The Omega and Alpha Music Calendar | Norman Provizer’s Jazz Notes

This week we get to ring out the old and ring in the new. If you want to go out and celebrate in a jazzy vein, there are a number of options. At Dazzle, 1512 Curtis, you can get ready for 2018 accompanied by the blues with the Sammy Mayfield Band. Mayfield is on stage on Sunday, New Year’s Eve, at 6 and 9 p.m. and the 6 p.m. show is listed as sold out (303-839-5100).

At Nocturne, 1330 27^th St., on Sunday, there’s Bubbles and Bebop with the Royal Roost Revival group that has a frontline made up of saxophonists Wil Swindler and John Gunther. The two seatings for the club’s third New Year’s Gala are listed as sold out with some limited seating at the bar still available (303-295-3333). And at La Cour Jazz & Art Bar, 1643 S. Broadway, comes in on Sunday starting at 6 p.m. with Flat Out Jazz (303-777-5000).

Over at Jazz at Jack’s, 500 16^th St., New Year’s comes in with Dotsero starting at 8 p.m. (303-433-1000). At the Mercury Café, 2199 California, there are a variety of offering including the Gora Gora Orkestar in the Jungle Room at 10 p.m. (303-294-9258), while at Herb’s, 2057 Larimer, you can catch New Year’s Eve sounds at 9:30 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. (303-299-9555). Also, drummer Tony Black is “on stage” at El Chapultepec, 1962 Market, on Sunday, New Year’s Eve at 9 p.m. (303-295-9126). And up in Boulder, at Caffe Sole, 637R S. Broadway, there’s a pre-New Year’s Saturday event with Mary Russell and Rob Candler Year End Blues Extravaganza starting at 7 p.m. (303-499-2985).

Additionally, you can celebrate New Year’s earlier on Sunday with the final performance of the musical Waitress at the Buell Theater in the Denver Performing Arts Complex. There are a number of blockbusters at the Buell this season, including the Lincoln Center’s The King and I, Hamilton and the Book of Mormon. But Waitress, with a band on stage and songs from pop star Sara Bareilles, can hold its own with the heaviest of company. With its humorous approach to anything but humorous subjects, it’s a joy. It runs until a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday (303-893-4100).   

Beyond New Year’s, Dazzle has The Jobim Project from singer Julie Monley (with Wendy Fopeano, Kevin Lee, Victor Mestas, Bill McCrossin and Amy Shelley) on Thursday at 7 p.m. – a show that is listed as sold out. On Friday, Dazzle has the Ken Walker Sextet, a band always worth hearing, at 6:30 and 9 p.m. Then, on Saturday, Dazzle has double-header with trumpeter and singer Nate Birkey on at 6p.m. with Jeff Jenkins-piano, Ken Walker-bass and Paul Romaine-drums. Then, trumpeter Wes Watkins takes stage at 8:30 p.m. Birkey, by the way, is from here, growing up in Evergreen lived on the West Coast before taking his Chet Baker style to New York. Also, on Monday, New Year’s Day, Dazzle has brunch from 10 a.m. on with saxophonist Keith Oxman.

At Nocturne, trombonist Adam Bartczak’s MicroNation band with trumpeter Tom Gershwin and vibraphonist Greg Harris is on stage at 7 p.m. Trumpeter Derek Banach with saxophonist Oxman is at Nocturne on Friday at 7 p.m., followed by saxophonist Pete Lewis on Saturday and the Good Rattle Hardbop Quintet with saxophonist Swindler and trumpeter Gabriel Mervine on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

At La Cour, there’s guitarist Al Ferguson, singer Linda Theus-Lee and singer Terri Jo Jenkins on Thursday, Friday and Saturday respectively at 7 p.m. Singer Theus-Lee also appears on the 1^st and 3^rd Tuesday at Randall’s New Climax Lounge, 2217 Welton, with John Akal’s Ultraphonic Jazz Orchestra at 7 p.m. 

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