Let's face it, La La Land was just an acknowledgment of what many in the arts community have known for at least a few years now - Jazz is as cool as it has ever been, and it's a great time to be a jazz fan. While the big cities on the coasts, and of course Chicago and New Orleans, have plenty of spots to see the big names as well as the up and comers playing great jazz daily, the heartland in the shadow of the Rockies is another jazz-centric locale as "Denver sits in on (another) rebirth of Jazz."
Once a pariah of youth culture, jazz is enjoying a resurgence with a hip slice of millennial fans and musicians near and far. As venues like Dazzle Jazz and the Meadowlark open their stages to informal jazz jam sessions every week, acts like BadBadNotGood and bassist Thundercat (who plays the Bluebird Theater next month) have leveraged their cross-generational appeal into top billing at rock rooms and massive music festivals. At Dazzle Jazz, the de facto epicenter of Denver’s jazz scene, that young blood runs backstage, too. The venue’s 23-year-old marketing manager, Mike Zubrinic, works alongside its 25-year-old music director, Michael Schreier, who began booking the venue after completing his master’s degree in jazz studies from the University of Northern Colorado a little over a year ago. Schreier said Dazzle not only caters to an “increased appreciation for jazz in youth,” but thanks to its internet presence, might also be partially responsible for it. As is common practice for businesses on social media, Dazzle targets a young demographic in its online advertising for acts like The Bad Plus and Danny McCaslin, bands Schreier described as “rabbit holes” into the genre’s deep expanse.
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