Tokyo Jazz Festival is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year and its lineup is a healthy mix of up-and-coming artists and giants of the genre.
Among the heavy hitters will be pianists Makoto Ozone, Herbie Hancock and Hiromi Uehara. Ozone will front a big band composed of musicians from local music colleges along with students from the prestigious Juliard School of Music in New York. Hancock, a regular at the festival, will lead a quartet featuring neo-soul singer Lalah Hathaway. While the wildly popular Uehara promises to provide some of the more esoteric music on hand. For the festival she'll be jamming with equally-inimitable Dominican pianist Michel Camilo.
The Uehara-Camilo collaboration isn't the only "East meets West" pairing. With the festival's theme of "Beyond Borders, Beyond Generations," there's a healthy dose of interesting pairings throughout the event. Japan's first true jazz export, Sadao Watanabe, joins a quartet featuring renowned trumpeter Wallace Roney and drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts. The New York hard-boppers backing Watanabe will keep him swinging and eschewing the smooth fusion of his later career. Violinist Naoko Terrai and Argentine pianist Pablo Ziegler promise to provide some true romance. Terrai's elegance and Ziegler's sultry tango will make September feel like scorching mid-summer. And pianist Mayuko Katakura plays with Dutch saxophonist Benjamin Herman for some bouncing cool bop sounds.