The Spring Season of Live Jazz Music Has Sprung | Norman Provizer’s Jazz Notes

As the countdown to the relocation of Dazzle to the historic Baur’s Building at 15^th and Curtis continues, the stream of jazz flowing through the club at its Lincoln Street home remains something special with pianist Gerald Clayton’s trio, clarinetist Anat Cohen with Trio Brasileiro and pianist/singer Eliane Elias with her trio all on stage during the coming week. And to top it all off, Denver’s own Dianne Reeves is also on the list lending her voice to the Colorado Symphony at Boettcher Hall in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

Let’s start with the multi-Grammy® winner Reeves who is clearly one of the leading voices in the music. The singer, who grew up in Denver and still calls the Mile High City her home, is on the road much of the year and only rarely gets to perform here. After her visit to Boettcher, for example, Reeves is off to China, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The singer was with the Colorado Symphony a few years ago and her vocal mastery is nothing short of amazing. She, her group and the CSO play at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday (303-623-7876). When you think of the top group of jazz vocalists, Reeves is always there.  

Moving over to 930 Lincoln Street, pianist Clayton (the son of bassist John Clayton) has a mighty trio at Dazzle on Friday that features Joe Sanders on bass and Kendrick Scott on drums. (Scott, by the way, was at Dazzle not too long ago with his potent Oracle band.) Clayton’s new CD on Motema is Tributary Tales and he is a younger pianist with a strong keyboard voice. He is also on Reeves’ Beautiful Life CD. Clayton trio plays at 7 and 9 p.m. (303-839-5100).

Then, on Saturday and Sunday at Dazzle, the Israeli clarinetist Cohen, whose love of Brazilian music is reflected on two current discs (Rosa Dos Ventos and Outra Coisa) joins forces with Trio Brasileiro (which, the last time I looked, consists of Douglas Lora on guitar, Dudu Maia on mandolin and Alexandre Lora on percussion). The Cohen-Brasileiro combination is featured on Rosa Dos Ventos. A native of Tel Aviv, Cohen (who also plays saxophone) came to the US in 1996 to study at Boston’s Berklee College of Music released her first CD in 2005. Since that point, she has emerged as a modern clarinet master in several different contexts. Cohen plays at 7 and 9 p.m. on Saturday and 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. on Sunday.

The musical week ends on Wednesday with Eliane Elias and her trio. Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Elias came to New York in 1982 and, by 1983, she was recording with the super group Steps Ahead. By the end of 1980s, she was recording on the Blue Note label. The pianist/singer’s latest disc is Dance in Time on Concord. At Dazzle on Wednesday, she plays at 6 and 8 p.m. On May 18, she wraps up her two-night stay at Dazzle with sets at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. Her trio has Marc Johnson on bass and Rafael Barata on drums.

Additionally this week, trumpeter Dave Rajewski and his sextet celebrate the release of a new CD, Yesterday’s Tomorrows, on Thursday at Dazzle at 7 p.m. Also on Thursday, saxophonist Mark Fox, who is back from New York, has a quartet at La Cour, 1643 S. Broadway,with guitarist Felix Ayodele, bassist Troy Robey and drummer Tom Tilton. The music is at 7 and 8:45 p.m. (303-777-5000). On Saturday, La Cour has saxophonist Joe Anderies’ Joy Spring Quartet at 6 and 8 p.m. “Joy Spring” of course is a tune by Clifford Brown.

On Friday, guitarist Charles Gatschet, out of Kansas City, follows up a visit to Dazzle this past week with a stop at Nocturne, 1330 27^th St., on Friday for the late show that starts at 11 p.m. And speaking of Nocturne, the club is now on its “Spring Residency” schedule. That schedule has: the Mayhem Trio (with pianist Eric Gunnison, bassist Bijoux Barbosa and drummer Mike Marlier) on Tuesdays; the music of James Brown on Wednesdays; bassist Jean-Luc Davis on Thursdays; the sounds of modern country music from guitarist Steve Kovalcheck on Fridays; and the sounds of Prince, organ style on Saturdays. The music at Nocturne starts at 7 p.m. (303-292-3333). The Mayhem Trio will play live at KUVO’s Phyllis A. Greer Performance Studio, Monday, May 15th at 7p.

Up in Boulder at Caffe Sole, 637R S. Broadway, New York-based pianist Lenore Raphael along with guitarist Wayne Wilkinson leads a quartet at 7 p.m. on Saturday (303-499-2985). And on the school front, Dazzle has Green Mountain High School vocal chorus, Images and Shadows on Monday at 7 p.m. and the Center for Musical Arts Ensemble and Combo on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Next week, we’ll continue with the countdown to Dazzle at Baur’s and news of the annual Five Points Jazz event on May 20.

Submissions and comments: normanprovizer@aol.com