Here are a few musically diverse shows to close out the year. Worn down by the pressures of, um, everything? There’s something to rejuvenate you in December.
Houston Person Quartet
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Person’s honeyed tenor saxophone has brought warmth to a great many record dates since the ’60s. His celebratory older soul-jazz recordings for the Prestige label are difficult to seek out unless you haunt vinyl sections of record stores and thrift shops, but Person has put out a heart-tugging series of releases for the High Note label in recent years. His newest, “Nice ‘n’ Easy” continues his late-career trend of emotional balladry and playful, midtempo blues. He breathes a lifetime of experience into his horn, and the locals who will serve as his band tonight are prepared to respond: pianist Jeff Jenkins, bassist Ken Walker and drummer Paul Romaine.
Dec. 1. Shows are at 6 and 8 p.m.; tickets are $22. 930 Lincoln St. 303-839-5100 or dazzlejazz.com
George Winston
Jazz critics have always had difficulty relegating this best-selling pianist to one genre, and Winston told me in 2007 that he is not a “jazz” musician. He gave himself three labels: a “folk,” “stride” and “New Orleans rhythm and blues” musician.
“I’m influenced by players in the jazz tradition,” he said. “But I am not a jazz player. Jazz almost means nothing. Is it a style from the ’20s? The ’30s or ’40s?”
Winston has been gently walking his own path for long enough to know not to be concerned about labels. His New Orleans-styled solo piano performances are heartfelt, and he may even bring out his harmonica (he released a disc of musings on that instrument in 2011,) but his Boulder audience should be more likely to expect meditations like those on his holiday-themed 1982 “December” release, which was remastered and reissued this year.
Dec. 4, 8 p.m.; $25-35. 2032 14th St., Boulder. 303-786-7030 or bouldertheater.com.
Trombone Shorty
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Twenty-seven-year-old trombonist-trumpeter Troy Andrews is the living, traveling embodiment of the infallible New Orleans spirit. The energy he exudes in live performance and on discs is a marvel, and for a gent in his 20s to be able to simultaneously come out of the deepest of jazz traditions and headline two consecutive nights in a venue the size of the Ogden says something promising about the future of the music. His most recent CD for the Verve Forecast label, “Say That To Say This” is at its most exuberant when he’s soloing on one of his horns, and there are a lot of contemporary production touches added to Andrews’ often traditionally minded music Think he’ll show up one more time in the final episodes of “Treme,” which begins tonight?
Dec. 26 and 27, 8 p.m. both nights; $35.75 or $60 for both nights. 935 E. Colfax Ave. 303-832-1874.
Set List: The CU Jazz Ensemble presents the Duke Ellington Nutcracker Suite at Dazzle on Dec. 12 … The Wood Brothers (featuring Chris Wood of Medeski Martin & Wood) play Boulder’s Fox Theatre on Dec. 6 … guitarist Robben Ford brings his band to the Soiled Dove Underground on Dec. 8.
Bret Saunders hosts the KBCO Morning Show at 97.3-FM, 6 a.m.-12 p.m. Monday-Friday: BretSaunders@KBCO.com
