Five-day festival from nonprofit CMDance runs Sept. 16-20 across three Denver venues, with live music, dance performances and an artist Q&A

The Denver Jazz Festival returns Sept. 16-20, bringing five nights of live jazz, blues, swing, R&B and soul to venues across Denver. The festival is presented by Denver-based nonprofit Community-Minded Dance (CMDance) and includes seven shows spanning music, dance and artist conversations.

This year’s lineup includes Colorado and out-of-state musicians: The Delta Sonics Blues Band, Jeremy Mohney Band, Eyal Vilner Swing Band and Big Band, Zakiya Hooker and Ollan Bell, and the Gabriel Mervine All-Star Jazz Band.

The festival opens Wednesday, Sept. 16, with Denver’s Delta Sonics Blues Band at La Rumba, followed Thursday by Colorado swing and jazz artist Jeremy Mohney at My Motion Dance Company. Weekend programming shifts to The Studio Loft at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, running Friday through Sunday.

New York-based saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and bandleader Eyal Vilner performs two nights, starting with the Eyal Vilner Swing Band on Friday, Sept. 18. On Saturday, Sept. 19, the festival presents “Dance Across America: Follow the Birth of Blues Into Jazz,” pairing live music from the Eyal Vilner Big Band with blues and swing dancers tracing the relationship between blues, jazz and American vernacular dance.

Sunday’s program brings together Zakiya Hooker, daughter of blues musician John Lee Hooker, and R&B, soul and jazz artist Ollan Bell, who performed with The Natural Four during the 1970s soul era. Their performance is followed by an artist Q&A. The festival closes Sunday evening with Colorado trumpeter Gabriel Mervine and the Gabriel Mervine All-Star Jazz Band.

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Beyond the music, the festival explores the relationship between American music and vernacular dance through performances, social dancing and educational programming. That includes Lindy on the Rocks, focused on Lindy Hop classes, performances and social dancing, and Hot Night Fusion, featuring partner dance. Audiences can attend seated performances, join a beginner-friendly dance lesson or dance to live music.

Community-Minded Dance, founded in 1999, is a Denver-based nonprofit focused on arts education and performances rooted in solo and partnered vernacular dance.