DENVER — What baseball is to Cooperstown and the 500 is to Indianapolis, jazz is to Five Points.
From the 1930s through the 1960s, Denver's Five Points neighborhood was known as the "Harlem of the West" because of the number of live music clubs - more than 50 at its peak - and the caliber of performers who played them.
"You could go up and down Welton Street on any given night and hear great jazz music by three or four different artists. Sometimes a touring artist traveling through such as Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie," said Arturo Gomez, longtime music director at KUVO and one of the organizers of the former Five Points Jazz Festival.
Five Points had more than its share of hometown talent, too. Right there near the top of them, pianist Purnell Steen. He's played with just about everyone. He's toured the world. And now, at 84, he still regularly performs with his own band, Purnell Steen and the Five Points Ambassadors.
I had the honor of spending an afternoon with Steen. When you talk to him, it's best to do so at a piano because every one of his wonderful stories involves a song.
Mostly, when you're with Steen, you sit there listening in awe.
I asked him if he thinks Five Points gets the credit it deserves for its music and culture.
"No," Steen said. "Not only does Five Points not get it but as an overall, Denver doesn't get it. I get into fights with people who swear that Earth, Wind and Fire are not from Denver. I say they went to East High School! I played with Philip Bailey in church when he was 9," adds a frustrated Steen.
Steen often discusses the Five Points style of jazz, which he describes as dripping with attitude and energy. However, his cousin, the renowned bass player Charles Burrell, who frequently played Five Points jazz joints, describes it a little differently.
"He would say, 'You know what? I would look at the girl who had the biggest butt. She would be shaking her booty.' And he said, 'I'd be shaking it with her.' It was that kind of attitude that permeated. It was about fun. And a lot of dancing, of course," said Steen.
The Five Points music scene isn't just past tense. At least eight thriving live music clubs are in the neighborhood, and a new First Fridays Five Points music series is being launched.
"With five different venues having five different bands. I see a bright future because that's just a first step," explains Gomez.
What baseball is to Cooperstown and the 500 is to Indy, jazz is to Five Points. And an argument could be made that what jazz is to Five Points, Five Points is to Denver.
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