NEWSWORTHY
The Lagerphones look to charm Japan one coffee shop at a time
If you're in a foreign band trying to plan a tour in Japan, you sometimes need to improvise when it comes to booking venues. That may be why you're more likely to find Australian six-piece The Lagerphones at a cozy cafe than a grimy ...
Blast the horns: Tower of Power celebrates 50 years with a few more milestones
Ten-member Tower of Power will touch down in Asia toward the end of this month on the band's latest trip to the region to play its renowned blend of soul and jazz, on a series of dates in Tokyo, Nagoya and Manila. But the Oakland, ...
Author Haruki Murakami talks about his favorite songs and love of running on special radio show
Best-selling Japanese author Haruki Murakami, hosting a special radio show featuring some of his favorite songs he runs to, says writing novels is about rhythm, as in music and running. "Murakami Radio," a pre-recorded show broadcast Sunday night on Tokyo FM, featured as its themes ...
From Kansai to New York: Jazz trumpeter Takuya Kuroda on going back to basics
In the dimly lit Under Deer Lounge in Shibuya, jazz trumpeter Takuya Kuroda conducts an impromptu ensemble with raucous enthusiasm. Preceded by his Afro, he bounces around stage, announcing soloists and welcoming new musicians to the front. The music is undoubtedly Kuroda's, but the rotating ...
Kiyoshi Koyama: A life lived with jazz
"I have lived a life alongside jazz," says Kiyoshi Koyama, jazz critic, journalist and radio host. This is apparent on a recent visit to his home in Chiba Prefecture, where he and his wife live surrounded by walls of neatly organized records, CDs, books ...
'Father of South African Jazz' and apartheid foe Hugh Masekela dead at 78
Hugh Masekela, the legendary South African jazz musician and anti-apartheid activist, has died after a decade-long fight with cancer. He was 78. Often called the "Father of South African jazz," Masekela died in Johannesburg after what his family said Tuesday was a "protracted and courageous ...
Reading to the beat of Kazuko Shiraishi, the black sheep of Japan's poets
For the past half-century Kazuko Shiraishi has represented Japan in a number of international poetry festivals and conferences — in at least 28 countries, she tells me in a recent interview. Sea, Land, Shadow, by Kasuko Shiraishi, Translated by Yumiko Tsumura.64 pages NEW DIRECTIONS, Poetry. She says ...
Wonk plays around with 'experimental soul' on a pair of new albums
"The way music from America and other Western countries got imported into Japan, the roots are different," says Ayatake Ezaki, keyboardist for Tokyo-based quartet Wonk. "In Japan, hip-hop is hip-hop, jazz is jazz, soul is soul — that's how they've been received," he continues. "But ...
Miho Hazama will celebrate 100 years of jazz at Tokyo Jazz Festival performance
Japanese audiences are renowned as some of the world's most respectful listeners, but for musicians accustomed to getting more raucous receptions elsewhere, the experience can be a little unnerving. When New York-based jazz composer Miho Hazama returned to her native Tokyo a few years ago ...
Drum prodigy Senri Kawaguchi doesn't put limits on her music
In 2010, the online encyclopedia Drummerworld added a 13-year-old Japanese schoolgirl to its list of the world's greatest players. Senri Kawaguchi had rocketed to fame after posting YouTube videos of herself drumming along to songs from the "K-On!" anime series, wearing the same sailor-suit ...
Kissaten Nasu: Breaking out the old-timey atmosphere
Kissaten Nasu is three separate but conjoined entities: As the name of the restaurant implies, it's a kissaten, a traditional cafe. But it's also a curry shop and a jazz cafe, and the master might just be one of the most dapper and suave ...
'Born to be Blue': Biopic goes free-form on Chet Baker's story
For casual fans or people who have yet to encounter Baker, "Born To Be Blue" is a good place to start, perfectly encapsulating the fragility and self-destructive urges that underlined his uniquely beautiful and melancholic music.
