The Irkutsk jazz group Doctor Jazz visited Kanazawa, Japan, for the 45th anniversary of the sister city ties and performed at the Kanazawa Jazz Street festival. The musicians presented a new program and the album Breath of the Great Sea, dedicated to Siberia, Baikal and Irkutsk, and their performances were warmly received by the audience and the mayor. The trip may inspire new compositions, and in 2013 Kanazawa plans a return visit by a children's jazz band to Irkutsk.

From September 12 to 18, 2012, a delegation from the city of Irkutsk visited its sister city of Kanazawa (Japan). The delegation included five members of the musical group “Doctor Jazz”: Alexander Filippov, Natalia Likhosherst, Sergey Kushilkin. Yuri Kurtilov, Nikolai Smagliev. The delegation of Irkutsk residents was headed by Irkutsk City Duma deputy Alexander Panko. The trip was organized as part of the 45th anniversary of the sister-city relationship between Irkutsk and Kanazawa with the support of the municipalities of the two cities. The Irkutsk jazz group, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, took part in the “Kanazawa Jazz Street” festival.
Over the course of three days, performances by more than 200 groups from different countries around the world were organized at various venues throughout the city. Music could be heard in concert halls, outdoors, and in business and shopping centers. On those days, as the participants of the trip said, even cafes and restaurants played only jazz — “the city lived by this music.”
“Doctor Jazz” performed at two concert venues: the “Korinbo la Moda” business center and outdoors at the “Oyama” temple.
In Japan, the group presented its own program — its new album “Breath of the Great Sea,” dedicated to the nature of Siberia, Lake Baikal, and Irkutsk.
“The album is new, recorded in 2011. We are glad that we were able to present it right away both to music lovers and to colleagues at a festival of this level,” said the group’s leader Alexander Filippov. “Our performance is somewhat different from what is customary in Japan. In this country, they mainly play classical jazz — jazz standards. They play excellently, at a very high level, with great sound. But jazz festivals are also valued for their diversity. We played Irkutsk jazz, and we were received very well.”
The mayor of Kanazawa, Yamano Yukiyoshi, attended Doctor Jazz’s concerts. Some audience members came specifically to listen to musicians from the sister city.
In Japan, the Irkutsk musicians were struck by the democratic atmosphere, the sense of freedom and safety, as well as the Japanese attitude toward their work and their country.
According to Alexander Filippov, the impressions from the trip to Japan will most likely become the theme of new jazz compositions by the group. For example, “Blues of the Kanazawa Market,” “Autumn in Kanazawa”...
A special introductory and cultural program was organized for the guests from Irkutsk. As Natalia Likhosherst said, the musicians visited one of the city’s municipal schools, where a children’s jazz group studies.
“Children are taught jazz at a very high level. We were struck by the Japanese attitude toward raising children in general. By investing everything possible in their education, the people of this country ensure the future of their family and their country,” Natalia shared her impressions. “As for jazz and classical music, the development of interest in ‘intellectual music’ is state policy.”
The members of the Irkutsk delegation were received by the mayor of Kanazawa. The participants of the meeting agreed that in 2013 a children’s jazz band from Kanazawa would come to Irkutsk to take part in the traditional autumn festival “Jazz on Baikal.”
Based on materials from the press service of the Irkutsk city administration