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Sadao Watanabe recalls his last visit to City Hall with fondness. “I had my own group with me of Japanese musicians. I had just finished my US tour, and boy, was that a great show!” Eight years on, the veteran saxophonist returns to our shores. For those of you not familiar with Watanabe, the reasons to catch his show are simple: he is a living saxophone icon, and perhaps Japan’s most famous jazz musician of the past 50 years.

Born in Utsunomiya in 1933, the saxophonist, who’s also an accomplished photographer, started experimenting with Brazilian music in 1962, a dabbling that later led to a major role in Japan’s bossa nova boom of the late 1960s. Though much of Watanabe’s musical fame has come from his role in re-inventing this particular style of Brazilian music, don’t expect him to say it’s his favourite type of jazz.

“I love it all,” he says. “I started with bebop, and have always been playing alto and soprano sax. Lately, I’ve been toying around with the tenor sax. I’ve been writing a lot of new music lately, and have tried to incorporate some tenor licks into it.” Unfortunately for Hong Kong tenor lovers, it won’t be making an appearance on Wednesday, for one simple reason: “It’s too heavy to carry around.”

Citing Charlie Parker and Charlie Mariano as great influences on his career, Watanabe will again be appearing with his own band at City Hall, consisting of Akira Onozuka (piano), Jun Kajiwara (electric guitar), Kiichiro Komobuchi (electric bass), Masaharu Ishikawa (drums), and N'diasse Niang (percussion). Over it all, Watanabe’s alto will squeal through the high registers, as he plays a set of original compositions combining musical elements from all over the world.

Watanabe advocates a message of world peace through his music – a noble trait that will be on full display at City Hall. While he might not achieve that lofty goal in his 90-minute set, we’ll settle for the peace of mind that comes from seeing one of Asia’s jazz greats.

Mark Tjhung & Henry Chung

At City Hall Wednesday 26