Select Your Live Jazz Journey | Norman Provizer’s Jazz Notes

The 59^th edition of the Grammy Awards® is just a few weeks away. In the jazz category, the nominees for the vocal album of the year this time around are: Kurt Elling’s disc with Branford Marsalis; Gregory Porter’s Take Me to the Alley; Catherine Russell’s Harlem on My Mind; Tierney Sutton’s The Sting Variations; and René Marie’s Sound of Red. And if you were to look at last year’s list of nominees in the jazz vocal category, you would find Karrin Allyson’s Motema CD, Many a New Day.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Allyson will be in town at Dazzle, 930 Lincoln, with her trio that has Miro Sprague on piano, Jeff Johnson on bass and Todd Strait on drums. Over the years, Allyson, who covers a range of material, has received several Grammy nominations since she released the first of a dozen CDs on the Concord label in 1992. And as a special treat, you can get a taste of the singer’s style on Tuesday when KUVO has a live broadcast of her 6 p.m. set from the club on Lincoln. Once you get a taste, you just might want to be there to catch her live yourself, or be there to participate in the 6 p.m. broadcast itself. Allyson’s other sets are at 8 p.m. on Tuesday and at 6 and 8 p.m. on Wednesday (303-839-5100). She is among the top female jazz vocalists around.

In a rather different vein, saxophonist Gerald Albright is on stage at the Soiled Dove Underground, 7401 E. 1^st Ave., on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, the soulful, crossover saxophonist plays at 8 p.m.; while on Saturday, his sets are at 7 and 10 p.m. (303-366-0007). The last time I caught the L.A. born Albright, who settled in the Denver area in 2005, was at the 2010 edition of Earl Klugh’s Weekend of Jazz at the Broadmoor where Albright and fellow saxophonist Kurt Whalum did the Sax for Stax thing.

After college, Albright played with Patrice Rushen, drummer Alphonse Mouzon and folks like Phil Collins. He recorded a string of albums on Atlantic, followed by those on GRP. His latest outing is titled G (and like his previous recording, includes his daughter, the singer Selina Albright). Albright can play more than the crossover label attached to him as indicated, for example, by his disc Live at Birdland West with guests like Whalum and Eddie Harris.

Also on Saturday, you can venture to Brazil with Brazilian singer Michele Castro and her quartet that contains players such as Victor Mestas, Raoul Rossiter and Ian Brighton. Castro is at Baur’s Listening Lounge, 1512 Curtis St., at 8 p.m. (303-615-4000). Pianist Mestas and percussionist Rossiter are also part of the Boulder-based band Ginga and that sextet will be visiting the sounds of Brazil at Dazzle on Friday at 7 and 9 p.m.

Dazzle also has: singer Joslyn Ford-Keel (or JoFoKe) on stage on Thursday with a trio and backup singers starting at 7 p.m.; the Denver Jazz Orchestra on Monday at 7 p.m.; and the 4^th annual tribute to the music of Ennio Morricone on Saturday and Sunday. Morricone’s “spaghetti western’” soundtracks have taken on a life of their own and guitarist Dave Devine and company tackle them with aplomb. Devine, who, among many other things, has played and recorded with the great drummer Brian Blade has a large company on hand that includes the Devochka quartet, trumpeter Shane Endsley (of the noted band Kneebody), keyboardist Patrick Lee and vocalist Tania Katz. You can hear all The Good, the Bad and the Dazzle at 7 and 9 p.m. on Saturday and at 6 p.m. on Sunday. And it won’t even cost you “a fistful of dollars.”

Over at Nocturne, 1330 27^th St., Thursday has the Big Swing Trio with pianist Andy Weyl on Thursday, singer Teresa Carroll with Stu McAskie’s B-3 Band on Friday and Tom Gershwin’s sextet on Saturday. All of those and the other shows at Nocturne kick off at 7 p.m. (303-295-3333).

On a final award note: The 2015 Tony Award® winner for best musical, Fun Home, wraps up its visit to the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in the Denver Performing Arts Complex on Sunday (303-893-4100). The show’s narrative is sufficiently engaging that it could stand on its own without any added musical notes. And that’s something that is frequently anything but the case with Broadway musicals. It’s a serious outing, with some strong performances, and don’t b e misled by the word “fun” in the title.

Submissions and comments: normanprovizer@aol.com