborhood brewery to major concert halls. Venues include the Boulder Theater, Dazzle, Cervantes, The Fox Theater, The Galleria at DPAC, Mercury Cafe, The MSU Kalamath Building, The Muse, the Newman Center, Nocturne and Spangalang Brewery.

Denver Jazz Fest will also include educational events for college and high school music students presented by world-renowned musicians: trumpet player Terell Stafford and saxophonist Charles McPherson. Plus, a free community forum on current jazz-related topics with a focus on diversity and equity is planned.

Jazz is alive and well in Denver

McPherson, 85, said in an interview that jazz is relevant right now because of academia and exposure to the music.

“Nearly every college in the U.S. has a jazz program. There used to be no jazz department so that means there are a bunch of young people engaging in these programs. So just right there, it’s providing a platform,” McPherson said.

In addition to his U.S. teachings, McPherson offers masterclasses in jazz studies around the world, from Japan to Italy, which reinforces his thoughts that jazz is in fact alive and well.

He also said that festivals are a large avenue of exposure where a mass of people will have the opportunity to listen to a variety of styles.

“Some of these people won’t give a hoot at all, but somebody will be moved,” he predicted. “Jazz will always have a percentage of people who like it, but guess what? The largest percentage of people are into pop without a doubt and that’s just the way it is. But in spite of that, people gravitate toward jazz, and more exposure helps with that.”

Stafford, 58, said that he feels grateful to teach and play alongside a legend like McPherson, and that festivals are important when it comes to the essence of jazz.

“When I go to these festivals, it’s like a big family reunion — it’s the most magical feeling, so I am happy for Denver to have this festival,” Stafford said.

“It’s just the beginning of community and collaboration and it will be a destination city for this music. The possibilities are limitless and I feel honored that I’m part of this collaborating force. I think that’s how we keep the arts and education alive and create new opportunities for them for the city, community and the world.”

When it comes to Denver’s rich jazz legacy, jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, 73, also knows a thing or two.

“I grew up in Denver, so this is where everything began for me with music. I don’t even know where to start, I just feel so lucky I’ve been able to spend my life doing this,” Frisell said.

Frisell nurtured his musical education at Denver East High School and later at the University of Northern Colorado before ending up at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

He began playing the clarinet in the fourth grade and got his first electric guitar during his freshman year of high school. Although Frisell doesn’t live in Colorado anymore, every time he returns to play, he says the memories come flooding back of jamming with his friends, covering Wes Montgomery at his high school talent show, and watching Dionne Warwick and The Thelonious Monk Quartet play at Red Rocks.

“In a way, what I’m doing now is an extension of that, just playing with my friends and the people I love,” he said.

Frisell said a festival like this in Denver is certainly overdue, and that even if jazz might look different today than it did decades ago – and its popularity might ebb and flow – jazz will never die.

“It’s such a different experience when you hear music live and the audience and musicians are experiencing this world together,” he said. “The nature of this music is not set, it’s constantly evolving. Each moment you’re searching, exploring, and discovering and to be able to play off the audience and fellow musicians. I don’t think it will ever die, you can’t kill that stuff off,” he said.

Denver Jazz Fest to serve up different flavors of the genre

Audience members can expect to find a full spectrum of jazz flavors, such as iconic jazz horn performances by Stafford and McPherson, vocal jazz renditions by Grammy Award-Winner Dianne Reeves, who grew up in Denver, a jazz-funk-rock-fusion performance by Garaj Mahal, the Afro-Cuban stylings of Omar Sosa and the Quarteto Americanos, and more.

After traveling the world and studying different traditional forms of music, Cuban jazz pianist Sosa, 59, is excited to return to Denver with a new quartet.

“Over my career, I have searched for deep traditions, so, for example, right now I’m in Japan and I’m looking for Japanese traditions like the taiko drums,” Sosa said. “I use a lot of African-American traditions but a lot of those traditions are African. For me, the art is a lot of different spices, and whatever dish you want to create, you use these spices, but you must know the flavor it should be.”

Sosa believes that the more music people are exposed to, the more people will understand various cultures and traditions. He said that something like Denver Jazz Fest is the perfect way to expose audience members to different musical traditions.

“Jazz is the philosophy of freedom,” Sosa said. “It’s complex and allows you to play as yourself, and the more you know about the other music of the world, the more you can express the freedom, and I think jazz is the only style of music like that.”