A Happy Birthday USA List of Musical Fireworks | Norman Provizer’s Jazz Notes

Jazz Notes 7-2-2015 by Norman Provizer

   Before he climbed out of teenage years, New Orleans trumpeter Wynton Marsalis found his way to New York and joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1980. Though I never had a chance to hear the edition of the Messengers that had Wynton on trumpet and his older brother Branford Marsalis on saxophone live, I did, still in the early 1980s, hear the young trumpeter playing Marsalis on tour with a collection of giants, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams (also known as one of Miles Davis’ great rhythm sections).

   The amazing thing back then was just how well the young trumpeter sounded, never overshadowed by the giants who surrounded him. Given that performance it was not surprising that Marsalis would go on to become the first musician to walk away with Grammy awards in both the jazz and classical categories in a single night and the first jazz musician to win a Pulitzer Prize for composition. With that latter achievement, Marsalis helped bring belated though much deserved recognition to earlier and masterful jazz composers who never received a Pulitzer when they should have.

   Marsalis’ neo-classical, play-the-tradition approach to the music continually stirred up considerable controversy. But with or without controversy, the trumpeter hit a very high note with his successful efforts to establish a strong link, over the years, between jazz and Lincoln Center – a link that in 2004 led to the opening of Frederick Rose Hall near Columbus Circle in New York as the home of the Jazz at Lincoln Center program.

   This week, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra led by Marsalis makes several stops in Colorado, including a sold-out stop at the Denver Botanic Gardens, 1007 York, on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. (720-865-3501). The following night, Wednesday, Marsalis and his big-band friends are in Boulder at the Chautauqua Auditorium, 900 Baseline, at 9 p.m. (303-442-3282). Before making it to the metro Denver area, the 15-piece band also performs at the Breckenridge Music Festival in the Riverwalk Center at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday and at the Benedict Music Tent in Aspen on Monday at 8 p.m.

   The Lincoln Center aggregation has players such as bassist Carlos Henriquez, drummer Ali Jackson, trumpeter Marcus Printup and saxophonists Walter Blanding, Victor Goines, Sherman Irby and Ted Nash. It’s one top-shelf big band.

   Leading into the July 4^th holiday weekend, singers Bailey Grogan and Kaitlyn Williams are at Dazzle, 930 Lincoln, on Thursday at 7 p.m. with a trio that has Paul Shinn on piano (303-839-5100). Then, on Friday, drummer Paul Romaine brings a sextet to Dazzle that has a three-tenor-saxophone frontline made up of John Gunther, Greg Wahl and Kenyon Brenner.

   On Monday, Dazzle offers the fine pianist Art Lande on stage at 7 p.m. with a trio that has Tim Wendel on drums and includes the superb German-born bassist, Johannes Weidenmueller. After that, it’s guitarist Mike Hyland and a quartet at Dazzle on Tuesday at 7 p.m., followed by pianist Shinn and a trio also at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

   Over at Nocturne, 1330 27^th St., bassist Pat Casey and the New Sounds out of New Orleans are on stage at 7 p.m. on Thursday and 11:15 p.m. on Friday (303-295-3333). Pianist Shinn and his trio are at Nocturne’s on Fridays through the summer at 7 p.m., while trumpeter Pete Olstad does the same on Mondays. On Sunday, the City Park Jazz series continues with the soul groove of the Messers. The free, weekly event in City Park is at 6 p.m. Also on Sunday, the five-week run of the mega Broadway musical Wicked comes to end at the Buell Theater at the Denver Performing Arts Complex in case you want to discover what really was going on “over the rainbow” in the land of Oz (303-893-4100).  

   Last and certainly not least, the Vail Jazz series at Vail Square begins on Thursday at 6 p.m. with the Django Festival All Stars, a band whose name tells you what you need to know about its music.

Submissions and comments: Normanprovizer@aol.com