Splendid Events To Choose From As Autumn Begins | Norman Provizer’s Jazz Notes

Earlier this year, friends from Los Angeles visited town and brought me a little present – a CD from Los Angeles saxophonist Kamasi Washington who is appearing at the Boulder Theater, 2032 14^th St. in Boulder on Thursday night at 8 p.m. (303-786-7030). While I knew Washington’s name (he’s recorded with the Gerald Wilson Orchestra, Harvey Mason and Stanley Clarke), I really wasn’t all that familiar with his music. In that sense, the disc (actually a three-disc package titled The Epic that was released in May though recorded back in 2011) was a bit of a revelation.

Since that time, the tenor saxophonist’s three-disc set has garnered a good deal of attention, with a number of people noting that it just might be one of the major jazz releases of the year. Beyond it length, nearly three hours, The Epic is a massive effort by 34-year-old, Coltrane-influenced saxophonist with a large group augmented by a choir and a string section. The result is a musical tsunami that just sweeps you away with its power and spiritual might.

 The 17 tracks on the three-disc set stop at a number of different musical bases and it’s very easy to imagine how powerful a live performance of it would be. When Washington was still a student at UCLA, he hit the road with Snoop Dog and more recently he was involved with Kendrick Lamar’s CD To Pimp a Butterfly. In any case, it’s great to have Washington and a somewhat paired down travelling group here. You are going to keep hearing about The Epic. 

Speaking of something great, Henry Butler, one of the great professors of the New Orleans piano is in Denver on Wednesday for a benefit event for the Community College of Denver Foundation at Dazzle, 930 Lincoln, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. (303-839-5100). The event has food and drink, a silent auction and a trip to the Big Easy compliments of a great New Orleans player who Katrina swept into Colorado. Butler’s collaboration with trumpeter Steven Bernstein is a trip. And on his own, the pianist/singer completely fills a room with music in a way that few others can match.

Returning to the Boulder Theater, saxophonist Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe is on tap to add some funk to the mix at 9 p.m. on Friday, the night after Kamasi Washington brings his epic, musical journey to the stage there. Both of those shows, by the way, do have opening acts. Also on Friday, three, popular crossover saxophonists (Jeff Kashiwa, Steve Cole and Marcus Anderson) brings the Sax Pack to the Soiled Dove Underground, 7401 E. 1^st Ave. at 8 p.m. (303-830-9214).

Also at Dazzle this week, the Minor Key Trio offers some gypsy jazz blended with grass (as in bluegrass) and some Miles at 7p.m. on Thursday, followed by bassist Ken Walker’s sextet on Friday at 7 and 9 p.m. Then Dazzle goes Brazilian on Saturday with the Ginga quintet at 7 and 9 p.m. Come Sunday, after the Brazilian party is over, pianist Art Lande does a duo with multi-instrumentalist Paul McCandless at 7 p.m. at Dazzle. Lande is one of the players based here who has a well deserved national reputation, while many people will remember that McCandless was part of the Paul Winter Consort and a founding member of the group Oregon. The two have recorded together going back to an album released on ECM in 1981. On Monday, Lande and McCandless (who plays everything from French horn to oboe and bass clarinet) hook up with guitarist Khabu Doug Young. The trio appears at the Dairy Center for the Arts in Boulder, 2590 Walnut St., at 7:30 p.m. (303-440-7826). 

On Monday at 7 p.m., the strong H2 Big Band directed by pianist Dave Hanson and trumpeter Al Hood (who is also part of Ken Walker Sextet) is at Dazzle at 7 p.m. Student jazz ensembles from Metropolitan State University of Denver (under the overall direction of Ron Miles whose new group that knocked it out of the park this past week at Dazzle included a couple of students) are at Dazzle on Tuesday starting at 6 p.m.; and, after the Henry Butler CCD benefit on Wednesday ends at 8:30 p.m., pianist Annie Booth’s trio takes the stage at 9 p.m. 

 At Nocturne, 1330 27^th St., saxophonist Lynn Baker is up on Thursday at 7 p.m. with a quartet followed, at 11:15 p.m. by Late Night Vinyl with Erik Troe. On Friday, Nocturne’s late night sounds come from the Gonzalo Teppa-Stu MacAskle Duo starting at 11:15 p.m. And on Sunday, The Jazz for Jazz Lovers home concert series has pianist Jean Milofsky and a trio doing the songs of Harold Arlen at 4 p.m. (303-400-5288).

Last and certainly not least, Summit Jazz 2015 takes place this week from Friday through Sunday at the Crown Plaza Hotel, 15500 E. 40th Ave. The annual event covers trad and mainstream jazz sounds with a host of bands, including the Jim Cullum Jazz Band , Jeff Barnhart’s Summit Swing and the Summit All Stars with players on the order of drummer Butch Miles. For the details of the long-standing festival, you can go to summitjazz.org; and, for tickets, you can call 866-768-7444. 

Comments and submissions:   Normanprovizer@aol.com