Are jazz kissa cool now? The rise of a subcultural phenomenon.

In the wider context of the recent revival of vinyl and analogue hifi culture, the last decade has seen the once relatively obscure worlds of Japanese jazz and jazz kissa – previously known largely only to canny collectors and loyal patrons – emerge from the underground into mainstream culture. Record labels such as BBE Records and their bestselling J-Jazz releases, immersive ‘listening’ events and documentary projects such as Tokyo Jazz Joints and Gateway to Jazz Kissa have been integral in this global explosion of interest. Remarkably, this long overdue moment for a unique musical subculture has been essentially organic. Despite the Japanese government's decades-long Cool Japan soft-power initiative, neither jazz nor jazz kissa have ever been deemed ‘cool’ enough to be worthy of inclusion. This omission sits in stark contrast with historic programmes such as the deliberate coupling of diplomacy and jazz legends such as Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie by the US State Department from 1956-69 to promote ‘American values’ through extensive concert tours worldwide (ever the comedian, Dizzy characterised this as a ‘Cool War’). This paper explores the trajectory of the recent jazz kissa phenomenon worldwide – one that has long been disappearing within Japan due to socio-economic change – and how much
of it is inspiration, imitation, or appropriation, and how this has consequently and perhaps ironically, helped revive interest in the music and jazz kissa culture within Japan itself.