Tokyo's King of Jazz Is Back!

Shinichi Yanagisawa on the drums. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Tuesday, October 20, saw my first visit to the HUB Asakusa since February. It was long overdue. The April and June shows were cancelled due to COVID-19, but I was surprised to find out (after the fact) that the August actually happened. For a variety of reasons, I just assumed that performance would have been postponed, as well, so I didn't even bother to check to see if it would happen. Suffice it to say, I really regretted that.

As a result, I made it a point to attend the October performance of Shinichi Yanagisawa and His Swing All-Stars. Attendance was much smaller than usual (for obvious reasons), but the usual attendees were all there. It was also great to see Yanagisawa-san again for the first time since February. Yanagisawa-san, of course, is one of the stars of The X from Outer Space (1967).

Shinichi Yanagisawa after the show. Photo by Brett Homenick.

The performance ended a bit earlier than usual, which given the situation, isn't all that surprising. I'm just glad they're still happening at all. I certainly hope all goes well for the next concert in two months. If it's still on, I plan to be there.