Here’s a not very well-kept secret about the jazz world: The financial rewards aren’t very satisfying.
For the vast majority who pick up a saxophone or sit behind a drum kit, it’s more about the love of expression and the opportunity to exchange ideas with like-minded people. And for nonperformers, it can be about sharing their enthusiasm. Some people, like Sterling Kamisky, even spend countless hours putting together jazz festivals so interested parties can get together and appreciate what the creative types have to say.
Kamisky has been the driving force behind JazzFest Denver for five years. In partnership with his wife, local attorney Diane Carmen, Kamisky books the venue and the performers, promotes the event, and makes sure that everyone is where they’re supposed to be (and in a good state of mind) in time for the show.
“Sometimes it’s exhausting, but when the music lights up, everything that was in the past goes away. It’s a very rewarding thing,” he says.
Kamisky, who works full time in the dental field, became enthralled with live performances overseas.
“I spent 16 years living in Switzerland, near Montreux (home of a successful annual festival). And to see artists that I had only heard on records live, like Miles Davis and Tony Williams, was indescribable.”
He brought that spark to Denver and wasn’t sure what to do with it.
“So some friends asked, ‘Why not start a festival of your own?’ “
JazzFest Denver has been staged in several different venues, but this year Kamisky seems satisfied with its new home at City Hall Events Center. He’s put together an enticing lineup: singer Karrin Allyson, saxophonist Bobby Watson, the Brazilian unit Trio da Paz, trumpeters Thomas Marriott and Ray Vega, and local players from the Colorado Conservatory for the Jazz Arts and the Brad Goode Polytonal Dance Party. Judging by the lineup, the music should be full of life and devoid of gimmicks, reflecting Kamisky’s (and Carmen’s) tastes.
“It’s the improvised, edgy music, like Miles (Davis) and (John) Coltrane got started, that I like,” he says. “And there are so many musicians that strive to keep that edge. If they don’t keep striving, the music will die.”
As long as we have people like Kamisky pushing to get the music heard and better appreciated, jazz has a fighting chance at continuing to survive.
JazzFest Denver, June 12-13 at City Hall Events Center, 1144 Broadway. Advance tickets are $50 per day, $95 both days. After June 6, they are $55 per day, $110 both days. Tickets and information at or call 303 674 9313.Getz galore.
Tenor saxophonist Stan Getz made warm, emotional yet complex music throughout his career. Probably best known for his string of albums that helped to introduce Brazilian music to the United States in the ’60s, he played wonderfully up until his untimely death from cancer in 1991.
Getz’s last recordings were made in Copenhagen that year; a series of live dates with the exquisite pianist Kenny Barron were condensed and released as “People Time” on the Verve label. It stood as a fond farewell to a life in music and listeners were astonished to hear how vibrant the dates were, considering how ill Getz was at the time. The independent Sunnyside label has secured the rights to the entire run, and the original two-CD set has been expanded to seven discs with “People Time: The Complete Recordings.”
What’s most notable is how little dispensable material there is in this supersized version. Getz and Barron are inventive throughout, even though specific songs are repeated from night to night. Both performers are filled with an intimate, charismatic spirit. Most of the tempos are in the ballad range, but that’s where Getz thrived, milking profundity and vulnerability out of standards like “I Remember Clifford” and “Soul Eyes.”
Getz is missed; fortunately, Barron is still with us. This document supplies us with hours of newly released recordings that we can savor.
Set list.
Beginning Tuesday and running into next Monday, Dazzle will present a piano festival featuring Fred Hersch, Art Lande, Ellyn Rucker and others, many of whom will undoubtedly pay tribute to the great pianist Hank Jones, who recently passed. Find out more at . . . . Saxophonist Nelson Rangell plays Jazz@Jack’s tonight. . . .City Park Jazz returns June 6 with Jon Romero y Amanecer
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Bret Saunders’ column on jazz appears every other Sunday in A&E. 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@hotmail.com
