Purnell Steen, a joyous Colorado jazz pianist-bandleader and tireless civil rights advocate, died on Nov. 18. He was 84.
Steen was seemingly at all times illuminating Denver space levels along with his formidable keyboard abilities and swish knowledge. His web site lists a present with one among his bands, Purnell Steen & The 5 Factors Ambassadors, at Dazzle earlier this month. Regardless of growing well being points, he made the gig.
Born on April 15, 1941, at Denver’s Mercy Hospital, Steen was drawn to music as a younger baby, telling the Colorado Music Expertise podcast that he was given a toy piano on the age of three.
“The black keys had been painted on,” he stated.
Steen studied music at Denver’s East Excessive Faculty and the College of Colorado Boulder earlier than establishing himself on the native music scene.
A number of of his family had been additionally music luminaries: Colorado bassist Charles Burrell, who broke the colour barrier within the Denver Symphony and died earlier this 12 months at 104; influential jazz fusion keyboardist George Duke; fabled saxophonist-blues singer Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson; and vocalist and a number of Grammy recipient Dianne Reeves had been all his cousins.
Bassist Andrew Hudson, who labored with Steen for years, informed JHB the pianist had a rigorous work schedule up till the top.
“He was the form of man who would play two church providers on a Sunday, a funeral on Tuesday, a jazz gig on Thursday and Friday, then he’d go carry out with the Symphony on Saturday. And he might need a marriage in between there as effectively. He informed me many occasions he was placed on this Earth to make music, and that’s definitely what he did,” stated Hudson, who can also be a former spokesman for politicians, firms and businesses.
Steen was dedicated to civil rights, courting again to the Nineteen Sixties, as a member of the NAACP Nationwide Board of Youth and the Congress of Racial Equality. And he was a lifetime booster of the inventive tradition that was fostered in Denver’s 5 Factors neighborhood, which dated again to earlier than he was born.
His teams, The 5 Factors Ambassadors and Le Jazz Machine, typically appeared on Denver levels, showcasing the swinging music he beloved so deeply. And Steen was at all times smitten by presenting new native jazz expertise.
“Purnell was a kind of guys who you simply thought was going to final for eternity,” Hudson stated. “He’s been round for therefore lengthy, and he’s been such a staple in not simply the jazz group, however the Denver group.”
Throughout a web based efficiency recorded in 2021, Steen stated, “One factor that I really like about jazz is that it is rather intergenerational, and jazz actually is without doubt one of the best artwork kinds as a result of it transcends socioeconomic distinctions; additionally, it transcends all ethnic distinctions.
“And jazz is what it’s – it’s America’s music, it was invented right here. The one artwork kind created within the Western Hemisphere. It’s distinctly American.”
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