The Japanese have a way of elevating seemingly simple things into works of art through remarkable care and attention to detail quite unlike anybody else.
This applies equally to objects such as rice bowls and sliding doors as it does to concepts like jazz kissas. Essentially modest cafés where jazz is played, the phenomenon – originating around 100 years ago – quickly developed into a sanctuary for intentional, focused music listening. You don’t talk in a jazz kissa – you listen. The spaces are often tiny, yet house surprisingly mighty sound systems, carefully calibrated to their surroundings. You’ll find automated playlists elsewhere; here, thoughtfully curated music selections are played by hand.
In Jazz Kissa, Katsumasa Kusunose masterfully captures the atmosphere of these listening sanctuaries in more than 300 images, while Devon Turnbull explores the significance of this fading type of establishment for both past and present, placing the latter in the context of what in his eyes is a gradually resurging interest in hi-fi culture. At no point, however, does the book feel like an academic cultural study. On the contrary, Jazz Kissa clearly presents itself as a coffee table book – a work to look at, to touch, and to savor. Photographs alternate with technical sketches; the equipment itself is celebrated just as much as the interior design and the music selection. As you flip through its pages, you can almost smell the wood of the shelves, the vintage gear, the record sleeves – seasoned with a hint of Nikka whisky and cigarette smoke.
The spectacular design of the book pays tribute to the meticulous care with which these listening cafés are created and run, once again showcasing Japan’s characteristic love of detail: it is printed on a special Japanese paper whose surface texture is meant to recall the diaphragm of an Altec A7 loudspeaker; the clothbound hardcover features embossed outlines of the corresponding horn modules on the back. As a finishing touch, the volume is adorned with an obi – an essential feature of any product from the Land of the Rising Sun – a paper band bearing the book’s key information.
Anyone already familiar with jazz kissas will immediately feel at home here; for everyone else, this book conveys the atmosphere and philosophy behind these listening cafés as vividly as possible without sound.
Katsumasa Kusunose, Devon Turnbull, Jazz Kissa – The Soul of Japanese Listening Culture
Hardcover, 336 pages, approx. $120 | ERG Media | ISBN: 978-90-835320-0-4