Denver Jazz Legend Purnell Steen Passes Away at 84
Denver native son, pianist, bandleader, and social justice advocate, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, November 18. He was 84. Born in Denver’s Mercy Hospital on July 15, 1941, Purnell grew up in a musical family, and from his adolescence, he decided to become a classical musician. Steen’s goal was detoured due to racism, being told a Black man can not become a classical pianist. His parents’ home served as a refuge for traveling musicians who couldn’t rent rooms in hotels in Denver during segregation. Purnell was born into an extended family of musicians; his cousins were the late Charles Burrell-the first African American to play bass in both the Colorado Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony, the talented keyboardist and producer George Duke, saxophonist and vocalist Eddie “Clean Head” Vinson, and the multi-Grammy® award-winning vocalist, Dianne Reeves. He was a graduate of East High School and attended UNC-Boulder.
As a teenager, Purnell bore witness to the Five Points district in its glory days when jazz clubs lined Welton Street. He was able to get into the clubs as a minor because of his cousin Charles. In the 1960s, he became an activist for social justice because of the racism he faced earlier in his life. He was a member of the NAACP National Youth Board and the Congress of Racial Equality. Steen spent time traveling throughout Europe in the 1970s before returning home to launch his career as a pianist and bandleader. When KUVO Jazz began transmitting in 1985, he immediately became an advocate for the station and, over the decades, performed with his band live numerous times, including the final show at KUVO’s former Phyllis A. Greer Studio in historic Five Points before the station relocated to its current location in the Ball Park Neighborhood of Denver. Purnell was frequently part of KUVO Jazz’s Membership Drives, sharing reasons why listeners should pledge their support for KUVO.
A lifelong lover of Five Points, he changed the name of his group from Purnell Steen and Le Jazz Machine (PSALM) to Purnell Steen and the Five Points Jazz Ambassadors as it better suited the advocacy of Five Points his band represented with their music. Purnell was a gifted storyteller sharing stories and anecdotes about the golden era of Five Points with the audience. Purnell played the first Five Points Jazz Festival in 2003 and several times over the years before the festival was shuttered in 2024. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Festival in 2009. In 2022, Purnell Steen and the Five Points Jazz Ambassadors traveled to Denver’s Sister City, Brest France to perform a concert in tribute to Five Points at Brest’s long-standing jazz club, Le Cabaret Vauban. Purnell graced the stages of all 3 Dazzle locations, and his final performance was at his monthly Friday Brunch Date at Dazzle on November 14th, the Friday before he passed.
Purnell Steen was a people person, a friend to all he met, he was a tireless promoter of Five Points and Denver jazz, he will be forever missed. His music and legacy will continue to be played on KUVO Jazz.
November 20 on The Morning Set, bassist Andrew Hudson, longtime friend and bandmate of Purnell Steen, joined Carlos Lando and Abi Clark along with Arturo Gomez to share memories and stories of the greatly missed Mr. Vitamin J, Purnell Steen.
As we remember Purnell Steen, take with you this poem and heartfelt dedication by Andy O, KUVO’s resident poet:
The Saint of Five Points
So now he becomes the angel he was on earth
Joyful countenance Afro Halo
Moustache smile like ivories
He was family
Players and listeners took his big heart songs
In like cousins
An Uncle Mentor mighty as a laugh
Storyteller on the piano
Griot on the street
Friend of the music
Friend of the town
He calls on you to be joyful
When you are feeling down
He is the Saint of Five Points
You can hear him in applause
You can hear him in clinking glasses
You can hear him in laughter
You can hear him in delight
He’s The Saint of Five Points
Rolling through the night.
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