Robert Johnson & The Mark Diamond Trio came together for a residency at Denver’s jazz club Nocturne. The performances were so successful, enjoyed by both the audience and band members alike, that the band decided to continue performing together. Eric Gunnison on piano, Dru Heller on drums, and Mark Diamond on bass, form the foundation for the amazing vocals of Robert Johnson, who was a member of Stevie Wonder’s band for five years. Robert’s voice soars, croons, scats, melts you into your seat, and at times makes you get up and dance! This group plays wonderfully arranged jazz standards as well as a variety of other genres from Brazilian Bossa Novas to some down home Blues. Don’t be surprised when you hear The Stylistics and Stevie Wonder, too!

 

$12 General Admission / $8 Museum Members

About the Band

Since making his home in Denver, Robert Johnson has been named Best Male Vocalist in the Denver Post’s Readers Poll, Best Jazz Vocalist by the Colorado Black Artists Association, was honored as Colorado’s Best Male Singer by the News and Radio Media and Best Male Vocalist by the Colorado Songwriters Association. Robert has shared the stage with many including Stevie Wonder, Angela Brown and Stan Getz and has appeared in national and regional productions of Porgy and Bess, Ain’t Misbehavin, Blues In The Night, A Brief History Of White Music, Showboat, The Full Monty, The Buddy Holly Story and as the voice of the plant in Little Shop Of Horrors. Robert has sung The National Anthem at the fourth game of the 1976 World Series in New York and the 1984 NBA All-Star game in Denver. Robert Johnson is an entertainer who is equally at home in every arena of performance. His voice can be heard on countless national commercials from United Artists Theaters, IBM and Toyota to Greyhound and Kentucky Fried Chicken. He’s also been Mr. Squirrel on the PBS Saturday Morning Series “The Big Green Rabbit.” Robert is said to “sing like butter.”

 

Mark Diamond‘s hard-grooving acoustic bass sound was born in the New York area, where he learned to play many musical styles. In 1980 he moved to Colorado and has since been a sought after sideman on over 100 albums, including Grammy award winner Tim O’Brien, Sally Taylor, (daughter of James and Carly) and Richie Cole. He has played for President Bill Clinton and other luminaries over the years. Mark has toured Europe, regularly appears at festivals and clubs across the country and has performed with legendary performers such as Earl Klugh, Nnenna Freelon, Spike Robinson, Richie Cole, James Moody, Ernestine Anderson, Henry Butler, Fred Wesley and Buddy Tate.

 

 

Based in Denver since 1980, pianist and composer Eric Gunnison has led a distinguished career during which he has not only established himself as one of the mainstays of the Mile High City’s vibrant jazz scene as an instrumentalist, bandleader and educator, but has also attracted a global following performing, touring and recording with internationally renowned jazz artists, including Carmen McRae, Roberta Gambarini, Rene Marie, Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars Big Band and Sextet, the Christian McBride Big Band among others.

 

 

Originally from Spokane, Washington, Dru Heller holds a masters degree in Jazz Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He has recorded and toured with artists such as Greg Osby, Don Byron, Ron Miles, Art Lande, Wycliffe Gordon, John Ellis, Kate McGarry, Dave Pietro, Byron Stripling, and many others. Dru also leads his own group and maintains a busy schedule as a freelance musician of the Denver jazz scene and is an affiliate faculty member of Metropolitan State University of Denver.

 

Purchase Tickets Online, or call 303-651-8374.

 

Other Friday Afternoon Museum Concerts

Longmont Museum Presents