Justin Hayford worked as Case Manager of the Legal Council for Health Justice from 1991 through at least 2017, and wrote theater reviews for the Chicago Reader newspaper from 1987 until 2019.
23 Facts About Justin Hayford
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Justin Hayford was born in Rochester, New York, on March 11,1970.
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Justin Hayford grew up in an environment where music was greatly appreciated, which formed his own appreciation of music.
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Justin Hayford was the only one in his family who did not get formal musical training.
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Justin Hayford taught himself to play the piano using the piano at his home, but he disliked singing.
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Justin Hayford later switched to mathematical studies and subsequently moved on to a department called Interpretation which deals with the analysis and performance of literature.
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At that time Justin Hayford took an interest in the problems of people suffering from AIDS.
8.
Justin Hayford began volunteering at the AIDS Legal Council of Chicago which protects the rights of people living with HIV and AIDS and provides free legal services to them.
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Justin Hayford spent a year there as a volunteer and was then promoted to the position of case manager.
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Justin Hayford worked at the Legal Council through at least 2017, advocating for people who have been discriminated against, fighting to secure their public benefits, helping them prepare the estate planning documents, struggling to secure green cards or asylum for recent legal immigrants.
11.
Shortly after taking the job with the Legal Council Justin Hayford recommenced his musical pursuits.
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Justin Hayford started playing an electric piano as a means of recreation and relaxation.
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Justin Hayford got familiar with and started to admire the music of Matt Dennis, an American singer and pianist, whose voice was not very powerful but he used it to great effect.
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Justin Hayford found a resemblance between his voice and Dennis' voice, so he saw in Dennis a model from which he could learn.
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From that moment on Justin Hayford began to search out little known songs from the 1930s and 1940s and performed them before his friends.
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Justin Hayford performed 16 songs for an audience of about 30 people.
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Later Justin Hayford started performing in a piano bar on a regular basis which helped him develop his distinctive style.
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Justin Hayford revives songs that were forgotten a long time ago or that never became popular when they were created.
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Justin Hayford believes that many of these overlooked songs are valuable and should not have sunk into oblivion.
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Justin Hayford's style is to some extent an opposition to what he finds negative in the typical jazz singing.
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Justin Hayford believes that the song must stay in the foreground, while the singer must remain in the background.
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Justin Hayford says he is not a typical musician in the sense that he does not make special efforts to gain popularity or sell his records.
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Justin Hayford has recorded at least four albums for Lee Lessack's LML Music label, which was dedicated to cabaret, jazz and Broadway music.