TOKYO CROSSOVER/JAZZ FESTIVAL 2008 Digest

One of Japan’s most accomplished young jazz groups, Sleep Walker will perform a live set that’s sure to be one of the highlights of Okino’s upcoming Tokyo Crossover Jazz Festival. Singers Clara Hill, Diviniti and Navasha Daya are all slated to make appearances, along with fellow overseas club jazz luminaries such as German DJ Rainer Truby. From the lively domestic scene, keyboard phenom Jazztronik, jazz combo Quasimode, and heavyweight DJ Raphael Sebbag of club jazz DJ unit United Future Organization are also on the bill.

Offering a distinct alternative to Japan’s mainstream jazz festivals, TCJF shows that the young and trendy audience for club jazz may be as broad as the older, established audience for jazz itself. The event now attracts several thousand hipsters to Ageha, as well as sponsors like carmaker Nissan.
But the restless Okino’s great dream is to do an outdoor fest a la Fuji Rock or Nagisa. “I’m still researching it,” he says. “The problem is deciding on the right location. Fuji Rock and Metamorphose are in the mountains, while Nagisa is held downtown. I’m wondering which is better. I don’t know if my audience is willing to travel, so I’m not sure yet.”

In the lead-up to this year’s Tokyo Crossover Jazz Festival, Okino also has a remix album coming out based on last year’s solo debut. For “United Legends” Replayed by Sleep Walker, he turned the traditional remix album on its head. Okino took the original tracks, on which he worked with an international cast of electronica producers and vocalists, and put them in the hands of Japanese acoustic jazz combo Sleep Walker.