July May Be Ending, but Live Jazz Continues | Norman Provizer’s Jazz Notes

This week Evergreen is the place to be as the annual Evergreen Jazz Festival takes over town from Friday through Sunday in five venues. The bands from across the nation as well as Denver that are on stage tend to focus on sounds that go from traditional jazz to mid-mainstream sounds. Among the groups coming in are the Ellis Island Boys, Barnhart-Midiri Quartet, Brain Cloud, Ivory and Gold and the Carl Sonny Leyland Trio. Area-based groups joining include Queen City Jazz Band with Wendy Harston and the Joe Smith and the Spicy Pickles. The music begins at noon on Friday and the last group takes the stand at 5:15 p.m. on Sunday. You can find a full schedule and location information for the venues at evergreenjazz.org.

While there are no nationally touring artists at Dazzle at Baur’s, 1512 Curtis, during the upcoming seven days, there is certainly music worth considering. On Friday, for example, pianist Chuck Lamb’s Acoustic Fusion Quartet (talk about covering your bases) is at the club on Friday at 6 and 8:30 p.m. (303-839-5102). A co-founder of the early fusion band Dry Jack (that recorded on the Inner City label) pianist Lamb has spent more than a decade, and travelled the world, as part of the Brubeck Brothers Quartet and, in the process has received strong praise from the clan’s patriarch, Dave Brubeck. Saxophonist Joe Anderies, bassist Bijoux Barbosa and drummer Trevor Anderies make up the rest of the quartet.

Then on Sunday, guitarist Dale Bruning leads a quartet exploring “The Timeless Music of Cole Porter” with writer Jude Hibler providing commentary. Bruning is a top-notch player and many people have sung his praise, including his former guitar student Bill Frisell. Bruning has many fine recordings on the Jazz Link Enterprises label, including several with Frisell (jazzlinelenterprises.com). On Sunday at Dazzle, Bruning plays at 6 p.m. in the club’s Grand Gallery.

Also at Dazzle, vocalists Kaitlyn Williams and Julian Carey are on stage on Thursday at 7 p.m., the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra swings its way through the music associated with the world of Disney on Saturday at 6 p.m. and the En Garde Duo of vibraphonist Rocco Williams and pianist Eunha So (who is about to take off to New York in pursuit of a masters degree) plays in the club’s Grand Gallery at 6 p.m.  On Wednesday, Dazzle has the Odell Brewery’s beer and menu pairing plus pianist Adam Bodine’s trio at 6:30 p.m. And if you are looking for jazz a little later at night, Nocturne, 1330 27^th St., has 11 p.m. sets on Friday and Saturday after the regular 7-to-10:30 p.m. sound. On Friday, it’s bassist Mark Diamond and pianist Ellyn Rucker. On Saturday, it’s saxophonist John Gunther’s duo (303-295-3333).

Trumpeter Byron Stripling and singer Carmen Bradford continue touring Colorado with their “Ella and Louis” tribute. On Thursday at 6 p.m., they are at Vail Jazz at Vail Square at 6 p.m. (vailjazz.org). Then on Saturday and Sunday, they are at Jazz Aspen Snowmass’ JAS Café at the Aspen Cooking School 7 and 9:15 p.m. (jazz aspensnowmass.org). And on Sunday, City Park Jazz continues its free series in City Park at 6 p.m. with singer JoFoKe, daughter of Joe Keels, the celebrated Denver pianist.

Lastly, on the jam-band front, a number of players, including the solid saxophonist Dominic Lalli, who can play in straight jazz big bands as well as Big Gigantic, pay homage to Herbie Hancock at the Boulder Theater, 2032 14^th St. in Boulder on Friday (303-786-7030) and at Cervantes, 2637 Welton, on Saturday 9303-564-2676).

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