At this point in time, Otis Taylor, who performs at Dazzle on Saturday and Sunday, just might be the most consistently evocative and intriguing bluesman around. Born in Chicago in 1948, Taylor’s family moved to Denver following the shooting death of a close relative in the Windy City. Now, the Boulder-based musician has a string of discs out that don’t just put you in a blues-filled trance – they also stretch the boundaries of the music without ever abandoning its fundamental truths.
The last time I caught Taylor at Dazzle, 930 Lincoln, he had both pianist Jason Moran and trumpeter Ron Miles in the mix to great effect. And on Taylor’s brand new CD on Telarc, Clovis People, Vol. 3, Miles is again on hand to nurture the singer/banjoist/guitarist’s jazz sensibilities. The title for the new CD comes from the discovery, near Taylor’s home, of 83, 13,000-year-old tools belonging to the extinct, ice-age, hunter-gatherer Clovis culture that exited in the Americas. At Dazzle, Taylor sings and plays at 7 and 9 p.m. on Saturday and 6 and 8 p.m. on Sunday to celebrate the release of his latest CD. There’s nothing, of course, extinct about Taylor’s blues – he is an artist you simply don’t want to miss ($20/$12 students for 8 p.m. show on Sunday, 303-839-5100).
Before Taylor does his thing, Dazzle hosts another CD-release party on Thursday when Frantz Roehmann and the Concert Jazz Orchestra bring the music of Together Again to the stage at 7 and 9 p.m. ($5). Then on Friday, bassist Ken Walker brings his strong sextet to Dazzle at 7 and 9 p.m. That band features trumpeter Al Hood, saxophonist Peter Sommer, guitarist Dave Corbus, pianist Jeff Jenkins and drummer Paul Romaine ($12).
Among the highlights of the very successful Five Points Jazz Festival this past week, there were a series of piano duets in the Crossroads Theater. The event paired Jenkins with Eric Gunnison, Ellyn Rucker with Vlad (who has somehow managed to avoid the “Impaler” nickname) Girshevich, Purnell Steen with Hank Troy and Andy Weyl with David Harewood. This week the two-piano idea continues on Wednesday when keyboardists Ben Markley and Steve Denning join up at Dazzle at 7 p.m. to pay tribute to pianists Tommy Flanagan and Hank Jones. The Detroit-born Flanagan, of course, died in 2001 at the age of 71, while Jones, who was the founder of the modern school of Detroit pianists, passed away just recently – only a couple on months shy of his 92nd birthday. The pianist was the eldest of the musical Jones brothers (Thad died in 1986 and Elvin in 2004) and his passing provides an added touch of poignancy to the tribute ($10).
On the subject of dueling pianos, the keyboard madness at Dazzle continues on June 3 with Rucker and Girshevich, on June 4-5 with Jim McNeely joining Gunnison and the rest of the Convergence sextet and on June 6-7 when Art Lande and Fred Hersch team up on stage.
Needless to say, once we hit June, the festival season pick up added steam. In the month just ahead, there’s JazzFest Denver with saxophonist Bobby Watson and singer Karrin Allyson among others (June 12-13, jazzfestdenver.org), the Greeley Blues Jam with singer Shemika Copeland and the Fabulous Thunderbirds (June 12, greeleybluesjam.com) and Jazz Aspen Snowmass with singers Harry Connick Jr. and Natalie Cole (June 25-27 and July 3, jazzaspen.com). Also in June, you can let your inner flower come out when pianist Chick Corea brings his monster Freedom Band with saxophonist Kenny Garrett, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Roy Haynes to the Denver Botanic Gardens on June 14 for a show produced with Swallow Hill Music (concerts.botanicgardens.org).
McBride is also part of a major, 20th anniversary celebration at Jazz Aspen Snowmass that brings together the bassist, a big band, singers Dianne Reeves and Patti Austin, trumpeter Terence Blanchard, saxophonist Maceo Parker, trombonist Fred Wesley, guitarist Russell Malone and fellow bassist John Clayton. Oh what a night that should be.
Normanprovizer@aol.com
