Native American trumpet artist Delbert Anderson and his quartet will perform at the Mancos Opera House on Friday, Feb. 28. The show starts at 6 p.m.
“It’s the first time I’m playing in Mancos,” Anderson said. “I just can’t wait to be there and connect.”
Last week, Anderson reached out to the Mancos Creative District to see if the Delbert Anderson Quartet could perform somewhere in town.
“I knew there was an art scene in Mancos,” Anderson said. Plus, it’s close to where they’re staying and the group is all in the same place, which doesn’t always happen.
“I figured, why don’t we play somewhere,” he said.
Chelsea Lunders, the executive director of the Mancos Creative District, said she’s really excited for their “beautiful blend of music from different cultures, which fits with our vision.”
With the help of the Mancos Public Library, a Colorado Creative Industries’ Folk and Traditional Arts grant, and the Sullivan Foundation, they were able to pool funds and pull it off on short notice.
To help the aforementioned groups – plus the creative district – at least break even, there’s a suggested $15 donation at the door.
For years now, the creative district has worked with artists to give them platforms to share their art, especially if they’re Indigenous, LGBTQ+ or otherwise marginalized, said Tess Lynston, a liaison and board member at the Mancos Creative District.
“To have this sort of talent in our community is not an everyday event,” Lynston said. “Usually you’d have to go to the city for this caliber of talent. Plus, it’s cultural and ties into the culture of our region.”
Anderson is Diné, and he said that culture informs all of his projects- music included.
He weaves Diné “spinning songs,” which teach a lesson or manner, into the music the group plays.
But before they play, Lynston said that at 6 p.m., they’ll kick off the event with an interview.
She’s conducting it, and said that she intends to ask Anderson more about his music, culture and improvisation, in addition to a few fun, random questions.
Earlier still, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. that afternoon, there’s a free workshop at the opera house. It’s open to all ages but geared toward high school students, said Lunders.
“All ages are welcome to come and will learn something,” she said.
And it’s not just for musicians, either.
“We’ll talk about improv,” Anderson said. “We’ll also talk about how we’re in control of the choices we have to make in life. It’ll be therapeutic, hopefully, from a musician’s point of view.”
Anderson said that “to this day,” improv, or “the idea of playing something from the top of my head, is interesting.”
He said he was first exposed to it in the fourth grade, when a jazz trio came to his school and performed.
On the last song, he remembers how they turned the music stand around and jammed. Afterward, they gave a name to what they had done: Improvisation.
“I remember he said that music is not from the page, it comes from inside us,” Anderson said. “I thought that was so cool.”
It inspired him to pick up the trombone, unsuccessfully. So he pivoted and picked up the trumpet instead, and “two little squeaks came out.”
“I was hooked,” he laughed.
Middle school was his first real opportunity to play jazz and explore improvisation. Ever since, it’s been “close to who I am.”
Just as Anderson brings jazz and improv to the stage, the three other musicians in the quartet bring with them “their individual likings.”
Anderson called the bass player “funky,” the drummer contemporary and reggae-inspired, and said the pianist likes old school hip-hop.
“All together, our sound is unique,” Anderson said. “And it’s based on Indigenous songs and culture.”
Mancos is the first stop in a series of shows they are performing. On Saturday, they perform in Kayenta, Utah, and then they’re headed to Las Vegas to perform for three nights.
