DENVER — As we enter the last weekend of Black History Month, a Denver jazz artist is sharing his story with Denver7. Wil Alston is among the many artists performing at the Five Points Jazz Roots Event.
It is not uncommon to hear soulful voices like Alston's during Black History Month, but behind his smooth voice is an inspiration more than one thousand miles away.
"We grew up in the church. We grew up really going to Metropolitan Baptist Church in DC, Vermont Avenue Baptist Church in DC, and did a lot of singing in choirs and that sort of thing," Alston said.
Alston said work brought him to the Mile High City, where he never lost his singing spirit.
"I joined New Hope Baptist Church, which is my church here in Denver. I started singing in the choir again over there, and it just grew and grew and grew. And then one of the young ladies, Mary Louise Lee, who is just a phenomenal vocalist and is performing all around town here, she started her band," Alston said.
After performing with Lee, Alston said he decided to start his own band. He has had the chance to grace stages across Denver, including this weekend at the Five Points Jazz Roots event, with soulful tunes he remembers hearing back in the day.
"I grew up as a child of the 70s, [listening to] the Supremes, Temptations and Four Tops, you know, some of those Motown cats," Alston said.
Alston is proud to perform in a neighborhood so important to the Black community in Denver.
"This Five Points, it's a, just an awesome community. There's not another community like it. There's this rich kind of tapestry of music and African American culture that kind of intersects together," Alston said.
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