What An Exciting Beginning To August | Norman Provizer’s Jazz Notes

    

One of saxophonist Kenny Garrett’s the most captivating tunes is Sing a Song of Song found on his 1997 disc Songbook. And this is going to be a great week for singing a song of song as vocalists Dianne Reeves, Diana Krall and Kevin Mahogany are all on stage over the next seven days.

Reeves and Mahogany both are, of course, part of the giant, 30^th anniversary celebration of KUVO at the Balistreri Vineyards, 1946 E. 66^th Ave. in Denver, on Saturday starting at 6 p.m. KUVO’s Live at the Vineyard event with food and drink accompanying the music is an annual fundraising activity for the station, but the 30^th anniversary adds a special twist to the event.

Though born in Detroit, Reeves is completely connected to Denver where she grew up with her family. Not too long after high school, the singer headed to Los Angeles, developing her vocal chops on stage with a number of folk, including Harry Belafonte.  At the start of the 1980s, she released her first album; and later in the decade, she became the first vocalist signed by the rejuvenated Blue Note label.  Reeves is clearly among the most significant, contemporary, jazz vocalists to emerge. The fact that she has captured five Grammy Awards for the best album by a female jazz vocalist (including an unprecedented string of three Grammy Awards for three straight albums) is but one indicator of that reality.

While Reeves is busy performing around the world, she rarely steps up to the stage in Denver. She will be at the KUVO event with pianist John Beasely (in place of Peter Martin), guitarist Romero Lubambo, bassist Reginald Veal and drummer Terreon Gully. Switching the male vocalist side, Kevin Mahogany is also part of the KUVO party along with the H2 Big Band. Born in 1958, two years after Reeves, Mahogany lives up to his birthplace, Kansas City, with his vocal style on stage along with his role in the Robert Altman film Kansas City. He can shout with his baritone chops, or cover Motown, or revisit Charles Mingus. The event at the Vineyard is essentially sold out, but you can check on any availability (303-446-7614). 

Mahogany’s released his first disc in 1993 on Enja, the same years singer Diana Krall (six years his junior) released her debut recording on Justin Time records. Born in British Columbia, the piano-playing singer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston and then moved to Los Angeles before returning to Canada. By the start of the 1990s, Krall (who married Elvis Costello) was in New York; and by the mid-90s, she began recording for Verve, hitting sales gold in the process.

She has received five Grammy Awards, two of them for best female vocal performance – and she is at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and guest Pink Martini (an eclectic, twelve-member band that got started in Portland just over 20 years ago). Krall may or may not be a Wallflower (to borrow the title of her newest release), but she is definitely among the most popular jazz vocalists on the scene (redrocksonline.com). As an aside, on Tuesday, the night before Krall’s performance, Red Rocks offers singer Idina Menzel who received a Grammy in 2004 for her role as Elphaba in the super-successful musical Wicked and who got everyone to “Let It Go” as the voice of Elsa the Snow Queen in Frozen. A reigning star of American musicals, Menzel will be back in town for two weeks starting October 13 as the star of the musical If/Then that launches its national tour here (303-893-4100). 

Another visitor to the area is pianist Lenore Raphael, who plays at Caffe Sole, 637R S. Broadway in Boulder, on Friday starting at 7 p.m. with guitarist Wayne Wilkinson (303-499-2965). Then the two move to Colorado Springs on Sunday for an appearance at The Mezz, 20 N. Tejon, starting at 6 p.m. Raphael is no stranger to these parts and that’s a good thing given that she is a first-rate player.

On a larger scale, the Denver Botanic Gardens has hung out the sold-out sign for trumpeter Chris Botti’s appearance on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Since 2004, Botti has emerged as the largest selling instrumental artist around. Educated in David Baker’s jazz program at Indiana University, Botti, an Oregon native, developed some jazz chops that he has consistently and successfully applied in a more pop-oriented direction. He left IU to travel with Frank Sinatra. Later, he would work with Sting and also spend a decade or so with Paul Simon, along with some time with Buddy Rich. He released his first, crossover-jazz disc in 1995; and a decade later, his lush, frequently romantic sound could be heard everywhere. Whatever label is placed on Botti, however, he has often filed his groups with notable jazz players on the order of pianist Billy Childs (concerts.botanicgardens.org). 

Returning to singers, the Co-motion duo of Bailey Grogan and Kaitlyn Williams are at Dazzle, 930 Lincoln, on Thursday at 7 p.m. supported by a trio with Paul Shinn on piano. (You can also find Shinn with his trio every Friday at 7 p.m. through August at Nocture, 1330 27^th St, 303-295-3333.) Friday also finds the Convergence sextet at Dazzle at 7 and 9 p.m., followed, on Saturday, by saxophonist Jim Stranahan’s Little Big Band unleashing two drummer at 7 and 9 p.m., the saxophonist’s son Colin Stranahan and Paul Romaine. The younger Stranahan is an up-and-coming drummer on the national scene and Romaine helped prepare him for that role (303-839-5100). Along with Romaine, Eric Gunnison, John Gunther and Greg Gisbert are all members of Convergence and they are on stage as part of the Little Big Band as well.

On Sunday, singer Ed Battle, a Denver institution, does the brunch at Dazzle that runs from 10:30 a.m. into the early afternoon. Later on Sunday, at 7 p.m., saxophonist Peter Sommer has a quintet at Dazzle with Ron Miles on cornet. Then on Monday, singer Heidi Schmidt is at Dazzle also at 7 p.m. Schmidt has spent a lot of time in Europe, including three years in Romania where she recorded three discs. Now back in Denver, she is singing and with the Colorado Jazz Repertory Orchestra (that will be appearing at the Arvada Center on August 13) and sharing the stage at Dazzle with the Convergence rhythm section (Mark Simon, Gunnison and Romaine).   

On Tuesday, trumpeter Jason Klobnak brings a quintet to Dazzle at 7 p.m. to celebrate his new CD, New Chapter, while, on Wednesday, the Center for Musical Arts Ensemble and Combo is at Dazzle also at 7 p.m. And on Sunday, bluesman Sam Mayfield closes down this year’s edition of City Park Jazz starting at 6 p.m. 

Last and definitely not least, there are two final items. On Thursday, the “Vail Jazz at Vail Square” summer series leading into the Vail Jazz Festival offers the potent pianist Hiromi with her Trio Project (drummer Steve Smith and bassist Anthony Jackson) at 6 p.m. (vailjazz.org). Then, on Friday at 8 p.m., the AdZel clarinet duo is at Baur’s Listening Lounge, 1512 Curtis, at 8 p.m. (baursmagic.com). The duo is Mariam Adams of the Imani Winds and Stephanie Zelnick. Though the duo is not a group that would be filed under jazz, it is worth noting that the Imani Winds is no stranger to jazz. The Winds, for example, can be found on Wayne Shorter’s Without a Net CD; and in 2007, it released a disc called Josephine Baker: A Life of le Jazz Hot that featured vocals from a singer we all know – Rene Marie.

Comments and submissions: Normanprovizer@aol.com