The exaggerated rumors of jazz's demise can be put to rest. The second annual festival Tokyo Jazz 2003 showed that jazz is not ready to be relegated to the museum of past musical styles quite yet. An amazing (for jazz anyway) 40,000 fans headed to Ajinomoto Stadium in western Tokyo for two days of music Aug. 23-24. These numbers were even more surprising considering the Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival in Shizuoka was competing for ticket-buyers the same weekend. In addition to admissions, the steady stream of T-shirt, book and CD purchases at booths around the stadium proved that jazz still sells.

Onstage, musicians seemed willing to stretch jazz's boundaries while making sincere, and often delicate, music that had stadium-filling appeal. Tokyo Jazz 2003 reflected musical director Herbie Hancock's progressive view of jazz as a music that should not be limited to the mainstay of straight bop. A range of styles -- from African to funk and R&B to hip-hop -- mixed with jazz to establish very different vibes. Each evening, these styles came together in a "super unit" of the day's performers. These finales may have been a nightmare for the sound technicians (with 40-some microphones to mix), but it was a rare chance to hear individual styles set in a broader context. Though too short, the super-unit finales showed that unplanned spontaneity, no matter what the genre, produces good music in the end.

The hourlong sets also felt short, with musicians just getting warmed up and the crowd settling back in their seats (beer and food were restricted to special areas separate from the seats) before they ended and big-screen advertisements kicked on again. That aside, the sound system was superb, allowing the brush of cymbals, the thwack of bass and the tinkling of the piano to be heard surprisingly well. This quality system in turn allowed several groups, in particular the core trios on Sunday, to interject slow, quiet numbers into their sets. For three of the key performers on Sunday, these soft ballads drew the most applause from the crowd.