Small Yamaguchi Town Celebrates World-Class Jazz Performances; Jazz Festival to Feature Bassist Parrott

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:48 JST, September 9, 2025

ABU, Yamaguchi — A small coastal town will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the creation of its jazz concert that invites world-renowned jazz musicians to perform live in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

This year’s concert features Nicki Parrott, a bassist known for her silky-sweet tones, as a main performer. Yoshitaka Masumoto, the owner of jazz cafe Village in Hagi of the same prefecture, has been organizing the festival in Abu, which faces the Japan Sea.

“We will present many jazz standards with the best performances to delight the fans who have supported the event over the years,” said Masumoto.

The town has been striving to revitalize the community through jazz. With Masumoto taking the lead, it hosted the Concord Jazz Festival in Japan for 10 consecutive years since 2005, inviting renowned musicians such as trumpet player Terumasa Hino. The festival was held in 2018 and 2019, and the performances fully resumed in 2022 after a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2023 festival was jeopardized due to the passing of Takao Ishizuka, the president of a Tokyo promotion company that had been a long-time collaborator in bringing renowned overseas musicians to the town’s festival. Masumoto overcame this crisis by personally appealing to famous jazz pianist Makoto Ozone.

From that year on, the festival took its current name of Abu Jazz Festival.

The 2025 festival is a huge milestone. The festival will start at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 12 at the Abu citizens center’s cultural hall that has a capacity of 500.

Parrott, from Australia, has performed at jazz festivals in Europe, the United States and at the 2022 Concord festival. She reportedly told Masumoto that she was looking forward to coming back.

The two-hour concert will feature many standard numbers including “Autumn Leaves.” Female musicians active in places like Tokyo will be on piano, guitar, saxophone and drums.

“It’s a small concert in a tiny town hall but presents world-class performances,” Masumoto said. “I want to continue to keep jazz alive in this town.”

All seats are reserved, and admission is ¥6,000.