The boxing gym that had 18 Infidels Jazz shows

All-City Athletics is a self-described "boxing and social club" that left its space at 130 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, on November 30th. The previous night, it hosted the final show of Infidels Jazz's Knockouts series. The band led by electric bassist Cole Woodland played the music of Weather Report; it was billed as Elegant People, the name of a track from Weather Report's album Black Market.

All-City founder Jordan Bowers and co-owner Laurie Assaly shared the news of the coming move-out on October 8th. "Over the past year, we’ve been facing rising costs and challenges with our landlord. After many conversations and attempts to find a solution, we couldn’t reach an agreement that made sense for All City," they wrote on Instagram. Bowers and Assaly described plans to keep running their programs "in a new location (stay tuned), as well as weekly park workouts". Alas, hosting jazz shows will no longer be adjunct to those plans.

Rhythm Changes connected with ten of the series' bandleaders, as well as with Tim Reinert of Infidels Jazz, to reflect on All-City. Woodland said that it "was one of the coolest venues [he'd] played in Vancouver. Laurie and Jordan created such a warm and welcoming atmosphere that resonated throughout the space, and it was an honor to get to play the final show."

"Although I'm sad that this series has had to come to an end," Reinert said, "I'm immensely proud of the impact the series made on the jazz scene here in a relatively short period of time. Knockouts was a really unique confluence of great music and good vibes, and brought a lot of new faces to both the jazz scene in Vancouver and to Infidels shows in particular."

Reinert first announced Knockouts on October 3rd, 2023. "All-City is a full use boxing gym owned and operated by the grandson of one of the most important traditional Jazz musicians in Vancouver's History, Lance Harrison," Reinert wrote at the time, referring to Bowers. Harrison, a Vancouverite and a member of the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame, was a prominent Canadian saxophonist from as early as the 1930s whose playing career continued all the way through the 1990s. Harrison died in 2000 at age 85.

The first Knockouts bandleader was also a saxophonist, one who was making a name for himself as a creative force on the scene at a young age: Gordy Li. All-City had an entrance through the back alley and a winding corridor down a staircase to reach the space; it sometimes called for not one, but two volunteer door people. It provided a hip atmosphere for shows as well as lively set breaks in the alley, at least when it wasn't raining. "This room has to be seen to be believed," Reinert wrote in a follow-up promotional post on October 23rd.