Michael Pronko - The Japan Times

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Michael Pronko

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Michael Pronko

Michael Pronko writes essays for ST Shukan. He also writes for his own website Jazz in Japan, as well as for Newsweek Japan and Artscape Japan. He has published three books of essays about Tokyo and teaches American literature, culture and film at Meiji Gakuin University.

For Michael Pronko's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

CULTURE / Music

Mar 16, 2007

Mark Murphy "Love Is What Stays"

"Love is What Stays" shows again why Mark Murphy is a singer's singer, the kind of person whose live shows draw audiences filled with singers (pros and wannabes) as well as fans. Murphy's singing has always had an urgent honesty to it, as if every note might be his last. At the same time, though, his delivery and phrasing remain cool and steady.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Mar 2, 2007

McCoy Tyner looks back on Coltrane and a lifetime in jazz

McCoy Tyner ranks as one of the most important piano stylists in post-war jazz. His recordings with the John Coltrane Quartet, such as 1964's "A Love Supreme," remain high points of musical improvisation and spirituality. The mid-'60s music created by Coltrane, Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones expanded music toward greater freedom and integrity. The Quartet's intensity is still unmatched.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Feb 23, 2007

Chicago bluesman Carlos Johnson is the whole package: deep gravelly voice, thick-timbered guitar and a knack for wry lyrics.

CULTURE / Music

Feb 9, 2007

Russell Gunn "Plays Miles"

One of the "young lions" coming up in Wynton Marsalis' wake, Russell Gunn received acclaim for his "Ethnomusicology" series that combined hip-hop and jazz with daunting bravado. Gunn now releases an album of reworkings of Miles Davis tunes, perhaps to nail down more trad jazz cred. It works. Gunn digs deep into Miles' style and finds it as relevant as it ever was. That's not to say he mimics the past. Far from it, with a tight foursome backing his expansive trumpet forays, he sets up a multitude of fresh rhythms and then starts speaking the language of the trumpet. It feels like more than coincidence that both trumpeters come from East St. Louis.

CULTURE / Music

Feb 2, 2007

Banda Caliente Grande

Tokyo is home to the largest concentration of big bands of any city in the world. Every night of the year, student, amateur and pro bands are digging into music charts someplace in the city.

CULTURE / Music

Jan 26, 2007

Gal Costa "Today"

Though Gal Costa has been a mainstay of Brazilian popular music for three decades, "Today" is perhaps her best work yet. The energetic, playful style of her youth has now reached a richer maturity. Nestled in lean Brazilian accompaniment, she sings with a natural, yet adult, melodic sense.

CULTURE / Music

Jan 19, 2007

Don Byron "Do the Boomerang"

Multi-reedist Don Byron experiments in the broadest sense. On each new project, whether klezmer, free jazz, or neo-swing, Byron plays with fresh musical elements, puts his stamp on them, and makes them shine. His latest CD joyously celebrates his roots in the 1960s soul he heard at the famed Apollo Theatre as a youngster.

CULTURE / Music

Jan 12, 2007

Dr. Lonnie Smith "Jungle Soul"

Hammond B-3 organ-master Lonnie Smith's 20-some recordings have never strayed from his jazz-funk roots, but never before has he dug down so deep as on his newest, "Jungle Soul."

CULTURE / Music

Dec 8, 2006

Xiomara "Xiomara"

Nueva Trova ("new ballad") is Cuba's latest contribution to world music. One of the best of the new singers of these ballads is Havana-born Xiomara Laugart, whose debut presents the musical equivalent of slow food -- calm and seductive, the contrast with wilder dance music such as timba could not be more striking. Xiomara's voice has a self-assertiveness that contrasts with the aggressive power of dance-band singers. Though she does belt out her feelings openly, she does so with an unhurried grace.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY

Dec 1, 2006

Ub-X freely tinkers with the engine of jazz

Piano, bass and drums form the engine of jazz. Most jazz bands build on this foundation by adding other instruments, while a select few work from within to upend the conventions of the piano trio and fashion a completely new sound. Ub-X, one of the latter, is a group that sounds like no other.

CULTURE / Music

Nov 24, 2006

Neil Cowley Trio "Displaced"

The debut recording by pianist Neil Cowley, "Displaced" is one of the best British jazz releases in some time. The trio has a big, meaty sound and melodic energy, yet their complexities stand out as strongly as their freewheeling, almost rocklike sense of fun.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY

Nov 17, 2006

Jazz has established many homes outside its country of birth, and recently musicians and fans in these widely dispersed countries have begun interacting far from jazz's Mecca of New York City. The scenes in Holland and Japan -- long two of the most thriving -- stepped up their cultural exchanges this year with more tours than ever. For the two countries, it is the latest chapter in a relationship established 400 years ago when Dutch ships arrived in Nagasaki.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Nov 10, 2006

John Hicks "Sweet Love of Mine"

When John Hicks died in May, the jazz world lost one of its most masterful artists. Hicks encompassed tradition, finding enough there to fuel a consistent creativity. In his early years, he was equally comfortable bopping with Art Blakey, backing vocalist Betty Carter or digging into blues with Albert King and Little Milton. His last release, "Sweet Love of Mine," is a fitting finale to a significant career.

CULTURE / Music

Nov 3, 2006

Stanton Moore "III"

Not many recordings have been made in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, but fewer still have been made in that special sanctuary of trad jazz, Preservation Hall, the run-down mecca of old-time jazz. Drummer Stanton Moore, though, took the postdisaster break in the tourist action to drag his very nontraditional band there to knock out a pumped-up set of full-on soul jazz.

CULTURE / Music

Oct 27, 2006

Medeski, Scofield, Martin, and Wood "Out Louder"

Ten years ago when guitarist John Scofield joined Medeski, Martin and Wood on "A Go Go," the jam-band scene was just ripening. Nowadays it's hard to tell where swing ends and groove begins. Few bands, though, push the sonic limits with as much skill and gusto as MSMW on their second collaboration, "Out Louder."

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Oct 20, 2006

Annie Sellick and Grant Stewart Quartet

Saxophonist Grant Stewart and vocalist Annie Sellick bring their contemporary jazz to Japan for a tour that starts tonight (Oct. 20) -- and their straight-up, no-frills sounds dig into tradition with fresh feeling. Last year's "Grant Stewart +4" was a sparkling piece of contemporary jazz, but Stewart's most recent album, "Estate," is his most melodic work to date. Doubling up on tenor sax with Eric Alexander, he creates a full, rich sound that swings hard. Like Alexander, he has helped re-energize tenor sax playing in the jazz world with a distinctive, individual voice.

CULTURE / Music

Oct 13, 2006

Mayra Andrade "Navega"

Mayra Andrade's debut of acoustic world music sounds a bit like fellow singer from Cape Verde, west Africa, Cesaria Evoria. Mayra, though, has her own uniquely joyful and lovely voice. Recorded last year at just age 20, she sounds as if she's already had a 20-year career.

CULTURE / Music

Oct 6, 2006

Eddie Roberts "Roughneck Live in Paris"

The term "nu-jazz" shows that the more things change, the more they stay the same. "Roughneck Live in Paris" might be nu-jazz, but it still has plenty of the old, with its blend of 1990s-style jamming and sleek '60s soul jazz.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Sep 29, 2006

The 2006 Yokohama Jazz Promenade

Whether or not Yokohama is, as it's claimed to be, the hometown of jazz in Japan, the port city definitely puts on the best festival in the country. The 2006 Yokohama Jazz Promenade kicks off this year at noon on Oct. 7 with a bigger and broader lineup than ever before. For two days next weekend at 11 large halls and 27 small clubs, not to mention restaurants, bars and streetside jams, Yokohama gives itself up entirely to jazz.

CULTURE / Music

Sep 22, 2006

Anouar Brahem "Le Voyage de Sahar"

Tunisian-born Anouar Brahem is an unparalleled master of the oud, a lutelike Arabian instrument with 12 strings. On this, his seventh -- and best -- release, he appears brimming with influences from Ancient Persia to New York and beyond. Accompanied only by piano and accordion, his oud darts and flows as it weaves in Middle Eastern scales, classical harmonies and French chanson. The original compositions offer rich lyricism and room for intimate interplay among the musicians.

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.

For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on

By Lance Henderstein

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

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