Jazz News — Dazzle’s Donald Rossa; Suter DuBose finds new venue; Manhattan Transfer retires; Laufey

A couple of jazz venue owners are in the news this week…

The Colorado Business Committee for the Arts, located at the intersection of arts, business, and community-building, is out with its annual “Business for the Arts” awards. Congrats to Donald Rossa, owner of Dazzle for his U.S. Bank Cultural Leadership Award, which goes to alumni of the CBCA’s Leadership Arts program. Rossa was recognized for his pandemic-era food pantry for artists and live streaming platform.

Craig Hospital’s Dr. Jandel Allen-Davis and the Underground Music Showcase are among the other winners, all to be feted at a March 12 luncheon. The full list of awardees is posted at CBCA.org. (SOURCE: CBCA/Donald Rossa – Dazzle) Picture credit: Kevin J Beaty/Denverite

The Boulder jazz venue Caffe Solé closed at the end of 2022. Now, about a year later, owner Suter DuBose is back in the game, booking entertainment at Boulder’s bicycle tavern and espresso bar, The Tune Up, located inside a working bike shop, Full Cycle, on 30th Street near Pearl Parkway.

Coming up, the Rico Jones Sextet on December 23, and Hazel Miller on December 30th. Details at The Tune Up Bar. (SOURCE: The Tune Up Bar) Picture credit: Jack Sasson

After a 50-year career, Manhattan Transfer retired last Friday with a farewell concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Two original members Alan Paul and Janis Siegel; and Cheryl Bentyne, who have been with the group since the 70s, and decade-long member, Trist Curless say, it’s time, admitting to some grief in the process.

The show is reviewed at the Variety.com. (SOURCE: Variety/Manhattan Transfer) Picture credit: James Gavin/Variety

The hot, new thing in jazz-pop is the singer-songwriter Laufey (pronounced “LAY-VAY”). She performed a laid-back jazz-adjacent set last week on NPR’s “Tiny Desk,” accompanied by a string quartet.

The Icelandic-Chinese artist is classically trained, and she’s been on the move, as principal cellist with the Iceland Philharmonic, to Iceland Got Talent, to the Berklee College of Music, and now a record deal with Warner Brothers. Her latest album “Bewitched” (her second) is topping stream lists on Spotify, and Billboard magazine says Laufey is pushing jazz back into the mainstream. Her dance card is filling up, as she’s slated to appear at a couple of festivals in upstate New York, the Saratoga Jazz Festival and the Rochester Jazz Festival. (SOURCE: NPR/Faufey Tiny Desk)

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