The Final January Jazz Choices | Norman Provizer’s Jazz Notes

One of the ongoing bright spots on the Denver jazz scene continues to be the programs aimed at developing young players. The Colorado Conservatory for the Jazz Arts (CCJA) is clearly one such program and on Wednesday, the CCJA offers its small- group concert at Dazzle, 1512 Curtis, from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. (303-839-5100). The evening has nine groups, each named for the band’s mentor – trumpeters Shane Endsley, Gabe Mervine and Tom Gershwin, saxophonist Bob Rebholz, bassists Mark Simon and Bijoux Barbosa, pianist Jeff Jenkins, vibraphonist Greg Tanner Harris and trombonist Adam Bartczak.

Dazzle this week also has the return of guitarist Dave Devine’s “The Good, the Bad and the Devine” that celebrates the music of Ennio Morricone for Sergio Leone’s “spaghetti Westerns” such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and For a Few Dollars More. Devine, who teaches at MSU Denver and appears on drummer Brian Blades’s current CD (Body and Shadow on Blue Note), has a septet on hand to celebrate the Western Stock Show in proper style. The group with vocalist Tania Katz plays at 7 and 9:30 p.m. on Saturday and at 6 and 8:30 p.m. on Sunday.

Dazzle also has guitarist Ben Parrish’s “Quiet Streams” sextet on Thursday at 6:30 and 8 p.m., bassist Ken Walker’s sextet on Friday at 6:30 and 8 p.m. and drummer/percussionist Bill Hill’s Latin/Jazz Fusion septet on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Before the current month ends, German drummer Jochen Rueckert brings a quartet with superb players Walter Smith III on saxophone, Mike Moreno on guitar and Joe Martin on bass to Dazzle on January 31. Then the floodgates open for February. There’s saxophonist Joshua Redman’s quartet (with Aaron Parks, Reuben Rogers and Greg Hutchinson) on Feb. 2 at the Boulder Theater, pianist Chuchito Valdés with his trio at Dazzle on Feb. 4-5, saxophonist Ben Wendel’s Seasons Band (with Aaron Parks, Gilad Hekselman, Matt Brewer and Eric Harland) at Dazzle on Feb. 7, bassist Ben Allison’s Think Free group (with Shane Endsley, Steve Cardenas and Allan Mednard) at Dazzle on Feb. 15, trombonist Marshall Gilkes Trio (with Clarence Penn and Yasushi Nakamura) at Dazzle on Feb. 21, the monster Bad Plus (Reid Anderson, Dave King and Orrin Evans) at Dazzle on Feb. 23-24, singer Freddy Cole at Dazzle on Feb 25-26 and trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra on Feb. 26 at the Newman Center on the University of Denver campus.

Those groups are filled with outstanding sidemen and they make the short month of February a long month for music. Also, Feb. 10 is the Grammy® Awards on CBS (Channel 4 here in town) starting at 6 p.m. (MST). On the jazz side, it’s definitely worth noting that two of the five recordings in the jazz instrumental category have a Colorado connection. Aurora raised saxophonist Tia Fuller is a nominee in that category for her disc Diamond Cut and cornetist Ron Miles, who teaches at MSU Denver, is up as member of the co-operative quartet Still Dreaming for the group’s Still Dreaming CD. If you think of it as 40 percent of the Jazz Instrumental albums up for a Grammy have a Colorado connection, that’s pretty impressive to say the least. The Grammy show comes from the Staples Center in L.A. and the musical Rock of Ages is set in the era of 1980s Hollywood, heavy metal and all. That show is on its 10^th anniversary tour and that tour stops at the Buell Theater in the Denver Performing Arts Complex on Friday for a quick run that ends on Sunday (303-893-4100).  

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