The year was 1980, and before long, Gunnison became a regular at Denver jazz clubs — most notably El Chapultepec, also enshrined in the Colorado Music Hall of Fame along with its jazz-worshipping owner, Jerry Krantz. There, he rubbed shoulders with more instrumentalists bound for The Hall, including Ellyn Rucker; he would eventually play on and produce Rucker’s cherished 1992 album Thoughts of You. He also sat in with Wynton Marsalis and other jazz stars who made a point of making unscheduled tour stops at The Pec.
The connections Gunnison made locally would boost him onto national and international stages. He served as musical director for seminal vocalist Carmen McRae and performed in Cuba with the big band led by trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, a favorite of that country’s leader, Fidel Castro. Such gigs gilded his reputation and led to him becoming an in-demand pianist for studio sessions across the jazz spectrum over the span of decades. His dozens of credits include vibrant solo works such as 2004’s Voyageur plus recordings with the vocal group Rare Silk, smooth-jazz favorite Nelson Rangell and another Colorado Music Hall of Fame standout, the late trumpeter Ron Miles.