This Week Is Stuffed With Tasty Jazz Events | Norman Provizer’s Jazz Notes

The Turtle Island String Quartet (now known as the Turtle Island Quartet) emerged in the Bay Area in the mid-1980s with a unique jazz twist to the traditional chamber music foursome. On Friday, the Turtles (with founding member David Balakrishnan on violin, Malcolm Parson on cello, Benjamin von Gutzeit on viola and Gabriel Terricciano on violin) are in Denver as part of the Newman Center’s impressive 2018-2019 jazz series. For this tour, the quartet once again joins forces with pianist Cyrus Chestnut, an addition that just adds points to use of the word jazz to describe the group.

Chestnut, who has a new trio CD on the HighNote/Savant label titled Kaliedoscope, is a potent player who can cover the full spectrum of the music with a Baltimore gospel tinge and can also deliver strong jazz reworkings of classical sounds from Mozart, Debussy and Satie. Over the years, Turtle Island has snagged a couple of Grammys on the contemporary classical category, including one for the group’s venture into John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme land. The quartet’s current CD Bird’s Eye View revisits the sounds of Charlie Parker.

This should be an engaging follow up to the Pat Metheny show (that included an amazing duet by the guitarist and bassist Linda May Han Oh) which launched the current series at the Newman Center, 2344 E. Iliff on the University of Denver campus. The Turtles plus one take the stage on Friday at 7:30 p.m. 303-871-7720).

On Thursday, the week in music gets going with pianist Larry Fuller and his trio (George DeLancey on bass and Jason Tiemann on drums) making their way to Dazzle, 1512 Curtis) for sets at 6:30 and 9 p.m. (303-839-5100). Fuller established a name for himself during an early stay with singer Ernestine Anderson. After that, Fuller move to he piano chair in the trio led by drummer Jeff Hamilton. Then, Fuller hooked up with bassist Ray Brown’s trio before lending some notes to guitarist/singer John Pizzarelli’s group.  Since 2013, Fuller has been laying down his hard driving sound with his own trio. 

This takes us to Tuesday and singer/pianist Karrin Allyson who will be at Dazzle with her band (Rod Freeman, Jeff Johnson and Christian Euman) at 6:30 and 9 p.m. Allyson began recording on the Concord label in 1992 and produced a string of discs on that label. Her latest CD is Some of That Sunshine. Allyson is among the top ranks when it comes to vocalists on the scene. And she moves us toward the end of the week in music in Kansas City style. 

Along with the visitors to town, there is also a CD release celebration on Saturday at Dazzle that is definitely worth noting. Guitarist Mike Abbott and pianist Eric Gunnison are two notable area-based players and they have teamed up for a duo recording. Gunnison as everyone in these parts knows spent a number of years working with the great singer Carmen McRae and, more recently, has performed with singer Roberta Gambarini and the Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band.

On top of all this, remember that music is alive and well on a regular basis at Nocturne Jazz and Supper Club, 1330 27^th St., RiNO,  La Cour Art bar and Jazz Bistro, 1643 S. Broadway and Caffé Sole, 637R S. Broadway in Boulder. And on a final note, the musical Come From Away continues its run at the Buell Theater in the Denver Performing Arts Complex through Nov. 25. You may not have heard too much about the 90-minute outing revolving around the movement of 38 flights to Gander Newfoundland in the wake of September 11, 2001, but it is an extremely rewarding that is almost guaranteed to capture your emotions through both sadness and the celebration of the best the human spirit has to offer. Strong music, outstanding performances and a story that truly connects with people puts this musical on the A list. (303-893-4100).

This Monday like every Monday, Brad Goode leads the best open jam session along the Front Range at the Muse Performance Space in Lafayette from 7 til 10pm.

Comments and submissions: normanprovizer@aol.com