Dazzle Announces El Chapultepec Legacy Partnership

Ahead of its grand reopening in the Denver Performing Arts Complex next month, Dazzle just announced that it is partnering with the El Chapultepec Legacy Project to resurrect that jazz joint's spirit at the El Chapultepec Piano Lounge.

“This partnership is designed to elevate the best that both clubs have to offer to Denver," says Dazzle owner Donald Rossa in a July 25 announcement of the partnership.

Starting in the fall, the El Chapultepec Piano Lounge will stage Dazzle's late-night sets — with some from bands that would regularly play the club — from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays with no cover charge, in keeping with that venue's legacy.

Dazzle is further committing to keeping El Chapultepec's memory alive with its El Chapultepec Legacy Collection, an installation of paintings by Shay Guerrero that honor the Denver jazz scene's Hispanic and Chicano heritage, including KUVO radio host Carlos Lando, KUVO vice president Tina Cartagena, KUVO music director Arturo Gomez and KUVO founder Flo Hernandez-Ramos, as well as Jerry Krantz, who owned the club from 1968 until his death in 2012, and Freddy Rodriguez Sr., the saxophonist who was a bandleader at the venue and dubbed it "The Pec."

El Chapultepec was a legendary stalwart in Denver's live jazz and blues scene, hosting the best local acts along with surprise sit-ins — all with no cover charge. The club, which opened the day Prohibition ended in 1933 and operated under the same family for 87 years, closed during the COVID shutdowns and only briefly reopened before Krantz's daughters announced the closure of El Chapultepec at a December 2020 press conference. Much of the contents of the club was auctioned off. The pandemic wasn't the only reason for ending the El Chapultepec era, Anna Diaz said.

"Whether it's the tent city or the drunken mobs that are pouring out onto Market Street at two o'clock," she noted, "it's just really taking a toll on us, and it's just that Denver's different than it used to be, and 20th and Market is different than it used to be.”

The neighborhood would change even more. The Pec's building, at 1962 Market Street, was owned by Evan Makovsky, co-owner of Shames Makovsky Realty Company, but was bought by Monfort Companies in November 2022 with plans to combine the club with the Giggling Grizzly building.

El Chapultepec was mourned by the city, and recently has been remembered in a number of ways, with Flobots member Stephen Brackett and Alex Whittier naming their arts nonprofit the 87 Foundation, after the club's life span. The daughters, who retained the El Chapultepec name, have launched The Pec Legacy Project, a website that includes merchandise, photos, a biography and a short documentary that thirty people contributed to, including politicians, musicians, public figures and patrons.

“The website is a place for the community to reminisce, watch our short documentary, browse photographs, share your Pec stories and buy merch. But the El Chapultepec Piano Lounge at Dazzle is a place to look forward,” says Diaz in the announcement.
Like The Pec, Dazzle helped to lay a strong foundation for Denver's live-jazz scene, but with swankier aesthetics. The club opened 26 years ago at 930 Lincoln Street under Karen Storck and Miles Snyder as a restaurant/bar with occasional live jazz acts, as well as music from Snyder's extensive personal jazz collection when no one was performing. Donald Rossa, who previously worked for the Fourth Story, Piatti and Sfuzzi restaurants, was brought on as managing partner in 2001, and dedicated Dazzle to supporting jazz musicians before becoming its owner in 2003. After a decade of popularity, the club moved to more spacious digs at 1512 Curtis Street.

Dazzle's move to the Denver Performing Arts Complex has been a long time coming. Rossa and Matt Ruff, the general manager who's now a co-owner, announced in August 2022 that the club would move to 1080 14th Street, with tentative plans to reopen that November.

Better late than never: Dazzle will finally open at its new location on Friday, August 4, and Saturday, August 5, with two shows each night to ring in the new chapter. René Marie and Dawn Clement will perform with John Gunther, Steve Kovalcheck, Seth Lewis and Dru Heller; tickets to the all-ages show are $15-$45.

Until then, Dazzle is still hosting live music at its Curtis Street location through Saturday, July 29.

Find more information at dazzledenver.com and thepeclegacy.com.