This is Jazz Is Dead, a love story.

Founded in 2017 by Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest), Andrew Lojero, and Adam Block, Jazz Is Dead began as a bold statement—plastered on walls, whispered in headphones, echoed through venues. Not a farewell, but a rallying cry. A tribute to the past and a charge toward the future. A reminder that the spirit of jazz—the innovation, the rebellion, the soul—has never stopped evolving.

We are crate diggers and culture keepers. We travel the world in search of rare records and the artists who created them. We sit with the legends who shaped entire eras and bring them into the present—not to recreate the past, but to build something new with it. We do this through live concerts, analog recordings, visual media, and the growing community that surrounds it all.

Our collaborations with visionaries like Roy Ayers, Marcos Valle, Gary Bartz, Azymuth, and Jean Carne laid the foundation. And the journey continues—recent releases from Ebo Taylor, Hyldon, and Dom Salvador show that greatness doesn’t fade. It deepens, expands, reinvents itself.

At the heart of it all is a belief: Perfect Is Boring.

Jazz Is Dead is a rebellion against the sterile and the overproduced. We believe greatness lies in the tension between chaos and control, between what is planned and what simply happens. What moves us most is found in the unpolished moments—in the grain of tape, the crackle of vinyl, the chemistry that can’t be programmed. We embrace analog because it captures something real. Human. Messy. Alive.

This ethos extends beyond music. Everything we create—from records to garments to films—is meant to be lived in. To wear the marks of time. To evolve with you. We’re not just curating culture; we’re contributing to it. One imperfect, extraordinary piece at a time.

Jazz Is Dead is not a brand. It’s a movement. A way of seeing, hearing, and being. A call to those who find beauty in the raw and the real. It’s for the listeners, the makers, the feelers, and the dreamers.

This is Jazz Is Dead. A look back. A leap forward. A celebration of imperfection.

Join us.

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