Osaka Hosting Jazz Day

The world cultural organization’s director-general, Irina Bokova, and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock made the announcement March 6. Osaka will carry out a day-long series of jazz education programs and performances topped by an All-Star Global Concert at the 12,000-capacity outdoor Osaka Castle Park. Artists include Toshiko Akiyoshi, John Beasley, Kris Bowers, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Terri Lyne Carrington, Theo Croker, Sheila E., Pete Escovedo, Esperanza Spalding and many others.

It will be streamed live worldwide through various websites including UNESCO’s.

The event is a partnership between UNESCO and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz that “highlights intercultural dialogue and understanding through jazz, uniting people in all corners of the globe.”

Last year, the event was celebrated in all of the United Nations’ 196 member countries.

The host city was Istanbul. Monk Institute President Tom Carter said that Osaka was chosen because it was considered Japan’s “jazz mecca” in the 1920s, when seminal Japanese jazz artists like Ryoichi Hattori and Fumio Nanri (nicknamed “Japan’s Satchmo”) were in their prime.

Hancock said he figures he’s actually performed in Osaka more times in his life than he has in his hometown of Chicago.

He thinks selecting Osaka as the home base for this year’s Jazz Day will serve as a tribute to Japanese jazz fans who have been among the world’s most devoted supporters of the genre.

He first came to Japan in 1964 with Miles Davis.

“Japanese audiences are very loyal,” he said in an interview. “In Japan, art is really placed on a high level, and jazz is really honored and accepted as being a fine music—much more in comparison to the States.”

Akiyoshi, who moved from Japan to the U.S. in 1956 to study jazz and has since formed her own big band, said, “I was introduced to jazz while playing in a dance hall as a teenager during the American occupation by a Japanese jazz fan and record collector.”