Artist in Residence
Jazz is Dead
With the title Artist in Residence, the Enjoy Jazz Festival 2025 is for the first time not honoring an ensemble or an individual artist, but a label: Jazz Is Dead. What began in 2017 as a provocative commentary on the state of the genre in Los Angeles has long since developed into one of the most exciting platforms for musical renewal. Founded by US-Americans Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest), the project combines jazz, soul and hip-hop with political aspirations and an analog sound. The label is now regarded as the creative epicenter of a new generation of African-American musicians who think jazz further. At the heart of this year's residency is a European premiere: the big Jazz Is Dead night on October 17 at the Heidelberg Congress Center, where label co-founder Adrian Younge, saxophone legend Gary Bartz and the versatile singer Bilal will perform together.