Eef the “Tall Dutch girl” showcases two bands at Blues N BBQ

By Steve Graham

A leading Colorado blues musician has had many titles, but just one name: Eef.

She currently leads Eef and the Blues Express, a funky blues sextet that will play at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 17, at the Blues & BBQ Festival for Better Housing. She also plays rhythm guitar and sings backup for Nick of Time, a Bonnie Raitt cover band that kicks off Blues & BBQ at 11 a.m.

Blues & BBQ Festival for Better Housing

Time: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Date: Saturday, July 17 Place: Citizens Park, 5560 W. 24th Ave., Edgewater Cost: $10 Info: www.bluesnbbq.com

For 11 years, she has been driving ((Eef and)) the Blues Express, an acclaimed funky blues mainstay on the local scene. The band officially debuted in 2010. After some lineup changes in the early years, the five members haven’t changed for five years.

"Eef's band has rocked our festival for years," says Ranger Miller, who founded Blues & BBQ for Better Housing. "Her band is tight and they get the crowd on their feet every time."

Eef and the Blues Express was selected to play at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, and was a semi-finalist in 2017. The group has also opened for major blues acts such as Coco Montoya and Tommy Castro, and won local blues awards. Eef is well-known in the scene as “the tall Dutch girl with the red guitar.”

She calls the band’s funky style “Eef Blues,” and steers away from playing traditional blues.

“I wasn’t born in Mississippi. I think it’s disrespectful, honestly, to try to mimic the real traditional blues,” she said. “I’m a white girl from Europe, so I play my own stuff.”

She has a particularly full slate this week. In addition to the two sets at Blues & BBQ, she is playing at 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 14, at Larimer Square with Stacey Turpenoff. Eef and the Blues Express also is closing out the Paint the Town Blue series on Thursday, July 15, at Thorndale Park in Colorado Springs. Click here for all her upcoming gigs. 

Check out the September issue of Thirst Colorado for a more complete profile of Eef and her band. 

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More about the festival

The 24th annual Blues & BBQ Festival for Better Housing is once again raising money for Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver while bringing great music and fantastic barbecue to Edgewater. The event has raised $355,000 for affordable housing to date.   

"We powered through COVID and kept the fundraising going to help people find affordable housing," says Ranger Miller, the festival founder. "Our sponsors are phenomenal and they believe in our mission to put roofs over people's heads. After 24 years, the festival has so much support from volunteers and people who just like to show up and spend the day rocking and chilling." 

Festival tickets cost $10. VIP tickets cost $100, and include food, craft beer and wine in an exclusive area near the stage.

This year’s lineup is almost entirely female-fronted:

11 a.m. Nick of Time (Bonnie Raitt cover band)

12 p.m. Teledonna (R&B soul-rock)

1 p.m. MojoMama (blues rock)

2 p.m. Eef and the Blues Express (Eef blues) 

3 p.m. Cass Clayton Band (roots music)

4 p.m. Zepp11 (Led Zeppelin cover band)

5 p.m. Cast Iron Queens (neo-soul and blues)

6 p.m. Wild Love Tigress (funk, soul and blues)  

7 p.m. Duke Street Kings

Ron Miles Stays on the Beat

Denver Jazz Icon Continues to Compose Music While Inspiring the Next Generation

By Jay McKinney

If you’re not well versed in contemporary jazz, it may come as a surprise to find out that Denver is home to one of the genre’s heavy hitters. Ron Miles is a cornetist, trumpeter and composer who is as modest as the day is long, despite his career achievements. He’s quick to give credit to his fellow bandmates and his kind, soft-spoken demeanor makes him seem like a character out of “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Miles has lived in Denver since he moved from Indiana with his family when he was 11. Since then, he has established himself as a prominent figure in jazz, as well as the Denver community.

Miles developed an interest in jazz when he was in middle school and instrumental music was still a major part of the culture. In his youth, musicians like Maynard Ferguson and Chuck Mangione could be heard on the radio and helped foster his love of the genre. His parents also spoke of the monumental impact that legends such as Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery, Thelonious Monk and Ella Fitzgerald had on the culture and this laid the groundwork for him to become a jazz master.  

His preferred instrument is the often-overlooked cornet, which is related to the trumpet but provides a mellower tone. “The cornet lets me sit in the texture of the band,” Miles says. “The cornet originally was the jazz instrument. But when Louis (Armstrong) switched to trumpet, basically everyone switched as he is the most important figure in the music.” 

Miles says there have been some notable cornetists since Armstrong’s decision to switch, with some of his personal influences being Don Cherry, Olu Dara, Ruby Braff and Thad Jones. 

Listen to Miles’ latest album, “Rainbow Sign,” released in October 2020, and get a true sense of what the cornet can bring to a jazz ensemble. Recorded with fellow musicians Bill Frisell (guitar), Jason Moran (piano), Thomas Morgan (bass) and Brian Blade (drums), the album has been critically successful and contains elements of pop and blues in addition to jazz. 

Miles admits he was an unabashed jazz and classical snob, but the influence of pop music found in Rainbow Sign has been profound. “In my heart there was always a love for pop music, and once I let that influence resonate, my music started to sing,” Miles says. Some of his pop music influences include artists such as Prince, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Bee Gees and Public Enemy. 

““It’s lucky for us to have someone who’s such a world-class, innovative musician like that here in Denver. Just the fact that he’s been able to build this international career from this home base in Denver has always been something really kind of unique and cool about Ron’s career.””

— jazz trumpeter Shane Endsley

When Miles isn’t composing and performing his own music, he shares his love of jazz with younger generations as a teacher at the Metropolitan State University of Denver where he has taught for nearly 30 years. 

One of his colleagues at Metro, fellow jazz trumpet player Shane Endsley, describes Miles as an incredibly important inspiration and mentor. 

Endsley has been at Metro for just five years but he has known Miles his entire life. Endsley’s father was a professional trumpet player, music publisher and instrument maker who would collaborate with Miles frequently.

When Endsley started falling in love with jazz in high school, he took advantage of the family connection and started informally studying under Miles by going over to his house whenever he could. In addition, Endsley would often check out his gigs, noting that he was more active playing live music in those days. 

Now that Endsley teaches jazz at the same university with Miles, one might say their relationship has come full circle. “I think a really thoughtful teacher is someone who is always looking to develop the personal voice of their student,” Endsley says. “I just always get the sense with him that he’s just really trying to open up creativity and inspiration for the person he’s working with, and also of course, imparting the important technical and fundamental information.”

As expected, Endsley is encouraged by Miles’ teaching style and implements that same approach in his own career as a teacher. And while his inspiration among Metro students is undeniable, Endsley says Miles is also an inspiration to Denver musicians in general. 

“It’s lucky for us to have someone who’s such a world-class, innovative musician like that here in Denver,” Endsley says. “Just the fact that he’s been able to build this international career from this home base in Denver has always been something really kind of unique and cool about Ron’s career.”

When asked about his own mentors as a young musician, Miles mentioned Jerry Noonan, Neil Bridge, Dave Caffey, Ron Jolly, Fred Hess, Bruno Carr, Bruce Odland and many others as people he met in Denver before turning 20 who helped shape his career.

“The biggest common denominator is they all saw potential in me and gave me a chance without expecting anything in return,” Miles says. “Beyond that I love and respect this art form and try my darnedest to get as good as I could. Outside of my biological family, the Lord has made music, musicians and music lovers the shepherds for my life.”

That potential guided him to the Duke Performance Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the Village Vanguard in New York City, two of his favorite venues. Closer to home, he cites Old Main on the CU Boulder campus as his favorite venue in Colorado.

In a city like Denver, with no particular musical identity, it can be difficult for up-and-coming musicians to attain success. Miles has established himself as a prominent figure in jazz, but he acknowledges the challenges the city can pose. He says, “It’s really hard to make music in a vacuum here. You are going to be exposed to different styles and traditions and if you welcome and respect that variety, you can be happy. Fight it and you will be frustrated.” 

He says the greatest musicians from here embody that respect of musical variety with Bill Frisell and Rudy Royston immediately coming to mind.  

Given Miles’ prestigious career, one could envision him living somewhere like New Orleans, playing in esteemed nightclubs late into the night. But there’s no place like home, and Denver is home to Miles. “My family is here,” he says. “This is the community that has supported and guided me.”

Unfortunately, the restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic kept Miles from playing his latest music live, but as things return to normal, be on the lookout for one of his performances. 

Jay McKinney is a Colorado native who recently graduated from Metro State University of Denver with a bachelor’s degree in communications. He loves spending time outdoors, playing golf and hiking.