There's a New Jazz Fest in Denver

When Don Lucoff moved to Denver from Philadelphia in 2021, one thing struck him: The city pulsed with jazz.

"When Don looked around," says David Froman, Lucoff's business partner and co-founder of Denver Jazz Fest, "he saw a full-time jazz radio station, KUVO. He saw an active jazz club scene led by Dazzle. He saw several university programs in Colorado that were turning out excellent young jazz musicians. It's a city that, when you look at it through a jazz prism, could blind the world."

Denver Jazz Fest aims to be that prism. Set to take place next year from April 3 to 6, the inaugural four-day gathering promises to be a celebration of everything that makes jazz great, in Denver and beyond. A bevy of internationally renowned jazz artists — including many with Colorado roots, such as singer Dianne Reeves, guitarist Bill Frisell and pianist Art Lande — will perform at various venues across Denver and Boulder, among them Dazzle, Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom, the Newman Center for the Performing Arts and the Boulder Theater. A pre-festival kickoff show with Lande will happen at Dazzle on Tuesday, November 26.

Froman — himself a jazz musician who can be seen regularly around town on trumpet and flugelhorn — has long been a boardmember of Denver's beloved Five Points Jazz Festival. When he met Lucoff soon after the latter's arrival in town, though, a plan for a new fest instantly began taking form.

"I'm still very involved in the Five Points Jazz Festival," Froman says, "but it's more of a street fair, a one-day festival that focuses exclusively on Colorado-based artists. What Don started talking about was a national jazz festival, like the ones that so many other cities the size of Denver, and even slightly smaller than Denver, have on an annual basis. When he asked me why Denver didn't have that kind of a festival, I didn't have a good answer. So that's what started the process."

Lucoff isn't just a dreamer; he's a doer. For more than thirty years, he's worked with famed jazz record labels such as Blue Note and Verve in his capacity as the head of public relations firm DL Media Music. He's also helped shepherd the careers of a breathtaking roster of jazz giants, from Freddie Hubbard to the Marsalis dynasty.

His most pertinent experience when it comes to Denver Jazz Fest, though, is his decades of live jazz marketing and promotion. He's contributed to the success of dozens of jazz festivals around the world, most recently in Portland, Oregon, with the successful PDX Jazz Festival.

"PDX Jazz has become a destination for jazz for people nationwide," Lucoff says. "We want to do the same with Denver."

Accordingly, the lineup of Denver Jazz Fest boasts such luminaries as saxophonist Isaiah Collier, jazz-funk godfathers the Headhunters (best known for their groundbreaking work with Herbie Hancock) and Denver-born, New York-based saxophonist Rico Jones, who cut his teeth at the Denver School of the Arts and in recent years has risen to the top of the jazz field.

Lucoff and Froman are equally excited about the community aspect of Denver Jazz Fest. In addition to all the concerts that they'll be sprinkling throughout Denver and Boulder, they've planned an extensive series of jazz clinics and educational outreach. Says Froman, "We're partnering with Metro State University's music department, Colorado Conservatory for the Jazz Arts and Aurora Public Schools. That kind of thing should be an important part of anyone that presents a jazz festival. It's critical that we have a pipeline of jazz artists and jazz fans.

"At one time," he adds, "jazz was America's popular music. We recognize that's no longer the case. It takes some consciousness to be sure that we continue to educate and make jazz available to as many people as possible in its future."

With many acts yet to be added to its already formidable lineup, Denver Jazz Fest is primed to keep that future bright.

Tickets for Denver Jazz Fest — including the pre-fest kickoff show with Art Lande at Dazzle, 1080 14th Street, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, November 26  — are available at denverjazz.org.