27 minute read
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Complete listings online at cityweekly.net Information is correct at press time; visit event websites for updates on possible COVID-related cancellations or re-scheduling
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Utah Film Center: The Searchers
When it comes to depictions of Native Americans, the track record of vintage Hollywood Westerns was … not great. From white actors in “red-face” makeup playing the rolls of indigenous peoples, to stereotypes of whooping savages, it was a genre that typically contributed to dehumanization of Native Americans. That’s why it felt like such a seismic shift when the 1956 Western The Searchers from director John Ford—who had made plenty of those aforementioned less-than-enlightened Westerns—cast his long-time leading man John Wayne as a man on a relentless quest for the Commanches that killed his family members and kidnapped his niece, but recognized the possibility that his “hero’s” racism was just as destructive.
Utah Film Center presents a rare local opportunity to see The Searchers on a big screen, with a post-film opportunity to discuss some of its unique story components, and the impact of the film on perception of Native Americans. KUER’s Doug Fabrizio moderates a conversation with University of Utah Department of Film & Media Arts chair Andrew Patrick Nelson. Dr. Nelson’s emphasis is on the American Western, with book credits including Still in the Saddle: The Hollywood Western, 1969-1980, as well as service on the board of the John Wayne Birthplace Museum.
The Searchers screens on Thursday, March 17 at 7 p.m. at the Rose Wagner Center (138 W. 300 South). Tickets are free, but advance registration is required; this event requires proof of vaccination, as well as face coverings to be worn throughout the event. Visit utahfilmcenter.org for reservations and additional event information. (Scott Renshaw)
WARNER BROS. PICTURES
Complete listings online at cityweekly.net Information is correct at press time; visit event websites for updates on possible COVID-related cancellations or re-scheduling
Stegner Center Symposium: The Colorado River Compact: Navigating the Future
In case you’ve been asleep for the past decade or so, water issues in the American west face a unique historical tipping point. Years of drought and the ongoing likelihood of climate change disruptions to weather patterns have put a strain on the Colorado River, the key source of water for the region. The year 2022 marks the 100th anniversary of the Colorado River Compact that formalized water-rights decision-making throughout the Colorado River Basin, and with the current iteration of that compact set to expire in 2026, this hydrological crisis could result in huge changes
For its annual two-day symposium, the Wallace Stegner Center at the University of Utah’s Quinney School of Law—in conjunction with the Water & Tribes Initiative—will focus on this unfolding saga in The Colorado River
Compact: Navigating the Future. Experts from the fields of law, public policy and science, plus stakeholders from tribal nations and federal, state and local governments, will address a wide range of topics connected to the future of the Colorado River. Talks are scheduled to include “Law & the Living Colorado River,” “Science & Governance: From Overallocation to Climate Change to Megadrought,” and “First in Time: Native Americans and the Colorado River System.”
The Stegner Symposium takes place March 17-18 at the University of Utah Quinney College of Law (383 S. University St.), as well as a virtual component. Registration is $20 (student) - $150 for the full session, with lunch included. Visit sjquinney.utah.edu/event/the-colorado-river-compact-navigating-the-future/ for full event schedule and additional information. (SR)
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Complete listings online at cityweekly.net Information is correct at press time; visit event websites for updates on possible COVID-related cancellations or re-scheduling
Melissa Villaseñor
It’s interesting how someone can be on national television, as part of one of American comedy’s most established institutions, and still feel like a little bit of an unknown. When Melissa Villaseñor debuted on Saturday Night Live, just past her 29th birthday, the Southern California native had already been performing as a stand-up comedian for nearly half her life. She had even reached the semi-finals of America’s Got Talent in 2011. Yet becoming known for sketch comedy—and for being the first Latina repertory cast member of SNL—made it easy to forget that Villaseñor had plenty of experience in front of live audiences all on her own.
A lot more folks got introduced to the stand-up of Villaseñor thanks to the most recent season of Netflix’s The Comedians series of half-hour specials, which included a showcase for her. With a bouncy, giggly stage presence, Villaseñor gets to share her huge repertoire of impressions—including a killer Dolly Parton—as well as her relationship with her parents. Describing coming home late after a gig while staying with her parents, she imitates her mother’s 1 a.m. quizzing: “Aren’t you cold? Why aren’t you wearing socks? … What are you wearing? You could look nicer, you’re on a show now.”
Melissa Villaseñor visits Wiseguys Gateway (194 S. 400 West) March 18-19 for shows at 7 p.m. & 9:30 p.m. nightly. Tickets are $25 general admission; face masks are recommended but not required for guests while they are not actively eating and drinking. Visit wiseguyscomedy.com for tickets and additional event information. (SR)
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Azar Nafisi: Read Dangerously @ King’s English virtual
It can feel like a dark time for intellectual freedom in America, as conservative advocates across the country work to purge certain works—specifically those that address LGBTQ issues and/or the history of institutional racism in America—from school libraries and curricula. Azar Nafisi is all too familiar with how that kind of dogmatic censorship can play out, as her 2008 memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran recounted her experience as a literature teacher in the Islamic Republic of Iran, secretly teaching forbidden books of Western literature to young women. It provided a fascinating glimpse for what it meant to defend the value of certain books, especially when they’ve become targets by self-appointed moral warriors.
In her new book Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times, Nafisi continues to dig into the notion of “literature as resistance.” The book is a call for using literature as a way to engage on a genuine level with the perspectives of the “other” in a democratic society. Taking the form of letters to Nafisi’s father, it uses works by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie and others to explore the interconnection between great literature and the great problems of our time.
The King’s English Bookshop partners with other independent booksellers around the country for a live virtual event with Nafisi, in conversation with author/journalist Jacki Lyden. The event takes place Saturday, March 19 at 5 p.m., with ticketed reservations for $36 that includes Zoom link access to the event and a hardcover copy of Read Dangerously. Visit kingsenglish.com for tickets and additional event information. (SR)
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VISUAL ART Lost Souls
Two artists collaborate on a vision of connecting with those who are no longer with us.
BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw
Throughout two years of pandemic, we’ve learned a lot about the many different ways people can be connected even when they’re apart. For an art exhibition that explores themes of separation and reunion, it’s fitting that the creative process involved a cross-country collaboration.
This week, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts’ ACME Lab opens Transcending Time and Space, which presents multimedia pieces by New York-based artist David Rios Ferreira complemented by work and writing by Utah-based artist Denae Shanidiin. Focused around Ferreira’s images of portals made up of images from popular culture, children’s coloring books and other sources, the exhibition explores the idea of connecting with lost loved ones, linked directly to the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women for which Shanidiin works as an advocate.
It was something of a necessary collaboration, as Ferreira describes it, because it was important to him to fulfill the ACME Lab’s mission of making art that connects with the local community. When he was invited by UMFA’s Jorge Rojas to create an exhibition, Ferreira needed to consider how he, as a life-long New Yorker, could connect to Utah. “I was really reflecting on my place in Utah, a space I’ve never been,” he says. “So in doing the research, I was really attracted through the indigenous presence [in Utah]. And what starts to spiral is, ‘Okay, there’s that interest, but what next?’”
What was next was Rojas introducing Ferreira to Shanidiin. And according to both artists, the sense of interconnection was immediate, with Shanidiin recognizing the respect for and understanding of indigenous issues Ferreira brought to the table from his own Puerto Rican heritage. “All indigenous people are displaced, in one way or another,” Shanidiin says. “It’s the same, same-same but different. We share that same memory in our bodies and in our stories.”
That sense of shared experience extends to a discovery Ferreira made about the link between white American teachers of indigenous children in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and white American teachers of Puerto Rican children when the island became a U.S. territory. “They planted U.S. reps in public schools, to basically try to obliterate Spanish culture,” he says. “All those strategies came from teachers who had worked in the boarding schools [for indigenous children]. At first [in Puerto Rico], they used the military. But then they realized, they had already done this. They would ship the teachers [from the boarding schools] over, and these same teachers were teaching [in Puerto Rico].”
For the UMFA exhibit, Ferreira developed early on the idea of portals, in a kind of science-fiction narrative about being able to connect immediately with absent loved ones. “I was thinking about all this loss,” he says, “not through a lens of sadness … but that we might reach them—not just someday, but today.”
As he began to share the images with Shanidiin, she provided feedback that offered a different perspective on the work. “For me, it was enlightening to see what was coming through,” Ferreira says. “I almost think about my creation in a very spiritual way, even though I’m using lines and cartoons. Some of these images have tough histories, and it’s nice to hear someone pick up on some of that.”
“His portals just made sense to me, in the way we think of indigenous people with interwovenness,” Shanidiin adds. “When you do lose somebody, it creates that fracture in the universe. [Ferreira] just gets it; we got it together.”
“Getting it” can be a big issue in the world of contemporary art, as Ferreira recognizes. Since the ACME Lab space is one that invites attendees to participate in and contribute to the exhibit experience—in this case, by sharing their own messages to loved ones, among other participatory opportunities—it was important that the emotion of the theme override some need to “decode” the work.
“When you think about contemporary art, there’s a lot of academia surrounding that practice,” Ferreira says. “It was good to just think about love, and spirituality through art. … All too often, people think with contemporary art, ‘Do I get it?’ They say something to you and it’s like, ‘Is that right?’ It’s not a game of Clue. There’s no ‘win.’ If anything, the win is that maybe you’ve thought more about what I’ve just shared with you.”
That sharing connects with the reality of ongoing violence faced by indigenous people, and it was clear to Shanidiin that Ferreira showed sensitivity in delving into that subject. “Those realities are not fairy tales; they’re very real, but they’ve been hidden and tucked away violently, with the utmost intention to erase us,” she says. “Navigating [that subject] now in a way of beauty just feels really good. … I really trust [Ferreira] with what he’s saying. This connection feels like something I personally needed.” CW
“Every time it feels so good, it hurts sometimes,” by David Rios Ferreira
UMFA AND COURTESY OF THE ARTISTS
DAVID RIOS FERREIRA: TRANSCENDING TIME AND SPACE Featuring work and writing by Denae Shanidiin Utah Museum of Fine Arts ACME Lab 410 Campus Center Dr. March 19 – Dec. 4 Artist conversation Friday, March 18, 6 p.m., in person and via livestream umfa.utah.edu
Finding the great American art form in Salt Lake City.
By Thomas Crone trone@cityweekly.net
ALL THAT UTAH
s someone with the shallowest of roots in Salt Lake, but an abiding interest in local
Amusic wherever it may grow, a comment that often appeared in my social media feeds when I recently moved to SLC was a jibe about Utah jazz. Essentially, the gag was that a newcomer would have a hard time coming across actual jazz music in this region, a joke inherently wedded to the local basketball franchise’s name.
It wouldn’t take long, though, before this newbie found out how well you can find jazz here. It may take a little bit of digging, but not all that much. You can track it down at clubs, in record bins at multiple shops, on digital streams, on overnight radio and on the occasional street corner downtown (at least once the weather breaks, or so I’m told).
As a newbie, I’ve been told that jazz institutions like the GAM Foundation’s SLCJazz series—which brings in national touring jazz performers—and outdoor concerts hosted by Excellence in the Community, highlighting local performers, are events that anchor the jazz scene. There are also clubs around town such as Gracie’s and Bourbon House that host regular jazz nights. But I set out to find out for myself.
Raw Materials
One of the folks I spoke to referenced the old jokey “Utah Jazz” chestnut before I even had a chance to mention it.
Christian Asplund, a composer and bandleader living in Provo, says that “the naming of the basketball team gives a one-liner to people outside of Utah. But I don’t think they realize that [jazz music] is more popular here than in most places I’ve lived.”
Asplund lives, teaches and performs in Provo and doesn’t play jazz in Salt Lake City, at least not often. He’s also a self-described avant garde jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer, not necessarily clued into the specifics of what gets booked in SLC and what doesn’t (and why).
But he’s not a full outsider, either, with a long string of creative pursuits that’ve pushed jazz forward in the region. He’s got ideas about jazz in Utah. Informed ones.
“The sense, in general, is that Utah is a very musical place,” Asplund says. “Kids take music lessons here. People enjoy classical. Music plays a large role in the dominant religion here. To my mind, there’s a perfectionist streak that’s a little counterproductive at times. That’s where the raw part comes in. We need something like a venue where things don’t need to be perfect, they could be raw and new.”
That said, there’s a history and pedigree to jazz here, he says.
“In the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, there was a real love of jazz in the state,” he offers. “Certainly, as I talk about it now, I have many students who are jazz musicians. BYU and the U of U have always had good jazz programs and Snow College down in Ephraim has this weirdly good, very small Jazz Studies program.”
Beyond educational settings, Asplund noted that Utah’s ski lodges and resort spaces have also played host to acts.
“There’s a history of hiring jazz groups to play for those,” he said. “There have been all kinds of interesting little venues.”
Asplund has certainly put his fingerprints into contemporary music history. His name dots more than a few articles about regional jazz, including some in this publication. When written about in City Weekly by Nick McGregor in 2019, Asplund’s impressive resume was boiled down well: “Professor in BYU’s School of Music. Co-founder of the Seattle Experimental Opera. Acclaimed composer of sacred music. Associate editor of esteemed academic journal Perspectives of New Music. Co-author of a forthcoming book on Christian Wolff, a member of the legendary 20th-century New York School of experimental composers.”
David Perschon runs blocks of jazz music on 99.9.
KUAA 99.9’s “Bad” Brad Wheeler
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THOMAS CRONE
—Brad Wheeler
He’s also an advocate for jazz in Provo who’s turned his garage into a mini-venue multiple times—it’s called Avant GaRAWge, now in its third, home-based location. And Asplund has booked a church for jazz as well, hosting the Avant Vespers series at Provo’s St. Mary’s Episcopal Church.
He’s also an active player—when pandemics allow— most recently with a three-year-old trio called We Free Kings, which includes Erik Larson (contrabass) and Timm Tippetts (drums). From 2020 through the very beginning of this year, Asplund found time to write and record, releasing 35 tracks in early March. He did so across two records, “Tippy Shed” and “Tree’d Up,” both available for purchase on the digital service Bandcamp. Being on sabbatical, which he’s enjoying this semester, allowed for him to indulge himself in the simultaneous release of two records.
“Basically, I would say that it’s kind of a pandemic project,” he says. “The compositions and the rehearsals and the recording sessions all came when my gigs and performances got canceled. I didn’t have collaborators to work with for the first little while and just started composing jazz tunes. For me, they’re kind of like poems. There’s less infrastructure in writing a jazz piece that can be used for different ensembles. It’s music I can play on my own as a pianist, or I can bring people in.”
And with the pandemic receding and many public performance venues reopened or reopening, Asplund’s planning on making some live dates happen in 2022. With two albums of material to present, why not?
“I’ve started making inquiries,” he says. “I think this trio is so good. We have a really good esprit de corps. Everything’s there, musically and texturally. We have good improvisation, good composition. These are great players and we work well together. I would love it if we could turn some people on with this sound.”
500 Shades
At 9 a.m. every weekday morning, listeners of KUAA 99.9 FM are treated to a 15-20 minute block of jazz, compliments of the station’s exceptional morning shift curator, David Perschon. He also spots jazz into other portions of his 7-10 a.m. Spin Cycle show, while the station’s program director, Bad Brad Wheeler, highlights jazz sounds throughout the day, both on his own afternoon shows and during the pre-programmed hours that take up much of 99.9’s mid-day.
At no time, though, is jazz more heard in Salt Lake City than during the overnights, as the 100-watt station delivers a 10 p.m.-5 a.m. jazz block.
“There’s a history of jazz in Salt Lake,” Wheeler says. “There’s so much jazz history here that it blows my mind. And it does seem like there has been a jazz renaissance here in the last few years. More live jazz, more improv.”
“Jazz is important,” Wheeler says with evident passion. “I’m not so much a jazz guy as a blues guy, but just as there are 500 shades of blues, there are 500 shades of jazz.”
When Perschon and Wheeler get talking about jazz and the station and its role in keeping a diverse musical palette on the radio waves in Salt Lake City, the conversation stretches from a few minutes after Perschon’s show and continues into the next hour. It’s kinda like sitting around the counter of a record store, as the experienced heads there start dropping knowledge and names.
They get off to the races as they discuss key folks, all worthy of further listening. Red Nichols and His Five Pennies get brought up as some of the earliest stars here. Lloyd Miller is highlighted as a key name to research by both. They mention drummer Steve Lyman’s time here and the need to invest real energy in learning about the career and music of Alan Braufman. Other, earlier jazz programmers are mentioned, too, such as Steve Williams, “The Mayor of Jazz City,” who, until 2015, spun jazz at KUER 90.1 FM for 31 years. (He went on to host a Sunday night jazz program on KCPW 88.3 FM until April 2021.)
It’s around the time that Williams’ program left KUER’s airwaves that KUAA decided to invest in the sound. “We’re putting jazz on the radio …,” Wheeler starts, to which Perschon finishes, “... and are taking on the jazz torch.”
They do so on a station that has limitations, if only due to that low-wattage. You can catch KUAA at 99.9 all around the city of Salt Lake. But when you drive toward Ogden, a Spanish-language station begins to clash with their signal.
Going in the other direction, an oldies station called “The Goat” takes over the signal, telling you to head down the dial to their permanent home a few clicks away. Even with a transmitter located on top of downtown’s Wells Fargo building, 100 watts is 100 watts and once you start leaving the city limits, you’ll hit a bit of friction in your community radio listening.
That said, kuaafm.org does cover the entirety of the world wide web. So there’s that.
Just as they sketch out the fandom they share for jazz, both Perschon and Wheeler note that they’re not limiting programming to SLC artists, no matter the genre. New, old, experimental and traditional, the jazz played on KUAA crosses a lot of boundaries. That’s particularly true during Perschon’s 9 a.m. block, when the giants of jazz rub shoulders with newer artists and those working on more-exploratory edges of the form.
“I seek out jazz that’s interesting to me,” Perschon says. “We all know Miles and Coltrane but I like a lot of new stuff, experimental stuff, too.
“I find it to be incredibly interesting music,” he adds. “It’s challenging to a lot of people, but I love that jazz pushes boundaries.” For a station like KUAA, “it’s good to push musical boundaries.”
The station, which is run under the auspices of the Utah Arts Alliance, is found in a low-rise building along some extremely-in-use railroad tracks, inside the Utah Arts Hub (663 W. 100 South, SLC). In its location in an industrial pocket on the edge of downtown, it shares some artistic and cultural kinship with other businesses on the block, such as The Sun Trapp bar and the Metro Music Hall, both of which are a hop-skip down the way.
Wheeler figures the clean-and-tidy little studios will be at The Hub for a time, sharing space with rollerskating classes, textile and podcasting studios—a bit of everything, really.
“We might possibly be the unofficial entertainment district of Salt Lake,” Wheeler says. “You can come down here at night, and it’s nuts.”
But the incursion of condo projects nearby suggests that a move could be in the offing at some point. Wherever the station goes, these two on-air voices will be providing jazz grooves.
“We don’t worry about ratings,” Wheeler says. “We just have to worry about the quality. If we put out a good program, everything will take care of itself.”
Jazz on Tap
The house trio at Hopkings Brewing anchors one of two weekly jazz nights.
is treated to jazz, with a jam on Wednesday nights followed by a Thursday night staple featuring a house trio. Both events take place during the 8-11 pm prime time.
These days, when the band takes over a flat-surfaced stage area near the expansive front windows, there’s a full house on-hand to watch and listen. That wasn’t the case all that long ago.
When the bar was new, less than a halfdecade back, Hopkins says “it was kind of awkward because it was so dead in here. You’d have these excellent jazz musicians, some of the best around. And there was no one here but me.” Because these were friends of his, some musicians would ask if they should keep playing into the third set, the answer was always, yes, “since I’m here and enjoying this.”
“It was always a dream to have jazz in my spot,” Hopkins says. “Mainly, I do it because I enjoy it. I wanted my own jazz club! But we also showcase other bands that are fun.”
Hopkins sketches out a bit more of his personal fandom, describing how he “grew up” as a musician. “My dad was a musician, and I grew up around them,” he said. “I had a few bands in high school, and one of my best friends was an incredible drummer, who went on to become a world-class drummer.” (That would be Steve Lyman, mentioned by the cats at KUAA.)
Even in the course of a short conversation between lunch-and-dinner rushes, Hopkins mentions a few times that jazz has a solid hold on two of the “four or five nights a week” of live music at his spot—even if his staff is sometimes a tad vocal about their lack of jazz fandom.
Hopkins says that keeping jazz on the calendar brings a certain loyalty, and he’s seeing fans through the doors weekly.
“We’ve got a following, people are coming here every Wednesday and Thursday to hear jazz,” Hopkins says, while throwing some playful shade at his crew.
“While some of my bartenders don’t like it, people come in and have a good time, overall,” he said. “We’re starting to see a lot of the same people here for jazz.”
Hopkins notes that the style played by the brewery’s weekly house trio, for example, is flexible enough that folks are able to “come in and converse” or “immerse themselves in the music,” depending on mood. Ditto on Wednesday nights, when sax player David Halliday often serves as a musical director of the evening’s direction and sound.
Immersion in the music was on display a couple of weeks back on a Thursday, as the house trio involved the usual suspects of Alicia Wrigley on bass and vocals, Parker Swenson on drums and keyboardist Tony Elison. With no knock on the first two players in saying so, Swenson had heads turning and eyes fixed on him as he took a pair of solos during the first set.
Even the non-jazz fans in the house had to take in a moment of that, while those upfront locked in, heads-a-boppin’.
Heartened that some local bars and restaurants are bringing back live music in this period of relaxed COVID protocols, Hopkins is happy that some are spotting jazz into their lineup. But as someone who’s invested in the myriad sounds of jazz making it in Salt Lake, he’s realistic. The options aren’t endless now, but the trend lines might be pointing in the right direction.
For casual music fans, “there’s not a lot of jazz around, and people may not go out and find interest in it. It’s not really a mainstream sound,” Hopkins said. “But I’ve been to Manhattan and LA and other places with cool jazz clubs. There’s a lot of movement to Salt Lake and with that, people are bringing culture.”
When they arrive, they can find some local jazz culture cooking twice a week at a busy brewpub in a heavily trafficked neighborhood. That’s not a small thing, no matter the motivation.
As Hopkins says, “I definitely like the jazz vibe a couple of nights of the week. Selfishly, it’s for me. These are my friends, and we’ll keep it going.”
THOMAS CRONE
Memory Lane
So About That New Orleans Jazz Thing...
eams within the “Big Four”
TAmerican sports leagues (Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League) have been moving around for better financial opportunities for no small amount of time, with each of the leagues seeing ebbs and flows in franchise movement.
Occasionally, as in the case of the current Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams, a team can find itself cycling through a market more than once. In this case, the NFL franchise known as the Rams enjoyed a decade in Cleveland before a lengthy move to Los Angeles, then a two-decade stay in St. Louis before returning to LA in 2016.
For folks who’ve moved to SLC in more recent times, there could be a tendency to assume that the Utah Jazz are a legacy franchise for the state, one that’s been rooted here since the team was birthed by the NBA. That name, though, “The Jazz,” clearly suggests a different story. The team’s not the Mountaineers, the Pioneers, the Saints or another name that would hint at geographical or historical kinship to Utah. Instead, it’s the Jazz, an import from a city that truly knows jazz.
For those in back not paying attention to the guy at the bar telling the story to some new locals, here’s the quickest of recaps: the Jazz were originally a New Orleans NBA franchise, a team that enjoyed five uneven and, to be honest, mostly unsuccessful seasons in NOLA during the 1970s. It was a team that followed, by five years, the New Orleans Buccaneers of the American Basketball Association, the doomed competitors of the NBA—that nowdefunct league also included, incidentally, the Utah Stars (1970-76).
Despite having a few top-flight players come through its roster—playing alongside a popular franchise cornerstone in the offensively inclined “Pistol” Pete Maravich, a collegiate star at nearby LSU—the New Orleans Jazz were also-rans in the NBA between 1974-79. The team would ultimately run up a modest combined record of 161–249 over five seasons, all but the first of which were played inside the monstrously scaled Superdome.
The original Jazz had some bad luck all right, from splitting arenas in its first year, to seeing Maravich hobbled by injuries during his high-scoring years there, to struggling to fill a major arena that was far too large for a sub-.500 team.
In the summer of 1979, the team was successful in lobbying for a move to Utah, just in time for the 1979-80 season that saw Magic Johnson and Larry Bird enter the NBA. The star power of the two rookie players would help to raise the fortunes of the entire NBA from that moment on—a period currently being chronicled on the HBO series Winning Time. (TC)