Jazz Notes: Sweum on sax has style to spare
Ricky Sweum
Tonight at Dazzle, saxophonist Ricky Sweum performs music from his impressive CD Pulling Your Own Strings. The party marking the release of his disc on Origin Record was originally scheduled for late 2009, but a snow storm cancelled that event. Now, he’s catching up with the quartet featured on the CD that has Wayne Wilkinson on guitar, Jason Crowe on bass and Henrique De Almeida on drums.
Until I listened to this disc on Origin Records, I had only heard Sweum in a big-band context as part of the U.S. Air Force Academy’s the Falconaires (his regular job) and with the Chie Imaizumi Jazz Orchestra. As good as Sweum is in that big-band environment, he is even more imposing in the quartet setting, performing his own strong compositions, dedicated to saxophonist Michael Brecker, with style to spare.
The music, which has some Sonny Rollins-inspired outings, effectively covers a range of moods and it’s certainly clear why KUVO selected the release as one of its albums of the month. Sweum (who also leads the jazz ensemble at Colorado College) and his musical friends hit the stage at Dazzle, 930 Lincoln, at 7 and 9 p.m. ($10/$7 students, 303-839-5100). After Sweum finishes, Darren Kramer brings his Electric Trombone Project to the lounge side of Dazzle at 10:30 p.m. ($5).
Then, on Friday, pianist Matt Savage visits the Augustana Lutheran Church, 5000 E. Alameda, at 7:30 p.m. in a solo, “Improvisational Jazz Mode” concert sponsored by Augustana Arts ($20/$10 students and seniors, 303-388-4962). Diagnosed with autism when he was three-years old, Savage taught himself to play the piano by the time he was six. What’s rather amazing is that by the time he was nine, Savage was playing for Dave Brubeck and jamming with Chick Corea and McCoy Tyner.
Matt Savage
In 2003, the 11-year-old pianist performed at the Blue Note in New York. The next year, he was at Birdland with players such as Clark Terry (who, by the way, is one of the seven artists to receive this year’s “Lifetime Achievement Award” presented by the Recording Academy at Grammy time).
Now, Savage is all of 17 and his last two CDs have been the Palmetto label. He’s one prodigy who has been anything but a flash-the-pan.
Also on Friday, bassist Ken Walker brings his top-notch sextet to Dazzle for the band’s monthly visits. Walker and company (that includes Sweum on saxophone this time around) play at 7 and 9 p.m. ($12). On Saturday, another of Denver’s talented bassist, Bijoux Barbosa, brings a tribute to Chick Corea’s Acoustic Band to Dazzle at 7 and 9 p.m. ($10/$5 students for 9 p.m. show).
Come Sunday, the Colorado Saxophone Quartet and Polarity are on stage at Dazzle at 7 p.m. ($10), while on Tuesday and Wednesday, the club on Lincoln hosts the Colorado Conservatory for the Jazz Arts (CCJA) annual event showcasing the talents of its students. The CCJA affair at Dazzle is free and starts at 6:30 p.m. on both evenings. Additionally, on Monday, the Legacy Jazz Orchestra continues its weekly visit to Herb’s, 2057 Larimer, performing the big-band music of Thad Jones at 7:30 p.m. (303-299-9555).
February may be a month short on days, but it’s not one that’s short on music. Upcoming at Dazzle during February, for example, there’s the terrific singer Roberta Gambarini with Convergence (Feb. 4-6), the masterful trumpeter Tom Harrell and his quintet (Feb. 9-12) and the engaging guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg and his quartet (Feb. 18-19). The inventive Turtle Island String Quartet is also around, doing John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme at the Lakewood Cultural Center on Feb. 27 (303-987-7845) and collaborating with the Luna Negra Dance Company and Paquito D’Rivera at CU-Boulder’s Macky Auditorium on Feb 28 (303-492-8423). And, on the subject of collaborations, banjo master Bela Fleck brings his Africa Project to the Boulder Theater on Feb. 8 (303-786-7030). Additionally, Mount Vernon Country Club offers a new voice on the scene, Sachal Vasandani, on Feb. 17 (303-526-0616). That’s a lot of sounds for an abbreviated month.
Looking even further ahead, the Telluride Jazz Celebration is moving back to its traditional time at the start of August after a two-year experiment at holding the festival in early June. The guest of honor for this year’s event is pianist/composer Toshiko Akiyoshi (970-728-7009).
Norman Provizer writes a Jazz Notes column on Thursdays at kuvo.org. Provizer, who’s also a political science professor at Metropolitan State College of Denver, was a regular contributor to the Rocky Mountain News.
Jazz Notes for the week of Jan. 21, 2010
Jazz Notes for the week of Jan. 14, 2010
Jazz Notes for the week of Jan. 7, 2010
