Live & Local: Dazzle's Booking Director, Nick Moulds

Transcript

Nick Moulds: So we just released a pretty large amount of shows. The first one is at the end of August and it is a KUVO 40th anniversary celebration with Randy Brecker playing with Electric Giz as well as the Ken Walker Sextet.

Steve Chavis: That's on our birthday, August 29th.

Abi Clark: Birthday party!

Nick: That's it! And that's the first one really. And then in September we just announced Grant Green Jr. With Adam Deitch. Grant Green Jr., of course, is the son of the legendary guitarist, Grant Green.

Steve: He's picked up a few things!

Nick: Yeah, I think so. I think so. That's going to be really exciting. Of course. We always enjoy having Adam come through. Adam plays with Lettuce among a lot of other really cool projects. We have just a lot of great shows in September. After that we have (the) Goldings/Bernstein/Stewart (Organ) Trio, we have Jazzmeia (Horn), and Fareed Haque is coming through. So, some good ones there. And then another one we just announced in October. We've got Theo Croker coming through. I was telling you guys I've wanted to book Theo since I started. He's really emerged as an exciting voice on the trumpet, a really modern voice. And he brings in a lot of modern elements into his music, but he still really speaks through the trumpet in that kind of abstract jazz way that we all love. So very futuristic. If you're really interested in the new sound and the modern movement, I can't recommend Theo Croker enough. I mean, I'm really excited for that one.

Steve: The kids will dig it, and the grown folks will understand.

Carlos Lando: And by the way, Theo Croker right now is just starting to get that global recognition. I mean, he's paid his dues. If you look at some of the major jazz festivals across the country and in Europe and so forth, Theo is... I mean he's a busy young man!

Nick: He's really been making his way around the world the last couple of years. And then I just wanted to mention too, we have some great Latin shows coming through. We have Nestor Torres also coming through in November, we just announced Alfredo Rodriguez and Pedrito Martinez.

Carlos: Wow!

Nick: That's a really interesting one because Alfredo has this very classical background where as Pedrito has kind of the more folkloric traditions of percussion and Cuban percussion. And so when they play together, it's just this really beautiful merging of these two worlds. And then the other one that Abi and I were talking about, Hamilton De Holanda..

Abi: Oh my God..

Nick: ..From Brazil that, I mean, I just can't recommend it enough. Hamilton plays what is essentially a mandolin, I think it's a 10 string mandolin and is just an absolute master of this instrument. And he plays in the Choro tradition, so like Northeastern Brazil, so very countrapuntal melodies that are just very virtuosic. And the interplay with the trio together is just a really incredible sound and thing to watch. That's in January, so mark your calendars for that.

Steve: Wow. You have really worked hard to get way out in front. And it helps us who we're trying to plan and budget and figure this thing out. But Dazzle is still on the map, man. This little club in Denver jumped up on the map, got some national recognition, and right now it's about keeping the flame alive and I think bringing in these new jazz audiences, people who are discovering this music in a different way, you get some younger players and do some interesting things, not just all, “it must be jazz. You must be quiet, drink your drink and clap after the solo!”

Nick: And I am really happy to do that, to bring in these different varieties and different angles of jazz. Because you think about how we have a group like Something Else, which is a somewhat larger format, and it really is a very traditional kind of what we call straight ahead jazz sound. But then you have something like Dave Weckl and Oz Noy, who is like, I mean, that's almost going to feel like a rock show in a way. And then to artists like Makaya and Theo who are really doing these just really new and exciting things. So it's really fun and it's really exciting and it's really cool to bring that to our little city here.

Abi: You guys are doing something really special at Dazzle. I mean, I've seen a fair amount of shows in your club and it's just a place where people who love music get to meet the artists a lot of the time and really just gush out about the creative process that we see on the stage every day.

Nick: Yeah, I appreciate you saying that. And it is cool, and I think it's like, I always really enjoy when the artist comes out and does those little meet and greets and signs autographs because the jazz community is a small one, but it's a really enthusiastic one. And so seeing that connection between artist and fan and the fan being able to express what the music means to them, and then the artist being able to feel that appreciation and say, okay, this is worth it. Because it's got to be hard being on the road all the time. And especially in the jazz world, which is a very niche genre. It's not one of the mainstream genres. So it is really cool to see, and it's special to watch that connection happen in our little club.

Steve: Someone said the most authentic expression of jazz is the jazz club, and it's that interaction between the audience and the players. You can see the players interacting with each other. That's what happens at the club.

Carlos: Yeah, that's true. And you can watch the people in the club too. That's in itself as a show sometimes, right?

Abi: People get into it!

Nick: Truly!

Carlos: That's like, whoa, man, dance like nobody's watching.