After more than a year offstage, jazz saxophonist Dave McMurray was itching to get back on the road and in front of live audiences. Over the summer, as jazz clubs slowly started reopening and audiences tentatively took their seats, he began touring in support of an album he recorded mostly during the pandemic a collection of jazz renditions of Grateful Dead songs.
In 2019, Denver s live jazz scene was thriving. A year later, it s on the brink of extinction.
That became most obvious in early December, when legendary bar El Chapultepec closed after nearly nine decades. It was the third jazz venue to shut down since COVID-19 arrived. Clubs like Dazzle and Nocturne are doing what they can to stay afloat, and less traditional spots like the Mercury Cafe and Muse Performance Space in Lafayette are relying on goodwill to weather the pandemic.
Before COVID-19, Denver boasted a long jazz tradition, stretching back to the 1920s, when Five Points was known as the Harlem of the West and jazz greats frequented town. El Chaputepec, which opened the day after Prohibition ended and originally offered mariachi music, eventually became a bar where young jazz musicians honed their chops and royalty like Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker, Tony Bennett, Eddie Harris and many more came to play.