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Monday, March 12, 2012

Could or Should the Sloop be Home for the Jazz Hall of Fame?

According to a recent WGN post, a group of prominent jazz musicians and cultural figures are looking to build a new, state of the art jazz museum in Chicago—an International Jazz Hall of Fame, to be exact. The idea has been pitched to “a number of different people in the city”, but an exact location for the proposed tourist attraction has not been determined.

The idea to erect a jazz museum in Chicago is nothing new—in fact, seed money was raised in the 1990’s to build a National Jazz Museum right here in the Sloop:
But the effort lost steam in 1999, when the City of Chicago turned down the planners' proposal to take over a choice parcel of land up for redevelopment at the northwest corner of Roosevelt Road and Michigan Avenue.

Now, influential voices across the city such as jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis and Columbia College President Warrick Carter are reviving the idea. But the choice piece of land that was proposed for the original museum is now a high rise.

We have an idea...maybe the should think about "Music Row” on South Michigan. Seems like it could be a good alternative location for such a prestigious institution. It seems like a fit for the area, but maybe it's not high-profile enough for the museum.

Anyway, should be interesting to see how this develops. What do you think? Could and/or should this museum come to the Sloop?

3 comments:

  1. Yes, South Loop needs something like that. It would be nice to see the abandoned building at Michigan and 14th st the site. That's a beautiful building with history and what better than a museum on jazz in that area.

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  2. anybody know who owns that vacant building? city?

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  3. Proximity to Museum Campus would make sense for tourists.

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