Rocky Mountain Jazz Fever

As central as Denver is, most popular touring jazz acts try their best to reach Miles Davis status in the Mile High City.

Denver even has two radio stations devoted to jazz, jazz89 KUVO Public Radio and Smooth Jazz 104.3. But live jazz is where the magic happens and Denver has many jazz clubs to choose from, many located in downtown Denver and the hip LoDo neighborhood.

Jazz at Jack’s is Denver’s go-to club for Denver jazz, with a central downtown location and blues, comedy and American cuisine. For the soul of jazz in Denver, El Chapultepec’s nightly lineup of jazz is the place for raw, undiscovered jazz talent alongside jazz greats.

Joe Bonner
Mercury Cafe
Every week Sunday, 8:00pm
Downtown

Legendary jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders dug Joe Bonner's chops so much he recruited the pianist to play on six of Sanders's albums throughout the '70s. Bonner has also performed with other legends Freddy Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Max Roach and Billy Higgins.

Gypsy Swing Revue
Irish Snug
Every week Wednesday, 8:00pm
Central

One of Denver's finest gypsy jazz ensembles, this quartet beautifully captures the spirit of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. Whether they're burning through up-tempo cuts like Reinhardt's “Minor Swing" or slowing it down on ballads, these cats always come out swinging.

Gil Scott-Heron & the Amnesia Express
The Soiled Dove Underground
Thu., October 8, 8:00pm
East

In 1970, Gil Scott-Heron became one of the godfathers of hip-hop with the release of his debut album, Small Talk at 125th & Lenox. His playful wit and incisive rhetoric developed more fully on later releases such as Pieces of a Man and Winter in America, establishing him as a counterculture.

Jazz Jam with Mark Diamond
Boulder Outlook Hotel
First Sunday of every month, 7:30pm
Boulder

Open Mic
A Taste of Colorado
Civic Center Park
Mon., September 7, 10:30am-8:00pm
Downtown

Impromptu
Dazzle Restaurant & Lounge
Tue., September 8
Central

The Bad Plus
Boulder Theater
Wed., September 9, 8:00pm
Boulder

The Bad Plus
Belly Up Aspen
Thu., September 10
Mountains

Nate Birkey
Dazzle Restaurant & Lounge
Fri., September 11
Central

Fusion Juice Jazz Project
Blue Moo'd Lounge
Fri., September 11
Southwest Suburbs

Marion Meadows
The Soiled Dove Underground
Fri., September 11
East

Air Force Falconaires
Auraria Campus
Fri., September 11, 7:00pm
Central

Monty Alexander
City Hall
Fri., September 11, 8:00pm
Central

Terra Gatos
Caveau Wine Bar
Sat., September 12
Central

Serafin Sanchez/Jerremy Jones Quartet
D Note
Sat., September 12, 8:30pm
Northwest Suburbs

Good Grime Sound System
Larimer Lounge
Sun., September 13
Downtown

Neil Bridge Band
Mercury Cafe
Sun., September 13
Downtown

Glenn Taylor Orchestra
Dazzle Restaurant & Lounge
Sun., September 13, 7:00pm
Central

Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra
Dazzle Restaurant & Lounge
Mon., September 14
Central

5280 A Cappella
Dazzle Restaurant & Lounge
Wed., September 16
Central

The Just Jazz Quintet
Avogadro's Number
Fri., September 18
Northern Colorado

Modazz Jazz Band
Blue Moo'd Lounge
Fri., September 18
Southwest Suburbs

Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Bluebird Theater
Fri., September 18, 9:00pm
Central

Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Aggie Theatre
Sat., September 19
Northern Colorado

The Killers with Nervous Wreckords
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 09, 2009 — 7:30PM
DOORS OPEN AT 6:00PM
$42.50 GA, $52.50 RES

The Killers are an American alternative rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2002. The band belongs to the lineage of high- energy rock bands that manage to be both commercially successful and critically acclaimed. The band consists of Brandon Flowers (vocals, keyboards), Dave Keuning (guitar, vocals), Mark Stoermer (bass guitar, vocals) and Ronnie Vannucci Jr. (percussion, drums). Flowers first met guitarist Keuning while perusing the classifieds for fellow musicians; when Dave’s ad mentioned The Beatles, Oasis and more, Flowers knew he was on the right track. They claimed the name The Killers (taken from the bass drum of a fictional band in a New Order video), and eventually recruited Stoermer and Vannucci into the fold, all of them agreeing that there seemed to be an intangible something to the music they were making, as well as the response they were generating from people who saw them play. And as these performances became bigger and bigger, praise for the band began to spread rapidly.

Their debut, Hot Fuss, catapulted them onto the global stage selling millions of copies around the world. The band toured for two years straight behind Hot Fuss, playing more than four-hundred shows, and eventually returned to Vegas to begin to work on the follow-up album. The result, a love letter of sorts to their hometown entitled Sam’s Town, was released in 2006 and spent forty-two weeks on the Billboard Top 200. They also release the compilation album Sawdust containing B- sides, rarities, and new material in 2007. Inspiration has never eluded Las Vegas’ The Killers, and it’s a damn good thing it hasn’t, because their third studio album entitled Day & Age, released in November of 2008, is full of their finest songs to date.

Monolith Festival
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Mars Volta, Girl Talk, M. Ward, MSTRKRFT, Chromeo, Method Man, Of Montreal and more!
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2009 — 12:00PM - SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13,
2009 — 12:00PM
DOORS OPEN AT NOON
VARIOUS TICKET PRICES

Saturday, September 12th
Yeah Yeah Yeahs * Girl Talk * M. Ward * Of Montreal * DOOM * OK GO * The Walkmen * The Pains of Being Pure at Heart * Frightened Rabbit * Thao With the Get Down Stay Down * Hollywoold Holt + Million $ Mano * Starf*cker * Thunderheist * Woodhands * These United States * Cymbals Eat Guitars * The Antlers * Generationals * Cotton Jones * Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros * Gregory Alan Isakov * Lydia * Danielle Ate the Sandwich * The Answering Machine * Roadside Graves * Speakeasy Tiger * Autovaughn * Avi Buffalo * Boulder Acoustic Society * Wendy Darling * Caitlin Rose * and more!

Sunday, September 13th
The Mars Volta * MSTRKRFT * Method Man & Redman * Phoenix Chromeo * The Dandy Warhols * The Glitch Mob * Wale * The Thermals * We Were Promised Jetpacks * Monotonix * The Grates * Health * Deer Tick * The Twilight Sad * The Features * Spindrift * Savoy * Bad Veins * Red Wire Black Wire * Beats Antique * Tigercity * French Horn Rebellion * Royal Bangs * The Pirate Signal Neon Indian * The Knew * A Shoreline Dream * Rachel Goodrich * Jim McTurnan & The Kids That Killed the Man

For up-to-date information, click the link below to visit the festival website: www.monolithfestival.com

Jason Mraz with K’naan
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2009 — 7:30PM
DOORS OPEN AT 6:00PM
$50.00 RES, $45.00 GA

San Diego-based songsmith, Jason Mraz has partnered with The VH1 Save The Music Foundation to donate a portion of every ticket sold to the organization, which is dedicated to the restoration of instrumental music programs and raising awareness about the importance of music in a child’s education.

Certified 4x platinum, Mraz’s smash single, “I’m Yours,” is currently the fifth best selling digital single of all time. To celebrate the success (and evolution) of the song, Mraz will release, “Yours Truly: The I’m Yours Collection,” a digital EP. The EP will include four versions of “I’m Yours”: the original demo version of the song; the album version, which topped four separate radio formats; a live version of the song recorded in Tokyo, featuring Japanese band Kimaguren; and a reggae mix of the song. The follow-up to “I’m Yours,” “Lucky,” a duet with Colbie Caillat, recently reached the one million mark in sales.

Journey of Hope Benefit Concert / Greg Mortenson with Braddigan
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2009 — 5:00PM
DOORS OPEN AT 5:00PM
$20 GA, $35 RES, $50 GOLDEN CIRCLE

A Global Call to Action and “Journey of Hope” Benefit Concert Red Rocks Amphitheater, Sept. 20, 2009
Exhibit Fair (upper plaza): 5 p.m.- 7 p.m.
Main Event: 7 p.m.

This interactive youth concert, features live music and international speakers to announce a “global call to action” to youth from around the world. Presented by Pennies for Peace and HomeVibe, the event will benefit Pennies for Peace, a program of Central Asia Institute, which promotes and supports community-based education on a global scale, one penny at a time. It will also benefit the speakers’ and exhibitors’ nonprofit groups, as well.

Flogging Molly with Hepcat, Fitz and the Tantrums
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2009 — 8:00PM
DOORS OPEN AT 6:30PM
$39.50, $35.00, $29.50 RES AND $35.00 GA

Live Nation proudly presents FLOGGING MOLLY at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Saturday, September 26. Special Guests Hepcat and Fitz and the Tantrums will open the show.

Drawing on the hardships and joys of their own lives and a musical history ranging from old world Celtic to modern day punk rock, the seven members of Flogging Molly do it with a charm and an ease that makes them one of the most accessible bands performing today. “We're not a traditional band," explains Dublin born singer/songwriter, Dave King. “We are influenced by traditional music and inspired by it, and we put our own little twist on it."

Founded in Los Angeles in 1997 by the expatriate King, Flogging Molly got its start and its name from a local bar called Molly Malone's where the band played and grew and laid down the blueprint for its eventual success. As every member of Flogging Molly will emphatically explain, there were no predetermined expectations for the band's sound.

The premier gathering featured headliners Muddy Waters, Dizzy Gillespie and the Glenn Miller Orchestra, and over the years, such notables as Chick Corea, Etta James, Herbie Hancock and Spyro Gyra have played the venue. Every year, the Telluride Society for Jazz has put together another world-class program to celebrate the art, soul, history and future of this all-American art form.

Telluride Jazz will continue its highly acclaimed format, an outdoor stage during the day with theater and club shows at night. Jazz aficionados worldwide are hip to this unique festival, where international artists perform and mingle with those who come to celebrate the music. “We always want to keep the festival intimate for the jazz artists who perform and for the jazz and music lover who wants to enjoy great music in a natural setting and in ideal night venues,” says executive director Paul Machado of the format.

Continue for more Denver Jazz venues.