“. . . a warm mix of lyricism, harmonic density, solid time, and the blues. There’s a sweetness and clarity of tone that sings out of his horn even when it’s at its most burning.” —All About Jazz
Dominic Lalli is beloved for his sonic adventures, and in this special performance he digs deep into the jazz foundations of his acclaimed career. While millions know Lalli as the saxophone powerhouse behind the chart-topping electronic music duo Big Gigantic, this concert offers a rare chance to witness the virtuosic, improvisational artistry Lalli honed during his time in New York studying with Bob Mintzer, Dave Liebman, Kenny Barron, and other jazz masters.
This concert showcases Lalli’s breathtaking technique and deep fluency in jazz traditions. However, he doesn’t leave his electronic identity behind. The music will feature works from his sophisticated jazz project, Dominic Lalli’s Bluebird Quintet. This project yielded his 2020 acoustic album, A Blind Man’s Blue, which featured an incredible lineup of musicians, including the great, late cornetist Ron Miles, along with trumpet player Greg Gisbert, pianist Eric Gunnison, bassist Bijoux Barbosa, and drummer Rudy Royston. This pedigree is a testament to Lalli’s stature in the jazz world.
Lalli’s sound is a dynamic force that appeals equally to jazz purists, fans of funk and hip-hop, and anyone who appreciates innovative musicianship.
Whether you’re a long-time fan curious to hear his roots or a jazz enthusiast ready for a thrilling, genre-defying experience, this concert promises an evening of explosive energy and unfiltered saxophone brilliance.
Dominic Lalli
Bluebird Quintet
Sun, April 12
|
5:00 PM
&
7:30 PM
Presented by Denver Jazz Fest – Sold Out
PERSONNEL
Dominic Lalli: tenor saxophone
Shane Endsley: trumpet
Peter Stoltzman: piano
Hunter Roberts: bass
Obed Calvaire: drums
Ticket prices: $25 | $30 | $35
PERSONNEL
Dominic Lalli: tenor saxophone
Shane Endsley: trumpet
Peter Stoltzman: piano
Hunter Roberts: bass
Obed Calvaire: drums
Ticket prices: $25 | $30 | $35
Gimme 5
Five questions with Dominic Lalli
Don Lucoff: You have referenced a couple fomenters and/or teachers when you were deep in the jazz trenches during your New York tenure. Can you speak about who those influences were and how they impacted and formally shaped you as a player and musician.?
Dominic Lalli: Absolutely. I really think those major influences started for me in my undergraduate in Arizona, with an amazing bassist and educator, Joel DiBartolo. Joel was such an incredible friend and an amazing teacher and really was so influential to me at a time when my life probably could have went in a lot of different directions. He just naturally inspired me to want to pursue music and really fall in love with jazz and fall in love with the process of getting better at music every day. He had such a natural way of inspiring. Amazing stories, amazing player. I still think about him often. I was playing jazz and classical music at school and playing funk music at local bars at night, and he was always uplifting and encouraging about what I was doing musically.
After that, I was fully locked in starting my masters degree at Manhattan School of Music. Studying with Bob Mintzer, Dave Liebman and Dick Oatts helped me really take my playing to another level and open up a new world of saxophone playing and understanding harmony and melody and improvising in general. Not to mention all of the students who I met along the way who, at the time, were playing like pros and are now many of the people you hear on prominent jazz records today. Just such a beautiful enriching time of my life and something I always keep close in my mind.
D Lucoff: How did the Bluebird Quintet come into existence and what was the initial creative spark and what keeps things rolling, then and now?
D Lalli: The Bluebird Quintet was like my idea of the Denver connection to my NY music. I got the idea of the name from the Mountain Bluebird and thought that would be fitting for a variety of reasons. When I moved to Denver, I met some many incredible musicians who had either spent time in NY or were heading to NY soon and was lucky enough to play with them when I first got here, and that really inspired me to keep the music flowing out here. I had a weekly gig with Pat Bianchi and Colin Stranahan for a couple years and was getting to play Rudy Royston and Ron Miles a bit, plus Art Lande and Jim White just to name a few. The scene here in Denver was (and still is) deep with some insanely talented musicians.
Nowadays I’m still inspired by the music and the scene here in Denver and all the music out in the world in general. Jazz is my first love so its natural for me to want to keep if flowing and keep trying to push myself and continue writing as well as I do in all of my groups.
D Lucoff: Talk about some of your musical influences over the course of your career. You’ll be featured in our festival that will have a heavy focus on the music of Miles and Coltrane that celebrates their 100th birthdays.
D Lalli: Yes, very excited about being a part of the lineup this year at the Denver Jazz Fest. Celebrating Miles and Coltrane is such a treat as Miles and Trane were such huge influences in jazz music and for myself as a musician as well. Early on I think I heard a lot of more modern players at the time, Mike Brecker, Bob Mintzer, Josh Redman, and was really excited about their playing. After reading interviews and things about them, they talked about their influences, which were Trane, Wayne Shorter, Miles, Joe Henderson, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock, Bird, and such, which made me go back and start from the beginning and dig into these older records to find out where the music was coming from. It was a very eye-opening experience for me. Nowadays, my musical inspiration runs so deep and diverse because I’m writing so much different music stylistically, but I always try to just keep an open mind and wonder, what can I take from all that I’ve learned musically, and put it into what I’m working on in the present moment. That usually keeps me excited about whatever music I’m making at the particular time.