Ralph Sutton’s Last Hurrah

Last month, I included a partial list of discontinued festivals in my column. Performing at these festivals provided me with memories that make me smile to this day. One was my 30-minute set duetting with piano legend Ralph Sutton during the Sunday afternoon session of the 2001 Summit Jazz Festival in Denver, CO. Every second of that amazing opportunity still resonates. The Summit Jazz Festival combined elements of a traditional jazz festival and jazz party. It was a single venue event; acts performed once each on Friday and Sunday and twice on Saturday. Alongside the top traditional jazz bands of the day, the directors featured a hand-picked “All-Star” group comprised of musicians more often found on the Jazz Party circuit. The quality of music was nonpareil: the atmosphere serious but convivial. Bands played at their top level at this event; guest artists thrived and delivered some of the best performances of their career. Fronting a legion of dedicated board members and volunteers was the team of Alan Frederickson (trombonist, founder of the Queen City Jazz Band and propagator of gay badinage; in terms of appearance and personality a cross between Edmund Gwenn in Miracle on 34th Street and Barry Fitzgerald in…oh, anything) and Juanita Greenwood Frederickson (stately promoter and fan of hot jazz; firm friend of jazz musicians for over 50 years; in terms of appearance and per