The D Note in Olde Town Arvada is celebrating its tenth anniversary this weekend. The two-night celebration will be bittersweet, as it will also serve as a goodbye party of sorts for the DeGraff family, who recently sold the venue to Dave and Mernie Rosenberg. Adam DeGraff, who has booked…
There’s a lot of energy in the first three cuts of the Trubelos’ debut long-player, Boomerang Girl, including the up-tempo countrified rocker “All I Want to Do is You,” the blues shuffle of Little Walter’s “Little By Little,” and the twangy title cut. But while the vigor is there, it…
While Jon Wirtz has lent his piano and keyboard skills to a variety of singer-songwriters, from Matt Morris to Angie Stevens to John Common, he’s also a fine jazz player, as evidenced on his stunning 2010 solo piano debut, Sea Level. There are elements of jazz on Tourist, and Wirtz…
When Armida’s first started hosting karaoke about two decades ago, it was one night a week. Since then, it’s become the Mexican restaurant’s main focus seven nights a week. Karaoke has become so popular, in fact, especially on weekends, that the spot opened another karaoke room on the second floor…
On his last effort, 2011’s Misfit, Rob Roper more than proved that he had sharp songwriting skills and a knack for penning some pretty damn witty lyrics. There’s more of that on the new The Other Side of Nowhere, but musically, this release is more of a stripped-down affair with…
“Free jazz is one thing,” says Joe Lovano, “but I like to say I play jazz free.” The Grammy-award-winning saxophonist, who has been playing professionally for four decades, improvises like he’s been liberated. He says it’s about developing a way of playing where you’re not harnessed by playing what you…
Kristi Stice used to belt it out when she fronted the Fort Collins-based band Eve’s Drop, but after getting a jazz vocal degree at the University of Northern Florida, her approach to singing changed. Her vocals on her debut album, Under the Willow, are much more kindred to Jolie Holland…
Nearly four years after local Americana act Ten Cent Redemption called it quits, bassist Tony Burke and guitarist Johnny Waggoner rounded up singer and guitarist John T. Nething (formerly of Panhandler Down) and drummer Jason McGinnis of L.I.E. to form Carmelita’s Lovers. While some dusty Ten Cent echoes can be…
The folks behind Katie Mullen’s have taken over the former Rockstar Bar location at 3358 Mariposa in Highland, a space that couldn’t be more of a contrast to the big, swank Irish bar (four bars, actually) that Paul Maye opened downtown almost four years ago. But construction has already started…
CALEXICO @ BLUEBIRD THEATER | 1/19/13 Since Calexico and DeVotchKa share a few musical sensibilities and they’ve both worked with producer Craig Schumacher at his Tuscon-based WaveLab Studio, it’s not surprising DeVotchKa’s singer Nick Urata and drummer Shawn King joined Calexico for a few songs during the band’s sprawling hour…
After decades as the Arabian Bar, one of Denver’s classic dives, the LoHi address got a major facelift –everything in it is new — and opened yesterday as Local Bar @ Highland. While we’d reported last October that Barry Zadikoff, owner of Barry’s on Broadway, had plans to essentially turn…
Otis Taylor My World Is Gone Telarc “My world is gone,” Indigenous frontman Mato Nanji once told local bluesman Otis Taylor, in reference to his people, the Nakota Nation. The heaviness of those four words inspired Taylor to make this album, which, for the most part, deals with Native American…
“Instant Empire, to me, really reflects — at least from the band-name perspective — how, in America, everybody wants everything all at once,” declares Instant Empire frontman Scotty Saunders. “Everybody wants it instantly. To me, Instant Empire is the perfect descriptor for sort of this modern time that we’re living…
Dazzle Restaurant and Lounge is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary tomorrow. To commemorate the occasion, the club is throwing a party with the Bob Montgomery/Pete Olstad Big Band and the Funky Fresh Trio benefiting the Gift of Jazz, an organization supporting the past, present and future of jazz in the Rocky…
After graduating college and moving to Denver in the ’70s, Kevin Geraghty started going to the Club 404, which Jerry Feld sold a year ago after a six-decade run. After a brief stint as Denver Wheel Club 404, Geraghty, who owned Brendan’s Pub for almost ten years on Market Street,…
Early in his career, pianist Uri Caine got to play with jazz legends like Philly Joe Jones and Hank Mobley. While Caine is a deft improviser and can play the hell out of bop, he’s incredibly multi-faceted and also quite equally at home playing avant-garde, classical (Caine’s released a number…
Some sad news to pass along today, in case you haven’t heard: We’ve just received word that local blues drummer Donnie Eden passed away last week, and last night at El Chapultepec, a spot where he used to perform at regularly, a memorial wake was held for the drummer. Eden,…
Los Lobos singer and guitarist David Hidalgo clearly knows his away around Latin music, and so does guitarist Marc Ribot, who’s played with a ton of folks over the years, from Tom Waits and Elvis Costello to John Zorn and the Lounge Lizards. When the two bring their Border Music…
We’ve got another great month of jazz on tap for January with a number of great shows, including saxophonist Joe Lovano and pianist Freddy Cole (Nat “King” Cole’s brother), who will be at Dazzle for two-nights, as well as dates from the Uri Caine Trio, the Latin Jazz All Stars…
Update (1/4/13): We caught up with Devin Mendoza, who’s worked at and booked shows at Old Curtis for the past two years, and he gave us a little more insight into the bar’s unexpected closing. Last call for Old Curtis is tomorrow night. There’s a big bash planned to mark…
Before heading to the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston to earn his master’s degree, Tyler Gilmore spent a lot of time in Denver as the former music manager of Dazzle, as well as composing and leading the Ninth & Lincoln Orchestra, a forward-thinking large jazz ensemble that he…
For decades, the Sidewinder was a down-and-dirty Globeville dive. But a month ago, a group of local musicians, including Fez Garcia (with some help from his folks), took over the spot just around the corner from Crash 45 and gave the bar a bit more hipster cred. Garcia says they’re…
