The great thing about having a new music festival in Denver to discover is there is no road map. No one knows yet how to navigate the new Denver Jazz Festival. So, like jazz itself, we get to make it up as we go along.
With 25 shows and three days remaining after Thursday night’s launch, I thought it might be fun to draw up a game plan to hit at least one show at all 12 participating venues. But with seven shows already sold out, including the centerpiece Saturday afternoon Dianne Reeves concert at DU, that’s a fool’s errand.
So instead, I offer you one recommended show at each venue over the next three days. This list only includes shows that, as of this writing, still have tickets available – which is why you’ll not see Denver’s jazz heartbeat, Dazzle, listed below, or the Café formerly known as Mercury (now called The Pearl), or the Spangalang Brewery. All shows at those venues are long gone.
DENVER
• Nocturne (1330 27th St.): Gabriel Mervine Quartet, 6:30 p.m. Friday. One of the most respected trumpeters and bandleaders in Colorado.
• Mississippi Boy Catfish & Ribs (5544 E 33rd Ave.): Danette Hollowell and the DJF Allstars, 7 p.m. Friday. Contemporary vocal powerhouse.
• Cervantes (2637 Welton St.): ALO, 8 p.m. Friday. The acronym stands for Animal Liberation Orchestra. Seamless fusion of rock, electronic, R&B, folk, funk and a touch of subtle wit.
• The Studio Loft (above the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Denver Performing Arts Complex): Erica Brown with the Delta Sonics, 3 p.m. Saturday. A mainstay in the Colorado blues scene teams with the area’s best harmonica-led band.
BOULDER AREA
• Fox Theatre (1135 13th St.): Ghost-Note, 8 p.m. Friday. A contagious tour-de-force of funk. Also playing at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Cervantes.
• Boulder Theater (2032 14th St.): Joe Lovano’s Paramount Quartet, 8 p.m. Saturday. The New York Times calls Lovano “one of the greatest musicians in jazz history.”
• The Muse (200 E. S. Boulder Road, Lafayette): Muse Allstars, 7 p.m. Sunday. A who’s-who of top-shelf Colorado talent.
There are also free nightly nightcap sets at the El Chapultepec Lounge (inside Dazzle) from 11 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Also: Free hotel sets at various times (but mostly between 4-7 p.m.) at the Maven, the Oxford, Aloft Denver Downtown, Hotel Teatro, Hotel Clio, Embassy Suites Downtown and The Crawford. Check denverjazz.org/tickets.
This just in: Seriesfest lineup
SeriesFest, the annual film festival for TV that calls Denver home, has announced the programming the 11th year of the event, coming up April 29 through May 4.
Panelists will include Tawny Cypress (“Yellowjackets”), Mayan Lopez (“Lopez vs Lopez”), Stephen Moyer (“Art Detectives”), Rhea Seehorn (“Cooper’s Bar”), Jocko Sims (“Gross Pointe Garden Society”) and Lisa Ann Walter (“Abbott Elementary”). Special screenings will include Small Ideas’ “Hal & Harper” starring Mark Ruffalo, Lili Reinhart and Cooper Raif; “Art Detectives” starring Stephen Moyer; “Devil In Disguise: John Wayne Gacy” starring Michael Chernus and Gabriel Luna; and “Cooper’s Bar” starring Rhea Seehorn.
SeriesFest’s 2025 “Impact in Television Award” will go to Carnival Films Chief Executive Officer Gareth Neame and Managing Director Nigel Marchant.
SeriesFest will also host Maury Povich, the longest-running daytime talk show host in history, for a special live taping of his new podcast, “On Par with Maury Povich. Info at seriesfest.com.
Tim McGraw at CSU
See Tim McGraw on July 21 at Colorado State University’s Canvas Stadium.
Getty Images
Grammy Award-winning country star Tim McGraw will perform July 21 at Colorado State University’s Canvas Stadium to help launch the Professional Bull Riders’ two-day “Best of the West” bull-riding competition. That’s 35 cowboys competing bracket-style over two nights for a $100,000 prize. McGraw plays after the first night of competition. Country star Jon Pardi plays the second night. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. April 16 at csurams.com or pbr.com. Tickets start at $55 for July 21 and $30 for July 22. (Sorry, Jon)….
Telluride headliner set
The Telluride Bluegrass Festival has announced that its 2025 headliner will be Toy Factory Project, a band created just for this occasion in memory of Marshall Tucker Band co-founder Toy Caldwell and his legendary songs.
The June 21 lineup includes Paul T. Riddle alongside modern greats Marcus King on guitar and vocals, Oteil Burbridge (Dead and Company) on bass, Charlie Starr (Blackberry Smoke) on guitar and vocals, Josh Shilling (Mountain Heart) on keys and vocals, and Billy Contreras (Lionel Hampton) on fiddle. This year’s fest is June 19-22. Others previously announced on the bill include Jason Isbell, Gillian Welch and Alison Krauss. A dwindling number of passes remain available at bluegrass.com.
More concert news
The big on-sale of the week is Mumford & Sons with Madison Cunningham, performing July 21-22 at Red Rocks. On sale 10 a.m. Friday at livenation.com. Also: Marilyn Manson is bringing his “One Assassination Under God” tour to the Fillmore Auditorium on Sept. 25. Tickets on sale 10 a.m. Friday at livenation.com …
Lenny Pearce, who remixes children’s favorites into modern hits, has added a second Denver show as part of his “Toddler Techno USA” tour. Shows now at 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on June 19 at the Gothic Theatre in Englewood. As they say, fun for the whole family. Dude has 2.5 million social-media followers. Tickets on sale at 10 a.m. Friday at axs.com …
Regina Spektor will stage a seated show Aug. 3 at Mission Ballroom. Tickets on sale 10 a.m. Friday at axs.com …
Broadway comes to Boulder County Friday (April 4) when Tony Award nominee Joe Iconis tickles the piano with Jason SweetTooth Williams at CenterStage in Louisville. Iconis is a musical-theater composer best known for Be “More Chill.” His next project is “The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical” …
Tickets at cur8.com …
Fun band name(s) of the week: Meshuggah with Cannibal Corpse and Carcass, all on one glorious lineup tonight (April 4) at the Fillmore Auditorium.
Photo call: Ed Reinhardt’s final curtain call
Ed Reinhardt takes his final bow at the end of from Sunday’s (March 30, 2025) closing performance of Magic Moments’ 2025 pop-music revue, “Don’t Stop Believin’.” This year’s show at Kent Denver School featured a cast of 112, including, for the 27th and last time, former University of Colorado Boulder football star whose survival from a devastating brain injury back in 1984 was nothing short of a miracle. Reinhardt made his only appearance at the climax of the show, leading the cast in a rendition of the classic Journey song.
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JOHN MOORE
Ed Reinhardt’s final performancefor Magic Moments on March 30, 2025.
‘Orange’ actor to speak on immigration
Diane Guerrero.
Courtesy University of Colorado
Actor Diane Guerrero, who played Maritza Ramos in the pop-culture phenom “Orange is the New Black” will lend her voice to the national conversation on immigration and social justice at 7 p.m. April 10 on the University of Colorado Boulder campus. On the show, Guerrero played a bubbly “Colombian Barbie” who only learns that she is not a U.S. citizen when she is caught clubbing without an ID. In real life, Guerrero’s parents were deported when she was 14. She will speak on the human impact of changing immigration policies and the resilience of immigrant communities. Tickets $2 for students; $10 public at eventbrite.com.
Control Group dance parties
Control Group Productions, known for presenting outdoor, socially conscious theatrical storytelling, is coming out of winter hibernation by hosting three distinct interactive (and indoor!) dance parties on consecutive April weekends at Manos Sagrados, 9975 E. Colfax Ave.
On April 12: “Recess,” club tracks weaved with improvised jams. On April 19: “Life of the Party,” celebrating Afrocentric music with live music, DJ sets and professional dancers. On April 26-27: “Field Trip”: An immersive romp through East Colfax. Info at events.humanitix.com.
Denver actor is breaking out
Longtime Denver stage actor Amie MacKenzie’s TV roll continues unabated with word she has now been cast in a supporting role on an as-yet untitled HBO movie about billionaires that is being shot right now in Park City, Utah. It stars Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Cory Michael Smith and Ramy Youssef. MacKenzie recently popped up in “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” and, on Thursday, there she was again in the new Episode 6 of “Pulse,” a Netflix drama that follows the lives of doctors at a Miami trauma center. What’s that, you want more? She’s all lined up to appear in Taylor Sheridan’s “The Madison” starring Michelle Pfeiffer, “The Last Day” starring Alicia Vikander, and “The Man Who Changed the World,” directed by Greg Pritikin.
Briefly …
CHAC (the Chicano Humanities and Arts Council) has postponed Friday’s scheduled tribute art show, “Still Dreaming of You,” a collection of Selena-inspired artwork from Denver’s best artists, to April 12 (11 a.m.-4 p.m.) because of anticipated bad weather. It’s at 40 West, located at 7060 W. 16th Ave. in Lakewood.
And finally …
Will we ever see bonafide live theater in the Elitch Theatre again? Who knows, but after 38 numbing years closed, at least we can take comfort in the fact that it still stands. This summer, we can also sit outside it and listen to live music. The Historic Elitch Theatre is launching Concerts in the Carousel, a series of free live concerts on summer Sunday afternoons under the bandshell that once covered the world-famous (but long gone) Elitch carousel. The lineup: Hazel Miller on June 15, the Denver Mandolin Orchestra on July 13, and the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra on Aug. 10. Not to brag, but I beat them all to the punch a long time ago when my pals and I played a Violent Femmes cover of “Blister in the Sun” as part of a rogue birthday party in that exact same spot – with a guitar amplifier and everything. But this will be good, too. Info at historicelitchtheatre.org.