'Just A Shame': Denver Jazz Musicians React With Shock To News Of El Chapultepec's Closing

DENVER (CBS4) - The owner of El Chapultepec nightclub announced Monday they will be closing after nearly 90 years of business. The Denver venue started serving alcohol right after Prohibition and would become a destination for jazz decade after decade for local musicians and world renown artists.

"Krantz family sends our love to all who this decision affects, we did not take it lightly," a statement send on Facebook. Angela Guerreo, who runs the club, went on to say on Facebook. "The Pec is a living, breathing, member of both our family and the Denver community." 

The family also said it will speak more about its decision at a news conference on Tuesday in front of the club. Musicians who built their career from regular performances at El Chapultepec were still in shock about the announcement, even though they got early word about the closing over the weekend. 

"It's just a shame that it's gone now, in this way," said Tony Black, a drummer who started playing at the club in 1981. "It was the Denver jazz scene, you know, from the beginning."

Black didn't even perform jazz music before he started at that venue and met other musicians, including Freddy Rodriguez Sr. A local legend who helped the club to thrive and shape the culture in Denver, Rodriguez passed away in March from complications related to COVID-19. He actually helped to coin the nickname "The Pec," from the original name which means "at the grasshopper hill" and refers to an area near Mexico City. 

"He really loved that club, he just loved it, he loved the whole scene," his son Freddy Rodriguez Jr. said. "It hurts, the closing of The Pec, I mean, just really finalizes the passing of my dad even more." 

Rodriguez Jr. says he grew up at "The Pec," he considers it his college as he learned to become a musician himself working closely with his father. He remembers toward the end, before the pandemic, he was lucky to play there twice a week. One night with his father, another evening with a friend, showcasing different genres and styles of music just days apart. 

"That club was such a big part of his life, and my life, my family's life," Rodriguez Jr. said on a video conference call with CBS4.  "I'm saddened because, I really am, a lot for my father because my dad loved that club." 

While "The Pec's" history spans almost a century and once hosted Mariachi music, the jazz scene it is famous for peaked in the 1980s and the 1990s, Rodriguez Jr. said. The walls inside the venue showcase some of the household names who once performed there. 

"Musicians used to just come in through the side door and then I'd maybe would hear a trumpet I'd never heard before and I'd open my eyes and it would be Wynton Marsalis," Black said on another video conference call with CBS4. "It was just the staple of Denver, for musicians, for relationships, where you could just hear great music."

Jerry Krantz owned the club for years and spoke about the role "The Pec" played in the lives of so many back in 2008 with CBS4's Alan Gionet. Krantz passed away in 2012. He shared that his customers often could not afford to see the famous artists who performed at his club anywhere else.  

"To me, I thought it was beautiful," he said of the location when he saw it. "I've had all the world's greatest." 

Black said he will always remember how the club consistently offered great jazz music week after week from various artists. He honed his own skills there, playing with Rodriguez Sr. for 20 years. He's not sure what the future holds for live music without "The Pec" locally and how the industry as a whole will move forward from the pandemic. But Rodriguez Sr. shared some words of wisdom with his son that could speak to those concerns. 

"Some doors close and then other doors open, and my dad was always very positive, very positive about life in general," Rodriguez Jr. said. "I'll never forget it, it was a big part of my life." 

Rodriguez Jr. added that he has used the time away from performing live to work on his music and he believes a lot of great work will come from this period, when artists are back on stage not only able to entertain audiences but share new material. 

"The decision was multifactorial and though we know it's the right thing to do," Guerrero went on to say on Facebook. "We morn (sic) with you. We will be talking more to the media on tues (sic) at the press conference."