August’s Amazing Concerts Continue | Norman Provizer’s Jazz Notes

By now, listeners to KUVO are well aware that the station’s signature fundraiser, Live at the Vineyards, takes place on Saturday at Balistreri Vineyards, 1946 E. 66th Ave. in Denver. There’s food and drink along with the music; but since I know nothing about food and drink, I’ll just stick to the sounds. This year the music comes from pianist Monty Alexander’s Harlem-Kingston Express, a group that combines a jazz group and a reggae band all in one unit. 

 

Born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1944, Monty (or, if you want to be official, Montgomery Bernard Alexander) is no stranger either to reggae or jazz. In 1961, he left the island for Miami where he impressed Jilly Rizzo, a lounge and restaurant owner who was a close friend of Frank Sinatra. Rizzo brought Alexander to New York where the man from Kingston worked with jazz guitarist and flautist Les Spann  and recorded his first albums as a leader in the mid-1960s. Then, after playing with Milt Jackson and Ray Brown, Alexander launched his own trio in 1976. That band contained great musicians, including, for a period, guitarist Emily Remler to whom the pianist was married from 1982 to 1985. (The extremely talented Remler would die in 1990 at the age of only 32.) 

 

The pianist’s first (and live) Harlem-Kingston Express CD came out in 2011, followed by a second volume titled The River Rolls On in 2014. If you want to have some very serious fun (to borrow the terminology of trumpeter Lester Bowie), this is a perfect group. The event at Balistreri essentially gets rolling at 6:30 p.m. (303-620-5794). 

 

Earlier this summer, Alexander was part of the Vail Jazz at Vail Square series with bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton – the trio the pianist first led 40 years ago. This Thursday, that Vail Jazz series offers up singer Cecile McLorin Salvant in the tent at Lionshead at 6:00 p.m. Since winning the Thelonious Monk vocal competition in 2010, Salvant has exploded on the scene. Her first U.S. disc, WomanChild, came out in 2013; and in the 2014 DownBeat “Critics Poll,” it won album of the year. She was also named the rising-star jazz artist of the year, the rising-star female vocalist and, rather amazingly, the top female vocalist overall (a position she has maintained in the 2015 and 2016 “Critics Poll” as well). For additional information, you can go to vailjazz.org. And remember the Labor Day Vail Jazz Party will be here before you know it. That solidly jazz affair takes place in Vail Square during the afternoons and in the Vail Marriott Mountain Resort at night. 

 

Also on Thursday, the saxophone duo of Dave Koz and David Sanborn wrap up its two-night, Side by Side stay at the Soiled Dove Underground, 7401E. 1st Ave., with sets at 7 and 10 p.m. (303-366-0007). There are few saxophonists who have exerted more influence on other players than has Sanborn and the popular Koz even has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

 

Another singer, Michelle Lordi from Philly is also in town on Thursday. She has received a good deal of attention after the release of her CD titled Drive and is at Dazzle, 930 Lincoln, at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. (303-839-5100). On Friday, the Colorado Jazz Repertory Orchestra swings through big-band sounds at the Arvada Center amphitheater, 6901 Wadsworth in Arvada at 7:30 p.m. (720-898-7200). Then, back at Dazzle on Friday at 7 and 9 p.m., the Unity Group (Josh Quinlan, Greg Gisbert, Jeff Jenkins and Jim White) revisit the music contained on the great Hammond B-3 player Larry Young’s Blue Note album Unity (with Woody Shaw, Joe Henderson and Elvin Jones) that was recorded in late 1965. Young (a.k.a. Khalid Yasin) frequently played with a trio that had Jones on drums and Grant Green on guitar. And on Saturday, guitarist Steve Kovalcheck’s group explores the music of Green at Nocturne, 1330 27th St., starting at 7 p.m. (303-295-3333). After 11 p.m. on Saturday, trumpeter Gisbert is at Nocturne for a late night set in a duo context.  

 

Another group, the Gratitude Five, organized by trumpeter Gabriel Mervine and saxophonist Daryl Gott, does the music of “Cannonball” Adderley at Dazzle on Tuesday, while singer Myra Warren celebrates the release of her new CD at on Wednesday at Dazzle with the Bobby Greene Trio. Both of those performances are at 7 p.m. Also at Dazzle: there’s soul singer Sister Soul on stage on Saturday at 7 and 9 p.m.; young saxophonist Rico Jones is there on Sunday with a quintet that has Gisbert on trumpet at 6 p.m.; and singer Kaitlyn “KDUBBS” Williams, who is still a student at Indiana University, is at the club on Monday at 7 p.m.  

 

Down in Colorado Springs, the Neil Bridge 7 with singer Karen Lee is at the Pikes Peak Jazz and Swing Society’s Sunday concert at the Olympian Reception and Event Center, 975 S. Union Blvd. starting at 1 p.m. And next week, there’s a chance to hear saxophonist John Gunther record with the Carpe Diem String Quartet at Mighty Fine Productions on Aug. 18. Reserve a spot at giftofjazz.org. The 18th is also the first night of singer Roberta Gambarini’s three-night stay at Dazzle; while on the 19th, guitar magician Stanley Jordan is at the Oriental Theater 

 

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