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

Aug 20, 2003

Joe Lovano Notet: "On This Day"

As leader, improviser and arranger, Joe Lovano brings together bop, post-bop and free jazz into a three-dimensional form that swings hard. Whether his tenor sax sandpapers a hard bop line or squeals like a bird on speed, he leans on the past while looking to the future. After hearing his most recent...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Aug 13, 2003

Manolito y Su Trabuco

The Japanese government can be thanked for one thing: open treaties with the Cuban government that allow the most scorching salsa players in the world to perform here on a regular basis. Perhaps the government doesn't have a choice since Japan has an unusually high percentage of Latin music aficionados....

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY

Aug 10, 2003

Akagi nurtures organic lifeform

Jazz pianist Kei Akagi clearly relishes the dual nature of the human mind. This is no surprise coming from someone who has divided his time between the United States and Japan, his college studies between philosophy and music, his musical training between classical and jazz, his jazz playing between...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Aug 6, 2003

Doug Wamble's: "Country Libations"

At first listen, Doug Wamble's debut CD, "Country Libations," sounds like a compilation. At different points, Wamble flatpicks country swing, booms out heartfelt gospel, plays slide Delta blues, swings hard on pre-bop jazz and intersperses moments of free jazz. This range and choice of styles is initially...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jul 30, 2003

Jazz was one of the best-kept secrets of communist Russia, officially suppressed but actually flourishing in underground clubs, bootleg studios and on pirate radio stations. Fortunately for music fans, trumpeter Alex Sipiagin heard enough to become one of Russia's premier jazz players and to emigrate...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jul 23, 2003

Jaco Pastorius: "Word of Mouth Revisited"

In the '70s and '80s, Jaco Pastorius revolutionized electric bass playing. The imprint of his bold sound can be heard in bass players from jazz to rock to funk. Whether in the seminal fusion group Weather Report, his own high-energy electric bands, with guitarists Pat Metheny and Mike Stern, or in the...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jul 20, 2003

Here's your red hot mama, daddy

When the smoke cleared from the retro swing boom of the '90s, only a few bands remained. Lavay Smith and her Red Hot Skillet Lickers was one of them. The swing bands resurrected an entire corpus of old-style dancing, slick dressing, and lyrics not heard in public for a half-century. While the posers...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jul 16, 2003

Jazz swinging out in the open

Jazz fans have dozens of excellent festivals to choose from throughout Japan, with lineups covering a broad base from slick, traditional-minded swing to in-your-face free jazz. At most festivals, one would have to have to be either deaf or drunk to love everything on the schedule, but part of why festivals...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY

Jul 13, 2003

The sum of their parts -- and more

One of the common impressions of Japanese jazz is of skilled technicians working studiously within the confines of jazz tradition to turn out polished music. Indeed, many Japanese jazz musicians fail to exploit the full potential of jazz improvisation, preferring instead to remain dedicated, humble craftsmen,...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jul 9, 2003

Roots Music Festival 2003

This summer's Roots Music Festival at Blue Note Tokyo moves far beyond simple basics to a full flowering of diverse branches of the musical tree. The seven performers, coming from different countries, styles and backgrounds, share an improvisational spirit, but otherwise are notable for their unique...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jul 2, 2003

Pat Metheny: "One Quiet Night"

Pat Metheny is one of the most widely imitated guitarists in modern jazz. A prodigy on guitar, he played in jazz clubs before he could even drive to the gigs and became one of the youngest teachers ever at the famed Berklee College of Music in Boston. Because of that early fame, he has had the freedom...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jun 25, 2003

Jack Johnson: "On and On"

In the off season, professional surfer Jack Johnson keeps himself busy -- keeping his boards waxed, of course, but also polishing his craft as a songwriter. To follow up his debut, "Brushfire Fairytales," he retreated to his living room-cum-studio with longtime buddies percussionist Adam Topol and bassist...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jun 18, 2003

Ted Nash: "Still Evolved"

It's not just anyone who can ask Wynton Marsalis to sit in. Ted Nash can, though, and more than that, he knows how to put Marsalis to work. On Nash's new release, "Still Evolved," he makes sure that Marsalis and other recruited luminaries from New York's post-bop scene don't waste a single note.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY

Jun 8, 2003

Synergetic possibilities at the heart

The piano trio is the heart of jazz. This core unit of piano, bass and drums pumps life into the music. All jazz groups, big or small, rely on the piano, bass and drums (called "the rhythm section") for their crucial thrust of energy. Taken out of a larger group, the piano trio contains all the essentials...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jun 4, 2003

Keith Jarrett: "Up For It"

Keith Jarrett has one of those artistic temperaments. After walking out on Miles Davis in the late '60s, he refused to ever touch an electric keyboard again. Throughout his own career, he rejected imperfectly tuned pianos, demanded smokeless environments long before they became a legal offense and disappeared...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

May 21, 2003

David Murray Big Band: "Now is Another Time"

Boundary crossing and genre mixing are no longer a big deal in jazz, but few do them with the raw power and awe-inspiring glee of David Murray. His list of musical projects reads like a postmodern smorgasbord: Guadaloupian vocals and percussion; Caribbean instrumentation; a musical tribute to Picasso;...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

May 14, 2003

Papa John DeFrancesco: "Jumpin"'

After Joey DeFrancesco's Hammond B-3 organ became a favorite with a new generation of soul-jazz fans in the '90s, part of the spotlight fell on Joey's teacher -- his father, "Papa" John.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY

May 11, 2003

A versatile jazz, classical and Latin lover

The typical image of Latin jazz comes mainly from salsa. Certainly, large bands playing fast-tempo dance music peppered by a hot horn section, thumping bass, razor-sharp piano and a small contingent of percussionists comprise the most common -- and perhaps most exhilarating -- form of Latin jazz.

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

May 7, 2003

The intense be-bop style created by Charlie Parker changed the shape of jazz and created an entirely new vocabulary for the saxophone. Few sax players could keep pace with the incredible dexterity and musical intelligence of Bird, though many tried.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Apr 30, 2003

Dave Douglas: "Freak In"

Many jazz artists try to force sampling, computer loops and synthesized textures into a relationship with acoustic instruments that just doesn't work. On his new release, "Freak In," Dave Douglas, though, lets both sides work things out on their own terms. The result is a musical friction that produces...

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

Spotlighting a Niigata castle town through sushi

Spotlighting a Niigata castle town through sushi

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