Provizer's Jazz Notes
Jazz Notes, 10-4-12
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Convergence, at Dazzle this Friday |
With a Broadway composing father and a singing mother, you might say that pianist Bill Charlap, who is on stage at Dazzle on Saturday and Sunday, is a natural when it comes to performing standards with his own lyrical twist. The pianist, who was born in 1966, spent time as a member of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet from 1988 until 1990 and then connected with the band led by Phil Woods in the middle part of the ‘90s. In fact, he was part of the Woods quintet that recorded the 1996 disc Mile High Jazz – Live in Denver, as well as a Woods recording on the Denver Jazzed Media label.
For this visit, Charlap, who has released albums under his own name starting in the early 1990s and is also married to fellow pianist Renee Rosnes, has a trio with David Wong on bass and Ulysses Owens on drums. At Dazzle, 930 Lincoln, the trio plays at 7 and 9 p.m. on Saturday and 6 and 8 p.m. on Sunday ($28-$22/$18 for students at the last set on Sunday, 303-839-5100).
Before Charlap pulls into the club on Lincoln, Dazzle has a quartet with a Greeley connection on Thursday and a sextet with ties to Denver on Friday. Thursday’s quartet is led by bassist Erik Applegate and features Dana Landry on piano, Steve Kovalcheck on guitar and Jim White on drums. Not too, too long ago, Applegate released a very attractive CD called Red Skies and is getting ready to issue a follow up titled Memphis Skyline. The sounds on Thursday at 7 and 9 p.m. will be drawn from both efforts ($12/$8 students). Of course, speaking of Memphis and its music, the 2010 Tony Award winning Memphis: The Musical opens at the Buell Theatre in the Denver Performing Arts Complex on Tuesday and runs through October 21 (303-893-4100). Friday’s group is Convergence which pays its monthly visit to Dazzle on Friday with sets at 7 and 9 p.m. ($15).
For the rest of the week, Dazzle has: the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra doing its Monday night thing at 7 p.m. ($15); guitarist Marcus Firillo (who has worked with a host of folk from Dizzy Gillespie and Roy Haynes to the Heath Brothers) doing his thing on Tuesday at 7 p.m. with a quartet that includes Vlad Girshevitz, Bijoux Barbosa and Alex Girshevitz $10); and the third annual Playground Chamber Jazz event, connected to Creative Music Works (CMW), on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ($10/$7 CMW) . Members of the Playground nonet include fine players such as saxophonists Aakash Mittal and Lynn Baker, vibist Greg Harris and pianist Marc Sabatello. Among the musical pieces on tap is Baker’s take on Aaron Copeland’s Billy the Kid. Also on Friday at Dazzle, pianist Purnell Steen provides the sounds for popular lunch at the club that starts at 11 a.m. This past week I caught Steen and his very swinging aggregation at Attivo Pizzeria and Bar, located at 955 Lincoln just across the street from Dazzle. It’s nice to hear sounds there.
Outside of Dazzle, Lannie Clocktower Cabaret, 1601 Arapahoe, kicks off a new Sunday jazz series hosted by singer MaryLynn Gillaspie. Pianist Eric Gunnison and his Wake Up Call quintet get the series going at 7:30 p.m. ($15, 303-293-0075). And before Halloween hits, October will offer a lot of music, including the not-to-be missed pianist Vijay Iyer with his trio at Dazzle (Oct. 11-12); singer Natalie Cole at the Paramount Theatre (Oct. 11); saxophonist Houston Person at Dazzle (Oct. 13-14); guitarist Lionel Loueke and his trio at Dazzle (Oct. 19); guitarist Charles Gatschet at Dazzle (Oct. 20); bassist Buster Williams and his Something More group that includes pianist Patrice Rushen and drummer Leon Ndugu Chancler at Mount Vernon Country Club (Oct. 25); the Rebirth Brass Band at Cervantes (Oct. 27); Anat Cohn with brother Avishi Cohen on trumpet at the Jewish Arts, Authors, Movies, Music (JAAMM) Festival (Oct. 27); guitarist Dale Bruning with bassist Michael Moore at Dazzle (Oct. 27); and bassist Ron Carter’s quartet with Renee Rosnes on piano at the Boulder Theatre (Oct. 28). As noted above, Rosnes has recorded in the duo format with husband/pianist Charlap and bassist Moore has done the same.
On top of all this, singer Rene Marie returns to her old home here with her trio for a special performance with trumpeter Ron Miles that’s part of the program for the annual meeting of the International Leadership Association that takes place in Denver this year (Oct. 26).
