Program Note

Basie is a Jazz café and Sound museum located in Iwate, Japan. It is a shrine for Japanese Jazz fans. Inspired by the legendary jazz pianist Count Basie, its owner, Sugawara Shoji opened the café in 1970s. Even though the golden age of Jazz music had its time a few decades prior, the café still welcomes jazz lovers for over 50 years. The documentary carefully conveys Sugawara’s genuine philosophy on how jazz should be listened to and wonderfully captures live jazz from the café. The passion of jazz fans in this work acts as less of an appreciation for what is old-fashioned but rather as a love letter for a genre which doesn’t grow old and one that subsequently kept the café going for all those years. (KIM Sohye)

Director

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  • HOSHINO Tetsuya