😳 "Jazz is Dead."

It’s an ironic statement, I know. [READER]( The Daily Reader September 5, 2023 For the final day of this year’s Chicago Jazz Festival, I made a fashion statement. I wore a T-shirt! And not just any T-shirt. Oh, no, I wore my “Jazz is Dead” T-shirt. As in, on the front it says “Jazz is Dead.” It’s an ironic statement. Of course jazz is not dead. Jazz will never die. Unless the world itself dies. Not to get all gloomy and doomy on you. Wearing a T-shirt that says “Jazz is Dead” to a jazz festival is as close as I’ll come to a performance art piece. In this case, I was testing my fellow festival goers to see if irony lives. The answer is mixed. I received a lot of huffy comments, like . . . “You realize this is a jazz festival, don’t you?” And . . . “Those are fighting words!” And my personal favorite . . . “Maybe in Utah.” That one stumped me for a moment. Then it hit me—oh, he meant the Utah Jazz. Now that’s ironic—me not getting a basketball joke. I’m not complaining about the T-shirt haters. They gave me a chance to explain that [Jazz Is Dead]( is a record label out of California, founded by music producer Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad of the group A Tribe Called Quest, concert producer Andrew Lojero, and music exec Adam Block. And it’s an ironic name because the label specializes in new records by older musicians, such as Brian Jackson, Gary Bartz, or Roy Ayers, who you probably remember as the guy who recorded “Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” a song I will never tire of hearing. All in all, Sunday was a great last day for this year’s Chicago Jazz Festival. I especially enjoyed Billy Valentine, a wonderful singer who was backed by local musicians who convened that day on the stage having never played with Valentine before. Not even one rehearsal. Shoutout to Julius Tucker on piano. Matt Gold on guitar. Sam Heel on drums. [Junius Paul]( on bass. And [Greg Ward]( on alto sax. To sound so tight without one rehearsal—I’m in awe. The festival closed with [Juan de Marcos and the Afro-Cuban All Stars](. My wife and I were clapping away when this aging Gen Xer, a surfer-looking dude, showed up late. He made us stand to accommodate him as he walked down the aisle to take a seat. Dude didn’t even say excuse me or thank you. Midway through a song, he turned to my wife and told her she was clapping wrong. “It’s a five clap beat, not six.” Or maybe it’s the other way around. To which my wife said, “Thank you, Ringo! Don’t know how I got through life without you.” Proving that sarcasm lives, even if irony’s on the ropes. On my way out of Millennium Park, a young woman smiled and said . . . “I love your T-shirt!” Made my day. Happy to say irony lives, just like jazz. As well as, sigh, mansplaining. Can’t win `em all . . . 🎙Listen to [The Ben Joravsky Show]( 🎙 [What Ben's Reading] [Boy Parts]( by Eliza Clark. Kinda twisted debut novel about a woman photographer in England who specializes in taking sexualized photographs of young men. Then it gets really kinky. [Leor Galil]( on his journey through minor league baseball [Ben Joravsky]( remember the petri dish? [Best of the Ben J. Show]( Political strategist [Delmarie Cobb]( on the shooting at Sox Park and other things Illinois state senator [Lakesia Collins]( on outworking the opposition Chicago Sun-Times columnist [Rummana Hussain]( says jump in the lake! [Chicago Reader announces two new hires and two promotions]( Shawn Mulcahy and Charli Renken join the editorial team; Chasity Cooper and Alia Graham are promoted by [Reader staff]( | [R]( → [Review: Landscape with Invisible Hand]( Silly extraterrestrial design slightly dampens this innovative addition to the alien-invasion genre. by [Brianna Wellen]( | [R]( → [Documenting the ‘pure childhood joy’ of baseball]( South Shore Summer will capture the impact of Lost Boyz Inc., an organization that provides baseball and softball leagues, leadership programming, and mentorship for youth of color on Chicago’s south and west sides. by [Michelle Zacarias]( | [R]( → [Let’s make Marshall Vente a star]( The genre-defying jazz pianist has already had a long career as a bandleader, composer, promoter, and educator, but there’s still time for him to get the wider recognition he deserves. by [Steve Krakow]( | [R]( → [Shaking your ass for the revolution]( The Fly Honey Show’s celebration of queerness and body positivity is more important than ever. by [JT Newman]( | [Read here]( → What questions do you have for Mayor Johnson? September will mark Mayor Brandon Johnson's first 100 days in office. TONIGHT, join senior Reader writer Ben Joravsky and journalist Maya Dukmasova as they discuss the progress of his administration toward building a more just and equitable Chicago. [GET TICKETS FOR FIRST TUESDAYS]( [Issue of Aug. 24 – Sept. 6, 2023 Vol. 52, No. 23]( [VIEW/DOWNLOAD ISSUE [PDF]]( [View this e-mail as a web page]( [@chicago_reader]( [/chicagoreader]( [@chicago_reader]( [Chicago Reader on LinkedIn]( [/chicagoreader]( [chicagoreader.com]( [Forward this e-mail to a friend](. Want to change how you receive these e-mails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](. Copyright © 2023 Chicago Reader, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Chicago Reader, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102, Chicago, IL 60616