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Jazz is Dead is Keeping Jazz Alive

Jazz is Dead is giving legendary artists the flowers they deserve and keeping the genre’s spirit alive in the process.

By Nick Zanca

Jazz is Dead

What do vibraphonist Roy Ayers, keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith and bossa nova pioneer Marcos Valle have in common? Beyond earning their rightful reputations as recognizable sample sources thanks to crate-diggers and beatmakers worldwide, all of the above have also joined the ranks of the rapidly-evolving roster of Los Angeles institution, Jazz Is Dead

At once a label, a concert series and a self-described “spiritual exchange,” the multifaceted labor of love was founded in 2017 by polymathic producer Adrian Younge alongside concert producer Andrew Lojero, industry veteran Adam Block, and frequent collaborator Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest

“It’s beautiful to see when a younger generation loves these artists,” content specialist Jazmin Hicks elaborates, citing a memorable run of shows from the MPB pioneers Os Mutantes in late 2022. “When Adrian asked [band founder] Sérgio Dias what it was like to do these shows in LA on stage, he said that he never thought that he’d be playing for these kids at that age.” 

Younge and Muhammad’s collaborative partnership dates back a decade, when the former invited the latter to work on the Souls of Mischief album There Is Only Now (2014). As Younge tells it, their chemistry in the studio was instantaneous. “As someone who has largely been a solo producer and doesn’t usually work with other people, working with Ali was so great because we had the same taste.”

“I always had a dream of having a jazz label that sounded the way that jazz sounded, recorded to tape with the original, authentic instruments,” Younge elaborates. “I have my sound and it’s very particular — hi-fi meets lofi, something that would have been done between ‘68 and ‘73 with the hindsight of hip-hop. People have already worked with these elder statesmen before, but when you’re recording them with the ear of hip-hop, you’re taking them back to where they were in their prime and asking them to be that version of themselves today.” 

According to Younge, the forthcoming third series sees the project at the height of its powers. “It’s the best music that has been created here,” Younge affirms. “More orchestral, more depth, more things I’ve always wanted to do at some point in my life.” He argues that the productions challenge some of the artists’ best work from decades prior — no small feat for a lineup including MPB visionary Hyldon and Ghanaian guitarist Ebo Taylor, who had never performed in the States before his 2022 concert. “There’s a big evolution in the sound. I am definitely a better musician now than I was when we started.”


Lojero is quick to attest to Young’s creative growth as part and parcel of that evolution. “We see how much he puts into all of this. It often feels like he’s taking a masterclass with Dom Salvador or Gary Bartz, one-on-one for three or four days of locked-out time in the studio.”

Be that as it may, there’s more criteria to the curation of the label than meets the ear. “If Drew wants to do a concert, he does it. It doesn’t matter if it will sell,” Younge explains. “When we’re doing the album, though? I have to want to do it. I have to want to be inspired to create something new and to like their old music. They have to have some ability to do something interesting. Secondly: are they cool people to be around? Are they appreciative of what we’re going to do with them? There has to be that inspiration and bond between me and who I’m going to work with.” 

What’s next for Jazz Is Dead? “Cutting dubplates,” Adrian answers. “We have a membership subscription service, and I’ll be doing handcut dubplates of certain songs from the catalog for our members.” Alongside, they’ll also offer custom photography straight from the Linear Labs studio, which doubles as a darkroom once you turn off the control room’s lights. 

When asked about what drives the direction of the label, Andrew waxes poetic about time being finite and the fleeting chance to give artists their flowers while they’re still around to smell them. “Music is one of the only sports you can age gracefully in,” he says towards the end of our conversation. 

“We really do look at Adrian as helping these artists age gracefully because they still have a lot to give. If you put them in a modern room with a modern producer, they might not get the same results. Everything is finely detailed and executed through this lens that allows these maestros to sit back and smile.”

Nick Zanca is a record producer, composer, and writer currently based in Queens, New York. He is known for his work in electronic music as Mister Lies, has collaborated with artists such as Wendy Eisenberg and Lucy Liyou, and was most recently an editor at Reverb.


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