Local jazz fans have been spoiled. Every year for the past two decades, Grammy-winning, Bronx-based jazz man Dave Valentin has played concerts at the Antlers, showing us how wild and dynamic the flute can be.

How did we get so lucky? Is this a marketing plan by some mega concert promotion company such as Clear Channel or Live Nation?

No. For these annual Valentin visitations, we can thank local sports fiend and jazz nut Fred Whitacre, who has become a concert promoter with a client of one: Valentin.

The collaboration of Whitacre and Valentin has nothing to do with money and everything to do with friendship and a mutual love of jazz and philanthropy.

Things just clicked the first time Valentin and Whitacre spoke on the phone, they say.

“By the time we got off the phone, a half-hour had passed and we were buddies,” Whitacre said.

“We just hit it off,” Valentin said. “There’s no explanation for it.”

Twenty years later, the two are gearing up for a 20th anniversary charity concert Saturday at Antlers Hilton hotel that promises to be one of the best.

It will be only the second time Valentin has appeared here with his regular band — drummer Robby Ameen, percussionist Richie Flores, bass player Lincoln Goines, and pianist Bill O’Connell. Except for Flores, all have played with Valentin since the 1970s.

“Bring your oxygen tank,” Valentin said.

“People love him on records, but they don’t really know him until they see him live,” said Whitacre. “He commands the stage.”

Valentin’s and Whitacre’s story began in the early 1980s, when Whitacre and some partners were promoting the band that would become Fattburger.

Whitacre’s partners asked him who he’d like as a headliner when the new group debuted, and he thought of Valentin.

“He was my favorite player,” said Whitacre.

Through his connections — in this case, the Padres’ announcer — Whitacre got Valentin’s home number and called him.

When Whitacre moved to Colorado Springs in 1988 as founding president and general manager of the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, bringing jazz to town was one of his top priorities.

“I’ve always taken advantage of my position to push what I like — baseball and jazz,” he said. Valentin and saxophone player Hollis Gentry performed the national anthem for the Sky Sox’s first game in Memorial Park.

Valentin and Whitacre always make time to renew their friendship during Valentin’s annual visits. They’re both baseball people and cat people.

“We drink and talk and never stop laughing,” said Whitacre. “He brings out the goofball in me.”

Valentin will also conduct a master class today at the Pikes Peak Center.

“Every kid who plays a musical instrument should be there,” said Whitacre.

“My father was in the Merchant Marine, and my mother was a working housewife who died when I was 13,” said Valentin.

“I try to give your sons and daughters some of the opportunities I didn’t have.”

Whitacre said the concert is a bargain — especially because $15 of the $25 ticket price goes to the Pikes Peak Community Foundation.

“I’ve tried to hold it steady for years because I want everybody in town to hear a Grammy winner,” he said.

Whitacre has promoted other jazz players, such as the band Dotsero, and Gentry, who died in 2006. But these days, he limits his promotion to Valentin’s Colorado Springs appearances.

“I used to do three or four concerts a year,” said Whitacre. “But you know what? It’s work.”

details

Dave Valentin: 20-year Colorado Springs Anniversary Concert and Benefit

When: 8 p.m. Saturday (6:30 p.m. meet-the-artist reception)

Where: Antlers Hilton hotel, 4 S. Cascade Ave.

Tickets: $25 concert only, $75 reception and concert; 389-1253 ext. 100 or www.ppcf.org

Also: Masterclass at 5:30 p.m. today, Studio Bee, Pikes Peak Center, 190 S. Cascade Ave.; free