1. We didn't come to look for music, but music found us.

We were not really big fun of music, still less jazz. However we were fascinated by talented musicians, appealing original music and  home-like atmosphere of venues and the community. We didn't come to look for music in Israel, but music found us.

Israeli artists such as Avishai Cohen, Shai Maestro, Gilad Hekselman and more are becoming well known in Japan too. They are inevitable artists in the world in terms not only of jazz scene but also of musical scene in general.

We did not know about them, however we gradually came to know them.

It all started with Avishai Cohen

On the evening of July 8, 2009, we went to a gala concert with our then 5-year-old daughter. The gala concert was held to celebrate the launching of a joint educational program of the New School in New York and the Center for Jazz Studies at Israel Conservatory of Music in Tel Aviv. At that time, we didn't even know what New School was.  We went there as we saw an ad in the paper saying that Avishai Cohen would be playing there.

"I went to a Chick Corea concert, but all I could see was the bassist.” We had heard this from a friend living in the U.S. ten years ago. We had been curious about him for a long time, but there was no opportunity for us to see him playing.

The gala concert lasted about two hours and many artists played one after another. Looking back on it now, it was a wonderful lineup. All names were new for us, but some names were so memorable such as Shai Maestro on piano, Itai Kriss on flute, and a pianist Omri Mor, whom Avishai introduced by saying, "I've enjoyed playing with him ever since I met him when he was a high school boy."

July 31, 2009: A Decisive Night

On July 31, 2009 we went to a quintet show of Avishai Cohen in Tel Aviv. Both of us enjoyed the show so much. We were totally attracted, and we were speechless. It was the first time for us to be so fascinated and uplifted by live performance.

The pianist at that show was Shai Maestro. A few days later we found that Shai Maestro was going to play at a small club in Tel Aviv called Levontin 7, so we went there.

At the club what we were most surprised to see was a group of middle and high school boys were sitting on the floor in the front row, and gazed into Shai's performance during the live show. We were very excited to feel that new music was being just created on the spot, it was completely new experience for us.

After the performance, the boys surrounded Shai as he came out from the waiting room, asking him about this and that and talking to him in a casual manner. It was amazing to see how close they were to the artist. We also approached to Shai and told him how impressed we were. He was confident in his playing as if he had long years career, so we were surprised to learn that Shai was only 22 years old.

Even after going back to home we were still attracted by Shai's playing. We said that we wanted to listen more of Shai Maestro's piano playing. Eventually, we went to all of Shai's countless gigs over the next few months until he flew out to New York.

A life of weekly live music begins

We also became interested in Yuval Cohen on saxophone, Gilad Abro on bass, and Amir Bresler on drums, who were playing with Shai at that period. We went to see them whenever we could find a chance to see them. In fact, they always played at some live music clubs every week, and our family started going to hear live music every week.

The music they played was almost original compositions or arrangements of well-known Israeli songs, which was a little different from the jazz music we had imagined until then. The artists were constantly trying out new songs, and above all, they looked enjoying each other's company, and even though we had not have many experience to listen to the live musical performance, we could feel that they were so talented and so good.

One day, Yuval Cohen proudly called his sister from the stage and said,
“Good surprise for you! My sister will play the next song with me."
There was a moment when we thought,
" What, his sister?'' but from the first note, we were transfixed by her performance, " Wow, that's amazing.'' That's no wonder, as his younger sister was Anat Cohen, who is well known all over the world. We also learned from the audience that the younger brother was Avishai Cohen, an internationally known trumpet player with the same name as the bassist, and that the three brothers had a unit called “3 Cohens”.

The number of gigs we attended was 138

Every time we went to a concert, we met new artists and were impressed by the fresh sounds they produced one after another, and we kept following them enthusiastically for more and more. Our daughter fell asleep in the middle of the performance, and it became our routine to carry her home on our backs after the concert.

In the three years before we left Israel, we attended a total of 138 concerts. We got to know not only the artists but also their families, and when we realized it we were a part of the vibrant unique scene created by Israeli jazz artists.

To be honest, we still don't understand jazz itself, and still not sure if we like jazz. But, we are sure that there's something to fascinates us even without any knowledge of jazz and music.

After 9 years, back to Israel

In August 2021, we returned to Israel for the first time in nine years, and as soon as we heard a live performance in Tel Aviv, we were like,
"This is it!'' All at once, our senses returned and we were able to enjoy this pleasure again.

Why jazz? what attracts us so much? Through the voices of world-class artists, their families, educators who train future artists, club owners and producers, we would like to share the wonderful world that we are fascinated.