The Tateshina High School Jazz Club which helped inspire the popular movie "Swing Girls," will send a group of about 30 members to Washington to perform at the annual cherry blossom festival's opening ceremony.
The club at the public high school in the town of Tateshina, Nagano Prefecture, is preparing a list of tunes for the performance on March 29, including a rearrangement of singer Naotaro Moriyama's "Sakura" ("Cherry Blossom") and other songs.
"It'll be wonderful to perform in the home of jazz. We will do our very best," said teacher Kenro Saito, the club's adviser.
The dynamic performances of such popular jazz songs as "Sing, Sing, Sing" by the club's female members caught the attention of director Shinobu Yaguchi, who based his 2004 movie "Swing Girls: Girls Meet Jazz!!" on Tateshina High's jazz band and on a jazz band from Takasago High School in Hyogo Prefecture.
Established in 1999, Tateshina High's jazz band has about 30 members and about 10 alumni members. It released its first CD last year and is currently producing a second CD.