City Park Summer Jazz Concerts Start Sunday

The 2016 season of City Park’s jazz concerts is kicking off June 5 with the eclectic, energetic band Eufórquestra. Its unusual name comes from combining the words euphoria and orchestra – and its music lives up to its name. As a Grateful Web review said of the group, “The boys seem to play like the apocalypse will happen at any second and they want to die doing what they love best…”

Eufórquestra’s performance is the first of 10 summer concerts at City Park. The summer series is a beloved city tradition dating back to 1986, but concerts at the park can be traced back more than 130 years. These days, close to 100,000 Denver music lovers of all ages and backgrounds take advantage of one or more of the concerts every summer. This year’s stellar line-up includes such well-known performers as Lannie Garrett, Hazel Miller, Otis Taylor, Imagine and Ritmo Jazz Latino. Check the full schedule at cityparkjazz.org.

Eufórquestra, which combines reggae, afrobeat and funk and soul with new sounds, has performed close to 1,000 concerts all over the world and collaborated with some of today’s jazz greats. Their fifth CD, FIRE, was produced by String Cheese Incident member Kyle Hollingsworth, who also performs on some of the 14 tracks. Eufórquestra’s members are Mike Tallman, guitar and vocals; Austin Zaletel, saxophone and vocals; Matt Wright, keys and vocals; Otis Lande, bass; Craig Babineau, drums; and Matt Bricker, trumpet.  Together, they consider themselves “musical chameleons.”

Like all the summer concerts, Eufórquestra’s performance will got from 6pm-8pm, rain or shine, and will take place at the bandstand near the Pavilion by Ferril Lake, close to the corner of Colorado Boulevard and 17th Street. There is free parking throughout the park and, should you choose to bicycle, even a bike squad to watch your bike while you enjoy the concerts.