Live Performances in the clubs and on the radio|Norman Provizer’s Jazz Notes

February is still a month short on days. But this time around, it’s also a month very long on music. On Saturday, that amazing month of music gets going when drummer Kenwood Dennard joins forces with saxophonist Joe Anderies at Dazzle, 930 Lincoln, at 7 and 9 p.m. This is not Dennard’s first trip to town to perform with Anderies and it shouldn’t be the last (303-839-5100).

Born in 1956, the drummer ventured from New York to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music. He graduated in 1976 and began working with players such as guitarist Pat Martino (who, by the way, will be at Mount Vernon Country Club in Golden on February 25 with his trio that has Pat Bianchi on organ) and bassist Jaco Pastorius. A powerhouse player, Dennard would also work with Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, Gil Evans, Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis (with Quincy Jones at Montreux) and even Denver’s Dianne Reeves. And on the pop side, Dennard could be found in the company of folks from George Clinton to Whitney Houston and Sting.  Since 1999, he also been teaching at Berklee where he is now a professor.

At Dazzle, his collaboration with Anderies also includes Bijoux Barbosa on bass and Chuck Lamb on piano. Lamb, who is connected to Colorado, has been the pianist with the Brubeck Brothers (that’s Chris and Dan) band for more than a decade.

On the subject of the piano, in 1962 the great pianist Bill Evans joined forces with the great guitarist Jim Hall to produce the album Undercurrent. Four years later, that duo would produce a second album titled Intermodulation. That collaboration is celebrated on Tuesday when pianist Eric Gunnison and guitarist Mike Abbott are on stage at Dazzle at 7 p.m. Gunnison, who spent many years with Carmen McRae and more recently has worked with singer Roberta Gambarini and the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band and Sextet, is a top shelf player. Abbot has also performed with a number of people from Chie Imaizumi’s Jazz Orchestra to pianist Marc Copland, who will just happen to be at Dazzle on February 11 as part of bassist Gary Peacock’s Trio.   

Gunnison is also a member of the sextet Convergence that is at Dazzle on Friday at 7 and 9 p.m., the night after trombonist Adam Bartczak is at the club starting at 7 p.m. with his group. The trombonist’s quintet on Thursday has Dru Heller on drums Heller will also be at Dazzle on Wednesday at 7 p.m. with his own quintet that has Art Lande on piano. Additionally the drummer holds down the stage at Nocturne, 1330 27^th St., on Tuesday nights at 7 p.m. during the club’s Winter Residence Series (303-295-3333).

Saturday also finds the sextet co-led by trumpeter Bob Montgomery, trombonist Al Hermann and saxophonist Josh Quinlan at Crown Social, 1446 S. Broadway at 8:30 p.m. (720-353-4701); while on Thursday, No Bird Ever Few, with Larry Worster, jumps some boundaries at the Caffe Sole, 637R S. Broadway in Boulder, at 7 p.m. (303-499-2985). And in the KUVO studio, there’s live music broadcast on Saturday at 2 p.m. with the U.S. Air Force Academy Falconaires Ensemble and on Tuesday at 1 p.m. with Gumbo Le Funque (it is Mardi Gras after all) and at 7 p.m. with the Lamont Jazz Orchestra directed by Steve Wiest.  

I mentioned that Gary Peacock’s Trio is at Dazzle next week on February 11. Also at the club next week is clarinetist Don Byron’ Ivey-Divey with Jeff ‘Tain” Watts and Edwatd Simon on February 12-13 and pianist Aaron Goldberg’s trio on February 17. That’s a week with three major groups on tap.

Comments and submissions: Normanprovizer@aol.com