It’s a Saturday night in spring 1947 in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood. Acclaimed saxophonist Paul Quinichette is back in his hometown, taking a break from playing with Johnny Otis in California. He’s celebrating his 30th birthday with friends at the Casino Dance Hall, owned by Benjamin Franklin Hooper, the “Unofficial Mayor of Five Points.”
The Casino is the most prominent jazz club in the Rocky Mountain West, although there are dozens more in Five Points, and who knows what other jazz star might show at another neighborhood venue tonight to socialize or jam? Nat “King” Cole? Ella Fitzgerald? Anyone from the African-American creative community could show up, perhaps seeking accommodations after performing in downtown Denver.
But at the Casino, Duke Ellington sits at the piano, hitting the opening notes of “Take The ‘A’ Train,” signaling his orchestra back to the bandstand after an intermission. Soon, the music of the era’s finest band takes elegant hold of the room.
This is a theoretical evening in the “Harlem of the West” 60 years ago, but these musicians really did frequent Five Points, which was a culturally active oasis for African-Americans between Kansas City and Los Angeles. And that spirit continues to thrive with Saturday’s 4th annual 5 Points Jazz Festival.
“Since the Smithsonian Institution designated April as Jazz Appreciation Month, we wanted to put on a festival in honor of Five Points, which is the home to jazz in Denver,” said Gina Rubano, special events coordinator with the city.
This year, the city is going all out to make the festival a vintage experience. From the live broadcast of musical performances in the studios of KUVO-FM (vocalist Hazel Miller and pianist Marc Sabatella are slated to play on-air) to the large-scale exuberance of the Denver School of the Arts Top Jazz Band, the idea is to re-create the energy of jazz in Five Points like it was decades ago.
And how many festivals line up an organization like the James P. Beckworth Mountain Club Historical Re-enactors to provide descriptions and stories of Five Points’ prominent figures of the past?
“There’s a little bit of everything,” Rubano said. “We have straight-ahead groups like Centerpiece Jazz, blues from Willie Houston, and the 22-piece jazz orchestra from the Denver School of the Arts. We heard about them and thought it would be wonderful to include the next generation.”
Three Colorado jazz artists will get their due in a ceremony Saturday. Veteran vocalist Ed Battle, the late Louise Duncan, “The Grand Lady of the Grand Piano” (she shared the stage with Ellington, Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday), and saxophonist Brad Leali, an alumnus of the Count Basie Orchestra and the Mingus Big Band, will be honored.
And here’s another inspired concept for this year’s festival: a jazz tutorial before the live music begins, hosted by Metropolitan State music professor/saxophonist Fred Hess. If you’re curious about the history of the music, Hess will provide you with a speedy and appetite- whetting education.
“It will be me with a CD player, a blackboard and 45 minutes,” Hess said. “I’ll start with Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong and move to Charlie Parker, some hard bop and a bit of Coltrane. It will be the ultimate CliffsNotes.”
And the entire day should serve as a condensed version of an often-neglected chapter in Denver’s history.
Bret Saunders writes about jazz for The Denver Post. Saunders is host of the “KBCO Morning Show,” 5:30-10 a.m. weekdays at 97.3-FM. His e-mail address is Bret Saunders bret_saunders@hotmail.com
FIVE POINTS JAZZED AND READY
The fourth annual 5 Points Jazz Festival is Saturday and takes place at various locations in the neighborhood. Admission is free. Performances, lectures and ceremonies include:
KUVO-FM Studio, 2900 Welton St.: An on-air performance by Hazel Miller, 11 a.m.; Mark Sabatella, 2 p.m.
Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Theatre, 119 Park Ave. West: Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, 1 p.m.; tribute presentation to festival honorees, 3 p.m.; Denver School of the Arts Top Jazz Band, 3:30 p.m.
Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library, 2401 Welton St.: Sheryl Renee Band, 1 p.m.; Electric Quartet, 2 p.m., Bob Montgomery-Al Herman Quintet, 3:15 p.m.; Willie Houston and the Blues Prowlers, 4 p.m.
Crossroads Theater, 2550 Washington St.: Fat City Mardi Gras Band, 1 p.m.; Eric Trujillo and the Mambotet, 3:15 p.m.
Blackberries Ice Cream and Coffee Lounge, 710 E. 26th St.: Joni Janak and Centerpiece Jazz, 2 p.m.; Dr. Tone and The Notes, 4 p.m.
Stiles African American Heritage Center, 2607 Glenarm St.: Molly Kaufmann, 2 p.m.; Eddie Salcido, 4 p.m.
Black American West Museum, 3091 California St.: Basics of Jazz, hosted by Fred Hess, 12 p.m.; a screening of donnie betts’ documentary “Music Is My Life, Politics My Mistress: The Story of Oscar Brown Jr.,” 1 p.m.
Information: For more details, go to denvergov.org/concertseries.
