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Adrian Younge
Lonnie Liston Smith: Jazz Is Dead 17
by Richard J Salvucci
If someone has not released a recording in twenty five years, it must be a special occasion. Lonnie Liston Smith went out west, met a Fender Rhodes piano and, voila, conjured up the '70s again. So, technology and memory presumably explain the appearance of this recording, part of the ironically named Jazz is Dead label's series, founded in 2017 by music producers Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest), concert producer Andrew Lojero and industry veteran Adam Block. ...
read moreTony Allen: Jazz Is Dead 18
by Chris May
Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad's Jazz Is Dead continues its mission to exalt the legacies of iconic musicians who have shaped the fabric of jazz across generations, genres and continents." The label's summer 2023 album features the late great Tony Allen. Jazz Is Dead 18 presents the Nigerian jazz and Afrobeat drum legend, who passed in 2020, alongside multi-instrumentalist Younge and an eight-piece horn section. It is gritty, elemental stuff and should ring the bell of most, if not ...
read moreLonnie Liston Smith: Jazz Is Dead 17
by Chris May
Having kicked off 2023 with one of the strongest albums in its catalogue--Phil Ranelin and Wendell Harrison's Jazz Is Dead 16--Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge's label continues on a roll. Jazz Is Dead 17 finds the two producers in their funked-up comfort zone and relishing it. Strange but true, Jazz Is Dead 17 is Lonnie Liston Smith's first newly recorded album release since 1998. And while it does not rise to the heights of classics such ...
read moreAdrian Younge e Ali Shaheed Muhammad : Jazz Is Dead
by Angelo Leonardi
Hanno scelto un marchio provocatorio, Adrian Younge e Ali Shaheed Muhammad per l'etichetta discografica e la piattaforma di musica dal vivo che gestiscono a Los Angeles da alcuni anni. I due musicisti e produttori vengono dalla scena hip-hop: il primo ha lavorato con artisti di fama mondiale come Wu-Tang Clan, Souls of Mischief e Jay-Z; il secondo è stato membro del notissimo A Tribe Called Quest e ha poi varato (con Dawn Robinson e Raphael Saadiq) il trio ...
read morePhil Ranelin & Wendell Harrison: Jazz Is Dead 16
by Chris May
There is much to love about Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad's Jazz Is Dead label and an equal amount to hate. The production duo's declared mission is to foreground legends from the past" and to highlight their contributions" to popular music in general and jazz in particular. Admirable. Spread the love. Trouble is, the results are inconsequential as often as they are substantial. When it works, as on bassist Henry Franklin's Jazz Is Dead 14 (2022), the music will ...
read moreHenry Franklin: Jazz Is Dead 14
by Chris May
Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad's Jazz Is Dead label is a moveable feast when it comes to consistency. In its fourteen albums date, there have been some great ones, some not so great ones and a couple of duds. With bassist Henry Franklin, however, the label has come up with a blinder, its most satisfying disc to date. Los Angeles-based Franklin is not well known beyond musician circles, but his track record is distinguished. He has released ...
read moreBrian Jackson: Jazz Is Dead 8: Brian Jackson
by Karl Ackermann
The Jazz is Dead series of recordings is neither trying to bury or resurrect the genre. It largely exists on the periphery where jazz" is either a prefix or suffix. The project, launched by musician-producers Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad in 2020, is prolific and elastic in its choice of artists and styles. Younge and Muhammad's connections to jazz are purely inspirational. Muhammad's renowned hip hop group, A Tribe Called Quest, was known to sample from jazz. Younge holds ...
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Don't Believe the Dancers
From: Jazz Is Dead 18By Adrian Younge