Hot-Fun Music In the Summertime | Norman Provizer’s Jazz Notes

On Thursday, the Bad Plus boys (pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson and drummer David King) wrap up the trio’s two-night stand at Dazzle, 930 Lincoln. Not surprisingly, the trio’s return visit to Dazzle (after a stop at Boulder’s Chautauqua Auditorium) is a sold-out affair. The chance to hear the big sound of the Bad Plus in a club environment is one that is hard to resist. It’s definitely worth taking a shot to see if a spot opens up for either the set at 7 or 9 p.m. (303-839-5100).

To their credit, the Bad boys have never avoided stepping into somewhat different territory. In 2014, the trio took on Stravinsky’s in The Rite of Spring; and the following year, the Plus recorded (and is still touring extensively with) saxophonist Joshua Redman. Another of the trio’s undertakings has been to revisit the music from Ornette Coleman’s 1972 album Science Fiction with an expanded aggregation that includes saxophonists Tim Bern and Sam Newsome and trumpeter/cornetist Ron Miles. Along with heading the Jazz and American Music Program at Metro State University Denver, Miles is a very special player whose talents are widely recognized. The Plus’ Science Fiction project is scheduled for the Newport Jazz Festival in July and the Chicago Jazz Festival over Labor Day.

As soon as the Bad Plus leaves Dazzle, drummer Scott Amendola brings his quartet into the club on Lincoln. Amendola is on stage on Friday and Saturday at 7 and 9 p.m. with a strong group, with roots that go back to 1998, in tow. The band has Nels Cline on guitar, Jenny Scheinman on violin and John Shifflett on bass. An influential player in the Bay Area scene, Amendola can groove as well as push the envelope – and has recorded a number of discs under his own name and on albums by Cline and Charlie Hunter. Also, in 2010, Amendola was part of the CD Go Home that also featured Miles, Ben Goldberg and Hunter. Goldberg, from Denver, has clearly emerged as a top-shelf clarinetist. In fact, if you look at the 64^th annual “Critics Poll” in the current issue of DownBeat, you will discover that there’s a Denver connection with two of the top five clarinetists listed who are more than rising stars, Goldberg (at number five) and Don Byron (at number three). Goldberg is from here while Byron moved to town from New York to teach in Metro’s Jazz and American Music Program. That same survey of 142 critics also had Pat Bianchi, who spent a number of years here, in the top slot among rising-star organ players.

The fascinating thing is that this makes six years in a row that players with a significant connection to the Denver area have captured the top rising-star slot on their instruments. Before Bianchi in 2016, it was trumpeter Kirk Knuffke in 2015; and the prior year, it was drummer Rudy Royston. In 2013, Tia Fuller captured the top rising-star spot on soprano, adding to her 2012 wins in the alto and flute categories. In 2012, it was Ben Goldberg at the top of the list of rising-star clarinetists. The year before that, Rene Marie did the same among rising-star female vocalists. And it’s rather likely that the string isn’t over yet.

Returning to the sounds, the Winter Park Jazz Festival takes place on Saturday and Sunday in the town’s Hideaway Park. The music each day runs from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. Among the performers on Saturday, there’s the Isley Brothers, Kirk Whalum and the Masters of Fusion (Alex Bugnon, Gerald Veasley and Chieli Minucci). For Sunday, the lineup includes Anthony (not Alexander) Hamilton, Jonathan Butler and Gerald Albright (888-409-5974 or playwinterpark.com). Also this week, the Longmont Jazz Festival takes place on Saturday from 11 a.m. until 7:15 p.m. in Longmont’s Roosevelt Park. The 18^th edition of Longmont fest offers pianist Annie Booth, saxophonist/singer Max Wagner, Eric Trujillo’s Mambotet, the Summit Hot 7 and Joe Smith’s Spicy Pickles.   

Also on Saturday, the propulsive sound of saxophonist Kamasi Washington is at Red Rocks on Saturday as the opening act for the String Cheese Incident.  (Saturday is only night Washington is on the bill.) Though a longtime participant in the Los Angeles scene, Washington virtually exploded as a national figure with the release of his three-disc musical missive The Epic. That massive effort was named the album of the year in the recent DownBeat “Critics Poll.” The show at the Rocks starts at 6:30 p.m. (redrocksonline.com).  Another Saturday event is the Gift of Jazz Collective serving up the first of three, free jazz events at the Galleria in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts from 3 until 5 p.m. The other Galleria jazz days are July 23 and 30.     

On Sunday at 6 p.m., the City Park Jazz series continues with singer Selina Albright. Selina, the daughter of saxophonist Gerald Albright (who will be at Winter Park) has built a strong reputation as soulful jazz singer with a clear crossover connection. And it has certainly been a good year for singers at this year’s City Park Jazz affair. 

At Jazz at Vail Square on Thursday, guitarist/singer John Pizzarelli holds forth at 6 p.m. On Wednesday, trumpeter/singer Bria Skonberg is at the Vail Jazz club series at the Mountain Plaza Lounge before she does Jazz at Vail Square on July 21. And returning to the start of the musical week on Thursday, the 10-piece Latin-focused group Los Bohemios is part of the “Summer Concert Series” at Louisville Community Park, 955 Bella Vista Dr., starting at 7 p.m.   

Submissions and comments: Normanprovizer@aol.com