Kaoru Abe Shinjuku, 1973

Kaoru Abe is a insane saxophonist who devoted his life to sound without decorating or lying.

From 1968 to 1978, he suddenly appeared in the Japanese free-javish world and then disappeared a decade later. Although short-lived, this turbulent period marked a turning point that opened up a new path for the generation of Japanese musicians who referred to themselves as "free." People called him "a musician with his own world." He barely cared, including the number of the audience and the evaluation of critics. He turned to the sound and face it entirely alone. He was so overconfident and stubborn about his own tone that it was almost impossible to perform with others. On the riverbed in Yokohama, he continued to blow the saxophone from his neck until there was blood. He was indifferent to anything other than the sound itself.


"Kaoru Abe Shinjuku 1973" is a work that follows Abe's ten years with Alto Sachs. It traces the trajectory of the forgotten free jazz legend and captures the vivid energy of free jazz cafes in Shinjuku and Ginza in the 1970s. It also contains excerpts from an unannounced conversation between Abe and his friend, Makiro, which was recorded at a small old coffee shop in Shinjuku in 1973. This dialogue was originally planned to be published as a print, but in the end it was left as an unpublished tape.