Purnell Steen and Friends at DazzleJazz | 1st and 3rd Fridays

Join Purnell Steen and Friends for DazzleJazz’s Friday Lunch Club!

Steen will lead a jam every first and third Friday, from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM. Dazzle’s three course lunch special is just $10. There is no cover charge, but reservations are highly recommended. Call 303-839-5100 to reserve your spot. 

Denver has always had a thriving jazz community, and between the 1920s and 1950s, the Five Points neighborhood was the heart of the scene. Known as the “Harlem of the West” at its peak, Five Points had more than fifty bars and clubs, and played host to all the greats, including Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis.

Local players also kept things cooking, and soon enough the Five Points sound emerged, a brand of jazz characterized by red-hot swing and boundless joie de vivre.

Thankfully the Five Points sound is still alive today, and the main keeper of the flame is pianist Purnell Steen and his group Le Jazz Machine. Now in his early seventies, Steen is a consummate performer who has a legion of devoted fans in his native Denver.

Steen is also part of a musical dynasty, with relatives including vocalist Dianne Reeves, pianist George Duke, saxophonist Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, and bassist Charlie Burrell. 

https://youtu.be/6dPG0WDeMBM

Copyright 2019 KUVO . To see more, visit KUVO .