Honoring the Man in Black: Celebrating the Life of Jim DeJong
The family and close friends of Jim DeJong invite you to join us on Wednesday November 15, 2023 from 6-9PM at The Jazz Showcase as musicians, colleagues and cohorts celebrate Jim's immeasurable impact on the jazz and larger music and arts community of Chicago with music and remembrances.
Suggested Attire: Your Best Black
The event will be livestreamed on the Jazz Showcase's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/JazzShowcase
Capacity is limited , so register asap!
To donate to support the Jim DeJong Education Fund at the Jazz institute of Chicago or to support the costs of this event: https://www.jazzinchicago.org/jim-dejong(on the designation box choose "event sponsorship" in the drop down box). All donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law).
Jim DeJong (1942-2023) was a powerful but quiet behind-the-scenes figure in Chicago's arts and culture spheres, especially involved in jazz and adjacent music. For more than 50 years he was widely recognized by those who didn't know his name as "the Man in Black." Jim was a board member of the Jazz Institute from the early 1970s until pre-pandemic, briefly executive director and for a longer time, secretary. He was a longtime member of the JIC’s education committee and more than 30 years a member of the Jazz Festival Programming committee.
DeJong was also a co-founder of HotHouse, Center for International Exhibition and Performance, and for a period the artistic director of Links Hall. He was a constant presence at musical events throughout Chicago; it's been said there isn't a jazz musician in Chicago he didn't know.
As a manager of the Jazz Record Mart and Tower Records, and in all his daily activities, DeJong met listeners with his unique understanding of what music to introduce them to for expansion of their enjoyment and enrichment. He was passionate and successful in enlisting lifelong fans of the music, by encouraging them to participate more fully in their neighborhoods and the City by attending events and engaging with artists face- to-face. He was an unofficial but highly regarded consultant to principals at the Jazz Showcase, the Green Mill, Delmark, Southport Records and many other entities. Besides contemporary and historic jazz, he was deeply knowledgeable and enthusiastic about blues, Afro-Caribbean music, Asian-American music, improvised music and experimental music, the arts of Chicago's immigrant populations, including dance, architecture, films, fine and funky arts. Jim had keen ears, sharp eyes, a cool wit and inquisitive mind -- aspects of character be brought to play in every situation
Jim was an idealist, a romantic, and an imaginative realist who loved his home town and worked to make life here better.
A multitude of gratitude to Wayne Segal for hosting the celebration.
