SALT LAKE CITY — An NBA franchise known for its loyalty and consistency is returning to its fashion roots.
The Utah Jazz unveiled their new color scheme and classic J-note logo Tuesday morning, revealing a familiar look that is a throwback to the team's early years in New Orleans and Salt Lake City.
But even with the retro reboot, they aren't quite the same ole Jazz.
Sure, the team will now sport some of its old-school colors, including dark green and dark yellow as trim colors. But the Jazz will stray from their original mardi gras combo by going with navy blue instead of the traditional purple as the highlighted hue. Gray joins the darker blue, green and yellow tones as an official Jazz color.
On the logo front, Utah will now officially have two looks to sport: an updated version of the J-note logo the team wore from 1974-96 and the current mountain backdrop design with the new colors.
Jazz president Randy Rigby unveiled the new look Tuesday morning in front of a couple hundred fans in the ticket lobby of EnergySolutions Arena. The ceremony conveniently took place next to the Fanzz store where merchandise featuring the new schemes went on sale immediately after former Jazz players Ron Boone and Thurl Bailey helped uncover the new logo to cheering.
"I think it's going to be a perfect blend for both the new and the old," Rigby said.
The mountain logo is still considered the primary logo by the NBA, but Rigby said the J-note will be used by the team as the "featured logo" for the near future.
The team will show off its refurbished basketball court at an NBA Draft Day party on Thursday, June 24, but fans won't get to see the new Jazz uniforms until they're revealed on Aug. 16.
Rigby believes fans will like what they see. Jazz players, including Deron Williams, who got a sneak peek in May certainly did.
"Players loved the look, this logo," Rigby said.
This is the fifth logo change the team has undergone in its 36-year history, dating back to the inaugural 1974-75 season in Louisiana. Rigby said the latest change "wasn't monetarily driven," but called the update "wise business" and claimed it to be a way of "engaging and connecting with our fans."
Added Rigby: "Our existing logos were a little bit stale."
This newest version, which will be interchangeable with the mountain logo for official purposes, hit the right note with at least one longtime fan of the franchise.
"This logo is what Jazz fans around the world identify with," said Hall-of-Fame point guard John Stockton through the team in a news release. "Having the note back puts a smile on my face. As the team moves forward toward bigger and better things, it reminds us where we came from."
Williams has similar feelings.
"The music note is great. It unites our past and future," the All-Star point guard said in the release. "We have a lot of history here and bringing back the Jazz note unites us even more."
That, Rigby added, is precisely what the team hoped to accomplish through this three-year-long process during which the Jazz worked with the NBA to find a new style that bridged the past with the future. The NBA used national focus groups — though none in Utah — to test the marketability of the colors and logo.
It didn't hurt that the Jazz's green throwback jerseys during the Hardwood Classics program last season were wildly popular.
"The fun thing about it is this was well down the pipeline of happening anyway," Rigby said. "But the exciting thing is it reconfirmed to us the desire for this retro logo. It was huge."
This is also the third time the Jazz have changed colors over the years and the fourth different color scheme in franchise history.
In 1996, the Jazz ditched the old J-note logo in favor of a mountain backdrop and a jazzier-looking font with colors that included purple, teal, light blue, copper and black.
In 2004, Utah slightly tweaked its logo while updating its colors to be navy, powder blue, purple and silver.
Branding experts inside the Jazz organization and with the NBA determined, Rigby said, that those colors "didn't necessarily work for the future for us and for, really, fans."
Navy blue, in other words, is the new purple.
"I think it's exciting and I think it's well-timed," Rigby said. "The fans are ready for it, and we're ready for it, and I think it's going to be a fun, new look."
One downside for fans, however, might be that the Jazz won't be able to use their all-green uniforms with yellow trim that proved to be a big hit last season. Because they're introducing a new logo and colors, the franchise can't wear retro uniforms this season per NBA rules.
The Jazz will introduce another new old uniform inside the arena. Jeff Hornacek's retired jersey in the rafters will be switched from the purple mountain look to the classic J-note jersey — a la Stockton and Malone.
"He wanted to change that," Rigby said.
Retired jerseys from that era will remain in their original colors.
"Since they played in those purple colors, I think that's important that we don't try to alter history," Rigby said.
Hornacek isn't the only one who prefers the J-note look.
"I've always associated the music note with the Jazz, so I am glad to see the logo return," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, Utah's bench boss for 22 years, said in a prepared statement. "It was here when I arrived and it is the only logo many of the players I coached ever wore."
Consider Frank Layden another fan.
"I'm a sentimental guy and I think the fact that we are bringing back the music note is just wonderful," the ex-Jazz coach and team president said in the release. "There is nothing in this world like tradition, and I look forward to seeing the music note return."
Rigby said Larry H. Miller didn't participate in this process before his death last year, but he added that the old J-note logo "was very near and dear" to the late Jazz owner's heart.
e-mail: jody@desnews.com