Jazz has never really left Denver’s Five Points.
The core of the city’s historically black neighborhood resides at the intersection of Welton, Washington and 27th streets and East 26th Avenue, a former “Harlem of the West” that hosted Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and others in its 1930-1950s musical heyday.
The neighborhood’s rich musical history will come back to the fore during the After Five Denver Jazz & Blues Festival 2008, an event timed to coincide with the Democratic National Convention.
“Every year for the past seven years, we’ve held a one-day jazz festival on the Fourth of July, and this presented an opportunity to expand,” said After Five spokeswoman Tamara Banks. “Not only because Denver was chosen to host the DNC, but also because we’ll have an African-American man being nominated by a major political party for the first time in history.”
The 21-and-up festival, which kicks off Saturday and continues through Aug. 29, will feature 30 national and local acts on three stages. In addition to traditional and contemporary jazz, artists from horn great Arturo Sandoval to gospel star Kurt Carr will perform, spanning blues, “old-school” genres (Earth Wind & Fire-style ’70s funk-rock), Latin jazz and African jazz.
“The diversity is really impressive,” said Erica Brown, singer for Denver blues-rock mainstays the Erica Brown Band. “They could have just gone with a heavy-duty lineup of all national acts, but they chose to spotlight the flavor of Denver’s jazz and blues.”
In addition to the Erica Brown Band, locals such as Sammy Mayfield, Hazel Miller, Dotsero and Ricky Earl will play alongside nationals Eric Darius, Jackiem Joyner and Jonathan Butler. Food and other vendors will round out the event, which is expected to draw anywhere from 4,000 to 6,000 people.
“We understood that Five Points really was the spiritual center of Denver’s African-America community, and there was a need for us in Denver to put its diversity out front,” said James Ellis, who handled logistics for the festival. Ellis is a senior associate at Civil Technology, a construction management and real estate company that has worked heavily to improve Five Points and help it retain its unique character amid rapid gentrification.
“This area represents Denver’s jazz heritage, and we don’t want those things to be lost,” he said. “We want to put them on display.”
Civil Technology founders Carl Bourgeois and Sheila King first hatched the annual “Jazzy 4th of July” events seven years ago and have since enlisted heavy hitters in local music and media to assist their expansion.
“They’re some of the most generous philanthropists that the city has,” said Banks. “They’re developers and engineers, so they’re very low key and won’t toot their own horns. But they started this and just thought it would be a good idea to bring back an excitement to Five Points.”
The area has suffered varying reputations over the years as desegregation meant that black families could move to other parts of the city in the 1950s and 1960s, greatly diminishing Five Points’ core. In the past several years, civic and community leaders have begun paying more attention to the neighborhood as its population has changed.
“Now you’re seeing black families come back and want to be a part of the culture, and a lot of young white people move in,” Banks said. “It’s important to move forward and also important to preserve our history and culture, so I think things are coming full circle with Sen. (Barack) Obama coming to town.”
Does she think he’ll show up at the festival?
“We’ve invited him,” Banks said. “From what I’ve seen, he likes to get off the beaten path, so who knows?”
John Wenzel: 303-954-1642 or jwenzel@denverpost.com
After Five Presents the Denver Jazz & Blues Festival 2008
Jazz/blues/gospel. Three stages along 26th and Washington streets in Five Points. Saturday-Aug. 29. 5 p.m.-11:30 p.m. most days. $59-$119. 303-296-2701 or denverjazzfestival .
