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:

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Apr 23, 2003

Japan Blues Carnival 2003

Every year in late May, between the cherry blossoms and the rainy season, the Japan Blues Carnival packs the Hibiya Outdoor Theater with an afternoon and evening's worth of blues. This year the festival will feature Ike Turner, returning to the stage after a long absence, and Louisiana slide guitarist...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Apr 16, 2003

Pharoah Sanders

When John Coltrane expanded his traditional quartet by adding a young, little-known saxophonist from Little Rock, Ark., it wasn't so he could take a break. Coltrane knew Pharoah Sanders was a soul mate ready to accompany him on an exploration of the jazz universe's outer limits. Indeed, Sanders often...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY

Apr 13, 2003

Extracurricular cool at Hitorizawa

Hitorizawa High School in Kanagawa appears to be a normal Japanese high school. Plentiful shoe-boxes jam the entryway, a sign-in sheet for visitors dangles alongside the nub of an old pencil and lists of rules hang accusingly in the wide and somewhat dusty halls. After classes, administrative staff work...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Apr 9, 2003

The Bad Plus: "Here are the Vistas"

It had to happen eventually. Every other social and musical trend has at some point been swept into jazz's fold. The Bad Plus' debut CD, "These Are the Vistas," is a startling work, taking some of its cues from grunge's earnest, introspective stance. Even while sticking to a piano, bass and drums line-up,...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Apr 2, 2003

No European jazz musician looms as large as Django Reinhardt. Born into a Gypsy family of musicians in 1910, Reinhardt transformed acoustic guitar playing with brilliantly fast harmonic changes and a joyous swing. Along with violinist Stephane Grappelli, he formed the Quintet of the Hot Club of France,...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Mar 26, 2003

Jesse Davis Quartet

Jesse Davis was all set for a professional football career when he broke his collar bone. Sidelined, he picked up the alto sax instead and hasn't looked back. After winning numerous awards as a music student, Davis formed his own quartet in the early '90s and has released a series of solid CDs over the...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Mar 19, 2003

Kenny Brown: "Stingray"

Some blues come smooth-planed and varnished. Other blues leave splinters. Kenny Brown's "Stingray" is the latter. Accompanied only by bass and drums, Brown eschews all slickness and gets to the core of hardworking blues.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Mar 16, 2003

Kindred spirits on a journey into sound

The angelic voice of Canadian chanteuse Jane Siberry has graced a stunning series of CDs over the past 20 years. Since the early 1980s, she has released her own recordings and contributed songs to numerous compilations. Perhaps most famously, the lovely "Calling All Angels" was included on the soundtrack...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Mar 12, 2003

Harold Mabern might possibly be considered old-school if he had ever been off the jazz scene. However, since the 1950s, he has consistently brought his tasteful piano playing to one important bop-oriented group after another. He was the harmonic force behind jazz classics such as Lee Morgan's many '60s...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY

Mar 9, 2003

All of it . . . why not hear all of it?

"You took the part/That once was my heart/So why not take/All of me?"

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Mar 5, 2003

Steve Turre: "One 4 J"

Consider the "bone," as it's called among the jazz tribe. A vestige of ancient orchestras, fighting for survival amid competition from sultry saxophones, sweet clarinets and red-hot trumpets, the lumbering, awkward "bone" has always quavered near extinction. We're talking, of course, about the trombone,...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Feb 26, 2003

Sonny Landgreth: "The Road We're On"

Sonny Landreth's new release, "The Road We're On," marks a new peak for slide-guitar playing. Though blues guitarists often slip a bottleneck, roll a cut-metal tube or scrape a knife blade along the strings, only a few players become full-time slide masters.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Feb 19, 2003

It's derived from the day's date in Japanese -- SAn, maRU, SAn, get it? -- but it's really just a good excuse for a party. And a party it will be. This year, the third annual event will showcase West Coast salsa phenomenon Johnny Polanco y Su Conjunto Amistad and feature the vocals of Ray De La Paz,...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Feb 12, 2003

The name ScoLoHoFo derives from the names of the four jazz heavies in this quartet: Joe Lovano, John Scofield, Dave Holland and Al Foster. The four musicians converged for tours in the late '90s and again last year, cutting this CD, "Oh!," at the end. The concern with a group like this is that their...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY

Feb 9, 2003

Female vocalists singing a new tune

In the past, female jazz singers in Japan were often just pretty faces up front. They had to sing, of course, but their main role was often to provide a contrast to the usually all-male band.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Feb 5, 2003

Roy Gaines: "Roy Gaines In the House"

Far from the smoky city clubs where electric blues grew up, some of the best blues is now heard at outdoor summer festivals. The Lucerne Blues Festival in Switzerland is one of the best, and German label CrossCut Records captured many intense sets of lesser-known but serious blues bands in the summer...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jan 29, 2003

The Branford Marsalis Quartet

Saxophonist Branford Marsalis has always been more adventurous than his younger brother, the better-known trumpeter Wynton. He has jumped outside jazz tradition to back up Sting on his world tours, do a stint as leader of the "Tonight Show's" house band, and dabble with hip-hop and funk in his own band...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jan 22, 2003

Roy Haynes: "Love Letters"

With his steady stream of work stretching back nearly six decades, it's hard to think of a jazz figure drummer Roy Haynes has not played behind. He started out with Lester Young, then switched over to Charlie Parker. After that, he played with Stan Getz and Sarah Vaughan. Then from the '60s through the...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jan 15, 2003

Bembeya Jazz: "Bembeya"

The Buena Vista Social Club phenomenon has spread to Africa, but with a difference. Re-emerging African bands also spent years in recording exile, but returned less with a sense of unclaimed historical import than with a readiness to hit the dance floor. The latest rediscovery is the intense Afropop...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY

Jan 12, 2003

Countdown to a 4/4 beat

On New Year's Eve, while thousands of celebrants packed Tokyo's shrines and temples to hear the 108 bells ringing out the sins of mankind, many others crowded into Tokyo's jazz clubs to hear musicians offer their own prayers. For these ritual yearend jam sessions, the doors remain open all night so people...

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

Things may look perfect to the outside world, but today's mom is fine with some imperfection at home.

How 'Reiwa moms' are reshaping motherhood in Japan

By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there

Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there

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