David Bernot Releases Debut Album With Quintet

Saxophonist David Bernot has played with many jazz groups and on various recordings, but on March 10, he'll finally release his own debut album, Never Ending Cycle, through Nocturne Productions.

Bernot came to Denver in 2012 to study jazz saxophone at the University of Denver; he and some friends created a jazz group, Disquietude, that played at Dazzle and other venues. "I knew that performing was something I wanted to do, so I was getting out to every opportunity I could, finding a couple gigs here and there," he says.

"I started getting called more to play in gigs," he recalls. "I played with this West African drummer, Koffi Toudji, who teaches dance and drumming at the Cleo Parker Robinson dance school. I was doing a lot with his project my first couple years in Denver. It was a build from there — I played with lots of different projects. I recorded with [Toudji's] group, the Kofi Togo band, and this funk band called the Well Beings in 2016."

All along, though, Bernot was preparing himself to lead his own group. "The whole time, I was trying to write my own music and play my music out whenever I could," he says. "Disquietude was a good outlet for that."

During the pandemic, while he was studying for his master's degree at the University of Colorado Boulder, students were offered free studio time rather than a typical recital. That inspired him to finally start the David Bernot Quintet. "I used that as a jumping board to get my album recorded and hire some of my favorite musicians, some of my mentors and friends, to play with me," he says.

As a result, Never Ending Cycle is deeply rooted in Denver's jazz community, which is "full of a lot of people who are super supportive," Bernot says. "It's a very family-type scene — everyone knows each other, and everyone is trying to help each other and get better."

While he arrived in Colorado with a love for more "super modern" jazz, Bernot notes that Denver puts "a huge emphasis on the tradition." Not the "super popular stuff," he adds, "but digging deep and finding lots of different influences and playing in some of the traditional jazz styles, like hard bop and bebop. I think that's really influenced me as a player...to learn the songs that our community plays."

And the players. His group includes Greg Gisbert, a longtime trumpet player and soloist for Grammy-winning Maria Schneider's Jazz Orchestra. "He has been a really great mentor to me," Bernot says of Gisbert. "He's taken me to gigs of his own and some jam sessions where I've really learned a lot. ... When I asked him to play, I figured maybe he'd say yes, but I was really kind of nervous. He's a really big jazz artist in the Denver scene; as far as Denver goes, he's one of the big shots."
Bernot met bassist Gonzalo Teppa at a jam session at the now-defunct Crimson Room in Denver, and he loved playing with him. "He just is happy to play and happy to make music," Bernot says. "And he's also slamming. With him, I also kind of took a shot in the dark, but he's been supportive and super helpful with some of the editing and providing notes."

Pianist Tom Amend, a University of Northern Colorado grad, had been on Bernot's radar for a while. "I would hear things about him for years, and then he moved down to Denver and was immediately the on-the-scene piano player," Bernot notes.

Rounding out the quintet is drummer Michael D'Angelo, a longtime friend who also went to CU. "He's a super awesome drummer who is super clean," Bernot says. "He's one of those drummers that makes the music easy to play, so I really appreciate him. He helps take control of the ensemble and that we know where we're at."

Just as Bernot mixed players from his past in the band, the music on Never Ending Cycle is compiled from writings over the past decade. "The second track, 'Stamina,' is actually a track I wrote in 2012," he says. "I wrote it when I had a week where I couldn't play the saxophone because I had my wisdom teeth removed. So I wrote this kind of funny, crazy-modern, multiple-time-signature song."

That song won him the Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award in 2016; he received the same award in 2020 for the song "To Kill the Beast."

While Bernot's approach is based in jazz tradition, "I also like to explore specifics," he explains. "I like to take an idea and run with it, whether it's one track where I'm listening to a traditional jazz artist a lot, and I would take that sound and try to create something of my own in that vein. 'Stamina' was more of trying to experiment with changing time signatures while still making things flow right."

Bernot pulled inspiration for other songs from different jazz musicians "'Melody for Wayne' is one where I was listening to Wayne Shorter. Normally, my writing tends to sit in 4/4 signature, but I wanted to write a waltz, and I always enjoyed listening to Wayne Shorter's waltzes," he says. "So that particular song, I was trying to channel some of his compositions I really enjoy playing and listening to."

The track "No Problems," which he describes as a "happy-go-lucky swing tune," was inspired by Herbie Hancock's "Driftin'." But Bernot isn't just looking to past musicians; his recent studies have also given him new insights with which to experiment.

"The more recent compositions, I'm playing around with some ideas I got while I was in my master's," he says. "Interesting tonal palettes coming from modes and upscales that aren't as commonly used, but then trying to make it sound like jazz — not like crazy-contemporary classical, but making it fit into the genre I studied."

Given his myriad influences, the album carries multiple subgenres. Bernot describes Never Ending Cycle as "mostly more of a post-bebop-style album. There is a taste of modern in there as well; the first couple tracks are more modern, kind of intending on grabbing the modern jazz listener. And then there are some tracks that are just straight-up hard bop, very traditional, no problems."

When Bernot was compiling the album, he asked Nocturne Jazz & Supper Club if his group could play there in order to practice in person. "They were super happy to have us there, and the gigs went really well, and the audience and the owner enjoyed the music as well," he says.

Based on that, Bernot asked if the quintet could have a residency at Nocturne; after that, he asked whether the venue would like to produce the album on its label. "To have a place where we can play for a guarantee and get our music in front of people without having to sell tickets to all our friends is a really nice addition," he says.

Although Bernot is working on new material, the quintet plays Never Ending Cycle in its entirety during shows, and he hopes that jazz fans enjoy the album. "It's a really great showcase for these musicians," he says. "The music does a really good job of representing these musicians. I think it's fun to listen to as well as just being impressive."

Never Ending Cycle is available starting Thursday, March 10. See the David Bernot Quintet every Thursday in March at Nocturne, 1330 27th Street, at 6:30 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. Tickets, $85, can be reserved on Nocturne's website.