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

Mar 24, 2006

The Ornette Coleman Quartet

One of the most controversial and innovative musicians in jazz, Ornette Coleman virtually defined the avant-garde, along with Cecil Taylor and John Coltrane. Their work in the 1960s found ways forward when jazz started to languish and left little musical territory unexplored. Among the many jazz radicals of the time, Coleman was always the most elusive and ironic, as well as the most self-confident, proudly titling his '60s releases "Something Else!!!," "The Shape of Jazz to Come" and "Change of the Century."

CULTURE / Music

Mar 10, 2006

Paul Motian Band "Garden of Eden"

Drummer Paul Motian is no stranger to experimental music. In his more than 50 years in jazz, he has drummed behind pianists as diverse as Thelonius Monk, Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans and in orchestras led by Carla Bley.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Mar 3, 2006

Blues from the Delta Crossing

On the Tokyo blues scene, the gut power of Delta blues has had few finer exponents than Steve Gardner. A Mississippi native who has made Tokyo his home, Gardner learned the blues at its source in the Mississippi Delta. While visiting the bluesmen and blueswomen in their homes there as a photojournalist, Gardner liked to hang around and blow a little harmonica after the photo shoots.

CULTURE / Music

Mar 3, 2006

Charlie Hunter, Chinna Smith, Ernest Ranglin "Earth Tones"

What happens when Charlie Hunter, one of jazz's hottest young guitarists, teams up with Ernest Ranglin, Jamaica's session man extraordinaire, and Chinna Smith, Bob Marley's rhythm guitarist? "Earth Tones" -- a unique and extraordinary blend of Hunter's special eight-string guitar with Smith's rhythm-ready acoustic and Ranglin's crisp lead lines.

CULTURE / Music

Feb 17, 2006

Though guitar heads and groove-lovers dig the jazz of guitarist John Scofield, his ever-changing sound is just as cerebral as it is danceable. Whether leaping into jam band rock or funkifying post-bop, or whether, as on his most recent CD, "That's What I Say," electrifying the songs of Ray Charles, "Sco" always plays with integrity and cool.

CULTURE / Music

Feb 3, 2006

Jim Hall and Geoffrey Keezer

Jim Hall is the preeminent jazz guitarist. His tone, technique and style have put him above all partisan guitar and traditional jazz controversies -- everyone likes him, and no one minds crediting him as an elder. At 75, Hall has influenced a generation of guitarists, John Scofield, Bill Frisell, Pat Metheny and Kurt Rosenwinkel to name a few.

CULTURE / Music

Jan 27, 2006

Roberta Gambarini: "Easy to Love"

The past decade of jazz vocals offered more disappointments than triumphs. New jazz singers often depended less on vocal ability than on commercially viability.

CULTURE / Music

Jan 20, 2006

New Year Jazz Festival 2006

For 40 years, Shinjuku Pit Inn has offered the best in Tokyo jazz. From its obscure origins as a race-car-themed coffee shop, it has become perhaps the single most progressive jazz club in Asia. For its 40th anniversary, the club is offering two full days of jazz picked from among the many excellent groups that have made it their musical home.

CULTURE / Music

Jan 13, 2006

Frank Morgan "Raising the Standard"

In 1955, Frank Morgan was promoted as "the new Bird," and like his idol Charlie Parker, his sax playing had a quickness and brilliant, hard tone that set him apart from other horn players. Unfortunately, also like Bird, he spiraled down into heroin addiction, and disappeared from jazz. Thirty years later, Morgan re-emerged clean of drugs and ready to restart his music.

CULTURE / Music

Dec 23, 2005

New Year's Eve Jazz

On New Year's Eve, Tokyo's jazz shrines -- the many clubs, small and large, that cover the city -- offer great stops for a musical pilgrimage. Starting around 7 p.m. and ending at dawn, jazz musicians and fans pack in to play and hear their last -- and first -- notes of the year. "Auld Lang Syne" never sounded so good as in the full-throttle swing of a jamming jazz band right before the countdown begins.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Dec 16, 2005

Mingus Big Band

The Mingus Big Band has dedicated itself to Charles Mingus' music, playing weekly in New York and touring actively since 1991. The band follow The Mingus Dynasty, basically Mingus' last band, which was renamed after his death in 1979, and has been keeping not only Mingus' music but his hip spirit and deep passions very much alive.

CULTURE / Music

Dec 9, 2005

Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra: "Not In Our Name"

Since the 1960s, Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra has made political jazz, and their latest release, "Not In Our Name," is more than just potent music with angry titles. Music is any nation's heartbeat, and right now the orchestra finds something not quite ticking right in America.

CULTURE / Music

Nov 25, 2005

When musicians are unrestricted by conventions, many often fall into the repetitive, self-absorbed patterns of "free jazz" that make would be jazz fans wince. Pianist Masabumi Kikuchi and saxophonist Greg Osby are two rare exceptions.

CULTURE / Music

Nov 18, 2005

Some call Tatopani "contemporary world music," but such a simple description doesn't do justice to the musical magic they conjure up. A trio-turned-quartet of Tokyo-based Americans and Australians, the genres of world, jazz, classical, acoustic and ethnic all capture individual aspects of their music -- but who really needs these terms anyway? So unique and engaging is their sound that "Tatopani music" is perhaps the most apt description.

CULTURE / Music

Nov 11, 2005

Mark Johnson: "Shades of Jade"

Bassists tend to hang back in jazz groups, rarely stepping out as leaders, and when they do step out, they play loud and thump. Bassist Mark Johnson's new release, "Shades of Jade," will stand out as an excellent exception.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Nov 4, 2005

Portugal and Brazil united in one voice

Fado, the passionate, powerful music of Portugal, was -- and still is -- sung in the local bars and small eateries for working people. The music's spirit is saudade, a word that translates roughly as nostalgia, melancholy or longing, though mixed with happiness and love. Fado's greatest singer was Amalia Rodrigues. She revived the traditions while redefining its boundaries, and introduced the music of her native Lisbon to the world.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Nov 4, 2005

Richie Cole is one of jazz's most distinctive alto sax players. Following in the footsteps of Phil Woods (who followed in the steps of Charlie Parker), Cole has a tone on alto that stays pure and supple even at rapid-fire tempos. Unapologetically straight-ahead in an age of gimmicks and computerized sounds, Cole is one of jazz's contemporary masters of the alto sax. He comes to Japan next week for several shows.

CULTURE / Music

Oct 21, 2005

Manu Katche "Neighbourhood" (ECM)

For the past two decades, in-demand session drummer Manu Katche has been too busy on recordings for the likes of Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tori Amos, Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman and Dire Straits to record his own material.Now, on his second release under his own name, he has produced a work with little pop feeling at all -- instead, he has created an elegant, assured work of European jazz.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Oct 14, 2005

Benefit for New Orleans

New Orleans isn't just the birthplace of jazz; it's also home to a huge number of working musicians. Many of the jazz, funk, blues and R&B musicians who made their homes in the Big Easy or along the Gulf Coast lost everything they had when Hurricane Katrina hit.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Oct 7, 2005

Ousmane Toure: "Avenue Du Monde" (Together)

When the world music movement exploded out of Africa in the early 1980s, one of the most popular groups packing concert venues was Toure Kunda. Formed by two Senegalese brothers, the band blended traditional African music with Latin, reggae and vibrant pop. Their younger brother, Ousmane Toure, later joined them to help with vocals, before the group, sadly, disbanded.

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

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.

Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

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