I was taught in newsrooms never to refer to “first annual.” First annual is aspirational – the first edition of something organizers hope will be repeated.
Even second annual might be jumping the gun. But I so enjoyed the first edition of the Denver Jazz Fest last year that I am ready to endorse its aspirations in year two, when the festival will be held April 7-12.
Last year, we caught the Bill Frisell, Isaiah Collier and Dianne Reeves shows that were part of the inaugural festival.
Guitarist Frisell, who grew up in Denver, opened the festival at Newman Center with his In My Dreams project, which Blue Note released as a studio album months after we heard it live. The performers in Denver and on the album were Frisell’s usual trio with Thomas Morgan on bass and Rudy Royston on drums, joined by violist Eyvind Kang, cellist Hank Roberts and violinist Jenny Scheinman. I saw the latter back in Denver this January leading her own quintet at Dazzle. She and the other In My Dreams musicians are old friends, and that showed in a mesmerizingly beautiful performance -- Frisell compositions, standards, touches of folk and country.
Chicago saxophonist Isaiah Collier along with Liya Grigoryan on piano, Emma Dayhuff on bass and Malachi Whitson on drums were hot from the moment they took the Dazzle stage and kept up the pace. It was exhilarating and challenging to listen to artists unafraid to show off their intellect and their heart. Dazzle buzzed, as if fans were celebrating jazz as alive and radical.
I've been a fan of multi-Grammy winner Reeves -- her oboe-like voice, her songwriting, her way of making standards seem fresh and entirely her own -- for four decades. Imagine my excitement when we moved to Denver more than a decade ago and I learned this is her hometown. Unlike Frisell, she still lives here. But she performs only rarely in Denver. On her festival date, she strode onto the stage relaxed with just one accompanist, Romero Lubambo, who played both acoustic and electric guitar.
Reeves, like Frisell, performed at Newman Center, a 970-seat venue that was sold out for her performance. She declared it her living room, and managed to make it seem as intimate as Dazzle, which can hold about 200. Reeves and Lubambo modeled performance as listening and being in the moment, revolutionary in these days of distraction and misdirection.
Denver Jazz Fest is bigger this year. We’re seeing four of 40 shows, including one at Denver’s newest venue, the stage in the expansion of the home of Cleo Parker Robinson’s 55-year-old dance company. The festival has expanded from 12 to 15 venues. It was brilliant of organizers to include Cleo’s -- I am sure some people will get tickets just to see her state-of-the-art stage.
I love all kinds of music from around the globe and many eras. But especially jazz, in part because jazz musicians also have eclectic tastes. They can make the most ubiquitous Disney ditty or show tune deeply personal – just listen to John Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things.” They borrow from other African American art forms such as gospel and blues, and embrace the music of the diaspora across Latin America and back to Africa, as well as European classical and folk traditions.
Jazz musicians can time travel, taking us to 1920s New Orleans or our parents’ living rooms in the 1950s. And these griots of an aural tradition, who are among the finest musicians in the world, are luminous when they bring all that inspiration, emotion and history to original compositions.
Live jazz performances are always original because they are improvisational, inviting audiences to connect to creativity there and then. I’m looking forward to being part of that at these 2026 Denver Jazz Fest concerts:
On April 7 at Dazzle, Keith Oxman on tenor saxophone, Jeff Jenkins on piano, Todd Reid on drums and Gonzalo Teppa on bass playing the music of John Coltrane. All are Colorado-based, which I think is a nice way to start a local festival. I adore Teppa, who so immerses himself in the rhythms he is creating he appears to dance with his bass.
On April 9, back at Dazzle for another favorite, New Jersey pianist Orrin Evans leading his trio -- Robert Hurst on bass and Marvin “Smitty” Smith on drums. Evans is a fantastic composer.
On April 11 at Cleo’s, velvet-voiced Jose James, who is from Minneapolis, with Jahari Stampley on piano, Or Bareket on bass, Otis Brown on drums and Ebban Dorsey on sax in a project James calls “Facing East: The Music of John Coltrane.” I expect to hear “My Favorite Things.”
On April 12 we wrap up at the Jewish Community Center’s Wolf Theater with another brilliant pianist and composer, Cincinnati native Fred Hersch, and his trio -- Drew Gress on bass and Johnathan Blake on drums.
Can’t wait to see what the third annual brings.