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Jazz Articles about Purnell Steen
Birthday Tribute For Charles Burrell
by Steven Roby
In the special edition of Backstage Jazz, musician Purnell Steen pays tribute to music icon Charles Burrell in preparation for his 103rd birthday at Dazzle's Jazz Club in Denver. Burrell is a classical and jazz bassist and best known for being the first African American to be signed to a full-time contract in a major symphony orchestra in the United States. He is often called “the Jackie Robinson of Classical Music" for this accomplishment. Burrell also ...
read morePurnell Steen and Le Jazz Machine: This Little Light
by Florence Wetzel
Denver has always had a thriving jazz community, and between the 1920s and 1950s, the Five Points neighborhood was the heart of the scene. Known as the “Harlem of the West," at its peak Five Points had over fifty bars and clubs, and played host to all the greats: pianist and bandleader Duke Ellington, singers Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, saxophonist Charlie Parker, and trumpeter Miles Davis, just to name a few. Local players also kept things cooking, and soon ...
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