Since 2014, veteran DJ and broadcaster Peter Barakan has been bringing blues, jazz and other roots musicians to Tokyo for an annual festival called Peter Barakan¡¯s Live Magic!. After a decade, the event is coming to an end ¡ª but it's not going out quietly. The 11th edition of Live Magic!, billed as the festival¡¯s finale (in its current form, at least), will take place at Yebisu Garden Place on Oct. 19.
The lineup for this year¡¯s festival, the second to feature performers from outside Japan since the COVID-19 pandemic, is made up almost entirely of Live Magic! first-timers. That includes Matthew Halsall, a trumpeter from Manchester, England, who plays spiritual jazz in the style of Alice Coltrane.
¡°(His music) has this kind of gentle groove to it, which I find particularly appealing,¡± Barakan says. ¡°The album he put out last year was my album of the year, so when it became clear this was going to be the last Live Magic! in festival form, I thought, ¡®OK, we¡¯ve got to have Matthew.¡¯¡±
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