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JAZZ: Blue Note septet tour stops in Colorado
Published January 15, 2009 at 7 p.m.
On Jan. 6, 1939, Alfred Lion brought boogie-woogie pianists Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis to a rented studio in New York. With that small-scale recording session, the famed jazz label Blue Note was born.
This year, the label is celebrating its 70th anniversary in style with a number of special Blue Note events and a four-month, 51-city tour by a septet that has Bill Charlap on piano, Peter Bernstein on guitar, Ravi Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Nicholas Payton on trumpet, Steve Wilson on alto saxophone, Peter Washington on bass and Lewis Nash on drums.
The impressive aggregation appears at the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek tonight and at the Boulder Theater Saturday.
In line with the tour, the anniversary all-stars have a new CD out titled Mosaic: A Celebration of Blue Note Records. Mosaic is the Cedar Walton tune recorded by Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers on Blue Note back in 1961.
In the days when Blue Note was shaped by Lion and Francis Wolff, the label released all of two vocal albums, one by Sheila Jordan and the other by Dodo Greene. The revived Blue Note has followed a different path, and Denver-raised singer Dianne Reeves was among the first artists signed.
But the anniversary band remains an instrumental affair.
Today's performance at the Vilar Center is at 7:30 p.m. ($50, 888-920-2787). The mighty anniversary band hits the stage at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. ($30-$37.50, 303-293-0075). To learn more about the Blue Note label, check out Richard Cook's 2004 paperback Blue Note Records: The Biography (originally published in 2001).
ALSO ON TAP: Tonight the Matt Skellenger Quartet throws a CD release party at Dazzle, 930 Lincoln St. Electric bassist Skellenger's CD is on the Synergy label, and he plays the jazz/world music blend found on the disc at 7 and 9 p.m. alongside Ron Miles, Dave Miller and Andy Skellenger ($10).
* On Saturday, Dazzle moves to the Latin side with Dilia's Latin Jazz. Bijoux Barbosa, Bill Kooper, John Gunther, Manuel Lopez, Jeff Jenkins and Jim Theobold join Dominican-born singer Dilia on stage at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. ($15).
* At 8 tonight, you can get a strong taste of New Orleans musical magic when the influential Crescent City pianist/ singer Henry Butler appears at Lannie's Clocktower Cabaret, 16th and Arapahoe streets (303-293-0075). Hurricane Katrina swept Butler to Colorado, and to the benefit of the state, he decided to settle here, adding a strong second line to Denver's mile-high reputation.
* On the gospel side of things, tonight finds noted opera singer Denyce Graves joining forces with the Spirituals Project Choir at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in the Denver Performing Arts Complex at 7 p.m. ($15-$100, 866- 464-2626).
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