Jazz Is Dead (record label)

Jazz Is Dead is a record label and live music project based in Los Angeles, founded by hiphop profiles Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Muhammad started out as a DJ/producer for (and is a founding member of) A Tribe Called Quest, but produced songs and remixes for several artists during his long career, many front and center in the 90s boombap/conscious scene. Temporary supergroup Crooklyn Dodgers' anthem is likely his most well-known work outside production/culture collective The Ummah of which he was a core part. Younge is even more versatile (or restless); he holds a juris dr. title, has worked as legal consultant, with teaching law, while also having production credits mainly relating to film scoring and concept soundscapes in the rougher hiphop vein ("Twelve Reasons to Die" with Ghostface Killah, among others.[1])

The Jazz is Dead trademark dates back to a concert in 2017 and Younge's real frustration with ticket sales for his Midnight Hour show. The name itself obviously express a dry irony since it conveys the opposite of what Younge says the studio project is about: working with and paying homage to frequently-sampled jazz masters.[2] The first CD, recorded at Linear Labs, was released in March 2020 and included the work of Roy Ayers, Marcos Valle, Azymuth, Doug Carn, Gary Bartz, João Donato, and Brian Jackson.[3]