Yussef Dayes In Japan (Film) 富士山
february 2, 2025
well, japan is my favorite country and culture, and yussef dayes is my favorite contemporary drummer. so...
..everything in this film was frikin perfect. while i was watching this, i wanted it to never end, and at the same time, i wanted it to finish asap because i had so many things to say. the vibe, the audio quality, the storyline, so wonderful. i appreciated that yussef told us a little about his background, his father and his family. growing up in an environment like that really feels inspiring and true. when he talks about his family, you can see the glimpse in his eyes. the live performance in front of mount fuji is satisfying. i knew the group really well, so musically i had no concern that it would be anything less than awesome. aesthetically it was really well built, the stage was super clean, you couldn't see a single cable laying around. (im an audio technician, so this really got me :P). and also, the sound was so perfect that i doubted whether they were playing live or in playback. in the end, when they stopped because of the cold, the wind was blowing hard, and you could see some mic stands that were close to flying away. in this chaos, we couldn't hear a single wind noise. all of this made me want to study and play music again and growing up in an inspirational environment like his was. when watching, at every song, i said "ooh this is my favorite for sure", then a more beautiful track played. it's a tough choice, but i think my favorite is "fuji yama" feat. minami kizuki, what a great performance and vibe. she was a great addition to the group. the pattern played on the rototoms by yussef blended perfectly with her vocals, and the sax too. the best chapter for me is "5 - passion at yokohama, kanagawa prefecture". despite there being so many great places shown, that bar really hit me. it was so passionate, even the customers who were there enjoying great jazz albums with their eyes closed, focused on the music. the atmosphere of that place is something i’ve never experienced but always wanted to. so, yeah, i know i’ve repeated a ton of times that it was all perfect, but it really was.