Best Local Musician
Mark Sloniker remains the readers' favorite as "Best Local Musician." The local pianist again overwhelmed the competition, capturing nearly half of all votes. Bard Hoff, who didn't even place last year, narrowly beat out Kenny Cordova for the silver. Cordova, who tied for second last year, takes home the bronze.

Jazz music is alive and well in northern Colorado. Sure, this isn't New Orleans or New York and we may not have entire neighborhoods of smoky jazz clubs blaring the sounds of brassy horns and bop rhythums onto our sidewalks, but local fans of this American-born form of improvisational music will not be dissappointed with the opportunities to hear live jazz music and become immersed in its lingo and culture.

Certainly the most notable resource for jazz fans in this region is in proximity to one of the few all-jazz public radio stations in the United States. Denver-based KUVO (89,3 FM or www.kuvo.org) offers programming that certainly lives up to its motto, the oasis in the city. Its diverse music format features classic and contemporary jazz, along with a healthy serving of blues, salsa, and Latino music. The station blends local jazz shows, hosted by resident DJs. Rodney Franks and Andy O'Leary, with nationally-syndicated programs such as Jazz Set, hosted by legendary band leader Branford Marsalis. KUVO features live performances from famous clubs throughout the country. You can catch jazz profiles with Nancy Wilson, which documents the musical careers of jazz masters.

As any jazz fan will tell you, the music is best experienced live and in-person, and Fort Collins is a bit of an oasis for live jazz itself. The best opportunity to experience live jazz in Fort Collins is on Wednesday nights from 7:30-10:30pm at the Crown Pub (134 S. College Ave.), where the Sloniker Trio heats up the downstairs den with its improvisational styles. Band leader and pianist Mark Sloniker has been performing locally for several years and the bands current incarnation includes bassist Jason Hollar and drummer Mark Raynes. Although they are named as a trio, they regularly invite guest musicians to pop in for a set. Regulars include trumpet player Kirk Knuffke and guitarist Ron Cottingham. "Jazz belongs in a cellar," said Sloniker about the cozy environment of the Crown Pub's basement. Indeed, it is the kind of room that jazz was made for. Updated for modern times, the basement is smoke-free until 10:00pm.

The unexpected makeup of the group on any given night seems to fit the improvisational nature of jazz: "You never know what you're going to experience during these sets, but you won't be dissappointed." Sloniker says that the group plans to feature the work of a jazz artist each week, and the feature might depend on which local musician joins them for an evening. For instance, they might feature the music of Miles Davis and invite a guest trumpet player. Sloniker indicated that the format is a great way to expose people to the artistry of jazz greats and to introduce local jazz musicians to the public. He extols the spontaneity of jazz, and relates it to the roots of improvisation in European classical music. Leonard Bernstein once described jazz as America's unfolding classical music for the 20th century. "Many baroque composers such as Bach and Mozart were also great improvisers" explained Sloniker. As Americans, we should take pride in the contribution that jazz has made to the arts. For more information on Sloniker and the trio, check out www.marksloniker.com.

In addition to the Crown Pub, Jon's Blue Note cafe (147 W.Oak), which shares its name with the quintessential New York jazz club and the legendary recording label, features pianist Justin Bzdek & Friends every Thursday from 7:00-9:00pm. When Justin is not plunking away on the keys, you can often be treated to fine recordings of be-bop celebrities like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. The setting of the cafe seems to fit the jazz mood; you can sip a cappuccino while checking out beautiful black-and-white photographs of jazz legends such as John Coltrane and Sarah Vaughan, as well as the artwork of local painters and photographers.

Local jazz/blues legend Walt Jenkins hosts a jazz jam every other Wednesday at Linden's Brewing Co (236 Linden St.) and welcomes other musicians to sit in with him and his band and take the stage altogether. On occasion, the beloved Aggie Theater (204 S. College Ave.) plays host to jazz bands such as the dynamite Jazz Mandolin Project, which played there in September. Also, the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley offers a jazz studies degree program and regularly features performances by faculty, student jazz bands, and nationally acclaimed jazz musicians, as well as a jazz festival.

"Jazz belongs in a cellar, " said keyboardist Mark Sloniker,, one of the leading players at Crown Pub's weekly jazz event. "This is the size of club where jazz gets made." Along with saxophonist Jim Franzen, Sloniker has created a "fertile environment" for jazz at the Crown Pub. That environment is good for both the players and the audience, who Sloniker believes shares in the creation of the music as well. "This music never gets played the same way twice, so it's like the audience is making the music up, too. It's like we're all on a team together," Sloniker said.

At the Crown Pub, the team not only includes Sloniker and Franzen, but musicians such as Denver drummer Mark Raynes and Fort Collins bassist Jason Hollar. It also includes guest musicians, sometimes including music students who Sloniker characterizes as "playing way too dangerously for people that young." Just as the music attracts players of varying ages, it attracts an audience that spans generations. "Jazz is so cool because it reaches young people, old people, and in-between people," Sloniker said, "I love this music."

Jazz music is scheduled at the Crown Pub on Wednesdays in a smoke-free environment. Sloniker also performs at Jay's Bistro every Thursday through Saturday and at Juan's Cantina in Loveland on Tuesdays.

On the cover of his brand new Fahrenheit Records release, "Do Whatcha Love," well-known For Collins keyboardist Mark Sloniker is lovingly hunched over his young son, both their sets of hands reaching out to the keys on a piano.

But what looks like a father giving his offspring a music lesson may very well be just the opposite. In fact, Sloniker's son and infant daughter are teaching their famous parent quite a bit about life in general.

"One of the biggest things for me right now is being a dad," Sloniker said recently. "When you're caring for children, you have to improvise all the time. Kids ask really hard questions and it's such a challenge to come up with the answers. You have to be in the moment and you have to be organized at the same time. They're teaching me a lot!" Of course, improvising is not a foreign skill to a man who adopted jazz as his main musical expression.

AROUND TOWN: Mark Sloniker, seven times best musician in the Best of Fort Collins surveys, plays at Linden's, Jay's American Bistro, and the Rocky Mountain Coffee Connection.

Though Sloniker has rock, funk and even classical music in his background, jazz has captured his imagination with a freewheeling character that makes every performance different. "I love the freedom that is in jazz," Sloniker said, "The improvisation is almost a lifestyle. It also means being in the moment and that you don't play the same thing night after night. Anything can happen at any moment."

For Sloniker, this has translated into a high-profile local career that landed him an enviable gig - performing weekly as the "house musician/pianist" at the now closed Wine Cellar restaurant lounge for 11 years. In his "couple thousand" performances at the Wine Cellar, Sloniker was given the security to develop his music in front of an intimate audience while playing with not only local, but also nationally and internationally known musicians.

Losing that security, however, has given Sloniker an opportunity to grow even more. He has been playing out in a variety of other local venues and has found that the change has been healthy. "It's been good for me to reinvent myself. With each new place I play, the music comes out just a little bit differently," Sloniker said. Just as Sloniker's live playing has grown and changed over the years, so has his recorded work.

His first album, "Paths of Heart," released in 1986, mixed jazz and New Age music influences for a sound that was both soothing and artful. His latest album, however, is almost pure jazz, fusing melody and rhythum into a crisp, crystalline music. The music on "Do Whatcha Love" could be called something like "lyrical jazz," combining a love for positive, major-key melody lines with a distinct rhythmic movement while leaving room for musicians such as bassist Kirwan Brown, saxophonist Bob Rebholtz and vocalist Taylor Mesple to add their own ideas to the tunes.

In Concert Tim Van Schmidt

"Of all the records I've done so far, there is more improvisation on this one. There's more room for soloists and jams. It makes sense that if you're working with musicians that you love and respect that you want their light to shine through. You do that by leaving them room to play," Sloniker said.

Combine Sloniker's recording and performance careers and you have the stuff that has voted him "Best Local Musician" in the Coloradoan's "Best of Fort Collins" readers poll for either consecutive years. That is an honor that Sloniker shyly accepts, but would just as soon share with the many other local musicians that he works with.

"It's nice to be noticed and I really appreciate it, but there are a lot of 'best local musicians' and I've been fortunate to work with a lot of them. In fact, I want to do more and more of that because there are a lot of great players in town and a great diversity of styles," Sloniker said.

This pianist manages to step aside all the drawbacks that plague the form. While most New-Agers put out pretty music that gets rather shallow, this artist maintains his depth. Sloniker and his sidemen are jazz-oriented and rhythm-conscious. The title cut, for instance, is bluesy in nature, but has a "New Age Feel" with Larry Beck on the English Horn. At the same time, however, Peter Huffaker's bass and Mark Raynes' drums lift the song into a more jazz-like feel.

"Lifestream" is like that, too, with a good rhythmic feeling from Huffaker and Raynes, but also has a semi-classical duet nature from Beck and Sloniker. Sloniker is a strong pianist, and his work makes "Lightheart Suite" just that-- a suite, even though it is only three minutes long. His approach to this musical is mindful of Paul Winter's material in the early 80's. It blends a distinctly jazz-like sound with ideas that are classical and folk-rooted.