Quirky Chicago band Tortoise heads to Japan for a three-day six-show appearance in Tokyo, playing a classic album in full along with a 'greatest hits' set.

Ahead of his band's tour of Japan, Steve Gadd discusses a career drumming for the likes of James Brown, Eric Clapton and Steely Dan.

Few musicians in any era, in any genre, have had such lengthy and varied creative journeys as saxophonist Charles Lloyd. The longevity of his 60-year career is honorable enough, but the unpredictability of his path and the ebb and flow of his musical ideas ...

The Tokyo Jazz Festival is a varied event, featuring artists of every age and from all corners of the globe. Yet, like most mainstream jazz festivals, the lineups can be somewhat middle of the road, inoffensively safe in a way that keeps more underground ...

Tokyo Jazz Festival is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year and its lineup is a healthy mix of up-and-coming artists and giants of the genre. Among the heavy hitters will be pianists Makoto Ozone, Herbie Hancock and Hiromi Uehara. Ozone will front a big band ...

Smooth jazz pioneer and inadvertent godfather of hip-hop break-beats, Bob James is about to add another accolade to his list of accomplishments. At this weekend's 14th Tokyo Jazz Festival, the keyboardist will debut his first piano concerto. While James has worn many hats in the ...

One of the few younger non-Japanese acts gracing the stage at this weekend's Tokyo Jazz Festival is singer and bassist Esperanza Spalding. Though appearing at the city's main jazz event, the multifaceted 30-year-old musician could just as easily be performing at Fuji Rock Festival ...

During his years in New York, pianist Makoto Ozone fronted a number of small combos and gigged with such heavyweights as Branford Marsalis, Gary Burton and Christian McBride. But the collaborators he has come back to time and time again are his Japan-based big ...