Steve Chavis

Boulder jazz fans have organized a jazz education event for June 2015 called the “Jump for Jazz Festival.”  Boulder’s "Jazz Gossip" Miriam Paisner sat down with “First Take with Lando and Chavis” to describe the community outreach.

“I have wanted to know for sure (about the making of jazz music) since about ten years ago when I went to the Boulder Jazz Jams at the Broker Inn and Brad Goode was leading," said Paisner, who sends out weekly jazz listings to hundreds of people via an e-mail list.

Proceeds from NEA Jazz Master Paquito D'Rivera's concert at Mount Vernon Country Club this week will benefit Damas de Blanco, the "Ladies in White" who have worn white to Sunday Mass in Havana and around Cuba since an incident of mass arrests in 2003.  To explain this quiet protest movement, Dr. Orlando Gutierrez Boronat from the Cuban Democratic Directorate based in Miami joined "First Take with Lando and Chavis."

The 3rd annual Local Food Summit is March 2-3 in Denver.  Mickki Langston, executive director of the Mile High Business Alliance, visited "First Take with Lando and Chavis to describe the growing momentum behind the local food movement.

"The intention is to help build relationships between people who are working inside the food economy all the time," said Langston.  "Food is the foundation of our community, and it's delicious!"

In light of his new television series, "Chef Driven," chef  and restaurant owner Frank Bonanno visited "First Take with Lando and Chavis" to talk about public TV and food artistry.

"I really wanted to showcase what Denver has to offer,” said Bonanno. “...We are as good a beer town and wine town as any city the country.” This Saturday at 1:30 p.m. on Rocky Mountain PBS, the next episode of "Chef Driven" covers  soul food in Denver (Feb. 21). Previous episodes have focused on beer, burgers, and bread. 

In the spirit of Presidents Day, celebrating the premier position in American politics, we took a First Take trip through White House history to discover the moments over the last 50 years when 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. became the hottest jazz joint in town.

Intern Cynthia Howard was busy at the KUVO research desk digging up fun facts and little-known tidbits about jazz in the White House, and she shared her discoveries with us on the air this morning. Who knew Dick Nixon hosted Duke Ellington’s 70th birthday party??

Click above to hear our conversation. 

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