About Me
Nederland Acid Jazz is looking for a new home since Bears Brothers Bistro fucked us over. Do not patronize their establisment. They are scumballs!!!
Nederland Acid Jazz is a first class improvisational Jazz gig where the roster of performers changes from week to week. It is not uncommon that the musicians don't know who they will be playing with until they show up... hence the 'acid' in this 'Acid Jazz.' Often they have never performed with one and other before, and sometimes they have never even met until shortly before the gig.
You never know what you are going to get, but this always-evolving cast of extremely high-caliber musicians forces a fresh spark and creates a brand-new sound every Monday night.
NAJ was founded by "Michigan Mike" Torpie in July of '96. Although he does not play an instrument, Torpie does orchestrate the event and coordinates the musicians. Mike plays the telephone.
"It's become a real scene, especially for the musicians," said Torpie, who has been booking live entertainment in Nederland since 1995. "Some of the best players in the area come out just to listen, let alone hope for a chance to sit in."
The idea was to create an entirely new sound each week by composing an experimental new improv group each Monday. The idea started small but quickly became the hottest thing to hit Nederland in years.
"I began by using musicians I already knew from Boulder's best bands. I also worked some incredibly talented studio players into the rotation. Word spread of the energy being created and the club started filling up with musicians coming out to watch these other musicians. This brought calls and inquiries from a wealth of incredible talent. Monday evenings became the most popular night to go out in Nederland and the group consistently brought the biggest crowds to town. Audience numbers on weekend nights paled to Mondays."
Torpie combines players with different technical styles and musical backgrounds, such as putting together a be-bop guitarist with a funky bass player, and then mixing in a reggae-style drummer... and then throw in a three-piece Latin horn section for good luck. On any given Monday you will find any combination of drums, basses, guitars, pianos, trumpets, trombones, saxes, flutes, violins, banjos, mandolins, pedal steel, vibraphones, heck... even perhaps a kora.
Monday evenings can be filled with anything from traditional Jazz standards to jazzed-out versions of non-jazz songs, to free-form outer-spacey jams, or original tunes being played for the first time written by an individual that happens to be on the gig that night, and much more.
NAJ has received praise from the local and national media, and many great bands have formed as a result of the NAJ network. The gig has made its way thru a variety of venues over the years but the quality of the experience remains outstanding regardless as to where it happens. Everyone involved, musician and audience alike, has an exciting time when the music is playing!
BEST OF DENVER 2000...
Best place to get high and jam
Westword - Denver, CO - Thursday, June 29th 2000 issue
Let's Jam! The Front Range offers its share of impov work.
Laura Bond @ Westword - Denver, CO - Thurs, March 2nd 2000
"Michigan Mike may be the only promoter around who's booking suffered not even the slightest speed bump this month, as he keeps his train moving with Nederland Acid Jazz..."
- Dave Flomburg @ Boulder Weekly
"The hottest night of live music in Nederland is every Monday"
"The caliber of music is unparalleled in the area on any night."
- Jeffrey V. Smith @ The Mountain-Ear - Nederland
"When (the sessions) began upstairs at the tiny Top of The Square in Nederland every Monday night, it was clear that Torpie had orchestrated something important."
- Jeff Stratton @ The Onion - Denver
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