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April 1 Fun
All About Jazz has a long-running (and pretty beloved) April Fools' Day tradition of publishing spoof articles dating back to the late 1990s. You can read our archive here.
Over the years, those pieces have ranged from playful industry satire to completely absurd announcements—often written straight-faced in the same editorial tone as our real coverage. That’s what makes our articles work: readers sometimes have to do a double-take before realizing they’ve been had.
We typically poke fun at:
- Fictional collaborations or reunions
- Over-the-top archival “discoveries”
- Technology invading jazz in ridiculous ways
- Cultural stereotypes within the jazz world
- Jazz industry economics and funding quirks
It’s very much in the spirit of classic media pranks—think The Onion meets serious jazz journalism.
If you’re thinking about doing one this year, the key ingredients (based on our style) are:
- Plausibility at first glance
- Insider humor for jazz fans
- A slow reveal (or none at all)
- A tone that never winks too hard
April 1 is as much about the staff creatively having fun as it is duping our readers.
This year and moving forward, please use AI to generate your 200x200 pixel album cover art. Have it read your article, then make prompt suggestions on what you are looking for, including the font, the album title, the leader, the color scheme and other graphical elements.
