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May 15, 2024
 

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JAZZ

CULTURE / Music / JAZZ NOTES
Jul 10, 2013
Nothing beats a Hammond B3
This month started with a trip to Cotton Club in Tokyo's Marunouchi district to see the trio Aquapit play a gig to promote their new album "Orange."
CULTURE / Music / JAZZ NOTES
Jun 13, 2013
No confusion over the way jazz fusion is heading
Jazz fusion? That's big hair and flares, right? The genre in which jazz acts go electric and incorporate elements of funk and rock with jazz improvisation, all rolled up into lengthy jams? Well, yes, but only if you're stuck in the late 1960s or early '70s.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 7, 2013
From Björk to Kyary, festival season has arrived
Summer means a lot of things in Japan: stifling heat and humidity, fireworks and the Bon holidays, nagashi-sōmen noodles and chilled barley tea. For music fans though, the season brings a different kind of to-do list: booking cheap train tickets in advance, stocking up on essential supplies — and searching for your tent's instruction manual. Summer music festivals are an institution in Japan, and when you're hibernating six months from now, it'll be the memories of the season's highlights that will warm you up as much as any kotatsu.
CULTURE / Music / JAZZ NOTES
May 9, 2013
Female jazz acts are the real Cool Japan
One of the highlights of my Golden Week this year was a concert by the Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Jazz Orchestra at Blue Note in Tokyo. Reuniting her big band for the first time in a decade, Akiyoshi rolled back the clock with a superb set and some witty banter. The high point of the Sunday night show was "Kogun," with her husband, Tabackin, delivering a superb performance on flute.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 2, 2013
Pianist provides a tribute to Canadian jazz legend for his debut
One decision that faces jazz musicians toward the start of their careers is whether to continue the traditions of what's gone before them or to try and strike out in a new direction.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 2, 2013
Pianist Onishi to come out of retirement
Pianist Junko Onishi will come out of retirement to perform one more time, at the finale of this year's Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto in Nagano Prefecture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 25, 2013
The first lady of Japanese jazz comes home
For Japanese jazz musicians these days, going to the United States to further mastery of the genre is a much-pursued rite of passage. This route has enabled a number of acts to gain international recognition and success.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 18, 2013
Playwright imprint focuses on newer jazz acts
At a time when stories about declining music sales are frequent and major labels aren't investing in new talent, hearing about an indie label like Playwright is music to the ears.
CULTURE / Music / JAZZ NOTES
Apr 11, 2013
Newbies to Japanese jazz get a soundtrack to a primer
For a music fan wanting to explore jazz for the first time, an ideal starting point may be the current chart-toppers, which includes Robert Glasper, Esperanza Spalding and Jose James. Alternatively, he or she may choose to start with the classics, diving into the extensive back catalogs of the Blue Note or Impulse labels.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 28, 2013
Japanese acts play music ambassadors at Canadian Music Week
After rock group Jake Stone Garage hit the final chord of one of their powerful guitar-heavy songs, the crowd let out a few hoots and applauded politely.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Mar 15, 2013
Jazz Week Tokyo pairs Pink Martini with Saori Yuki
Coming out of winter lineups are beginning to be announced for the many summer festivals, but music is always in the air and next week those sounds will be jazz.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 21, 2013
The nations that make it easier for bands to leap overseas
At the end of last November, a flock of Canadians descended on concert venue Duo Music Exchange in Tokyo's bustling Shibuya district. It wasn't an attack of any sort; the Canuck invasion was only peppered with spirited calls to "Clap with us!"
CULTURE / Music / JAZZ NOTES
Feb 14, 2013
Jazz acts must embrace some new standards
Drop by your local jazz club and on an average night there's a fair chance the band will at some point play a rendition of "Autumn Leaves," "My Favorite Things" or " 'Round Midnight" — or maybe all three. You might hear an inspired rendition of a time-honored classic, but more likely you'll have to sit through a sub-standard jazz-by-numbers cover.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 23, 2013
Miho Hazama starts a journey
It's believed that time spent living abroad can be a journey of self-discovery, and for Miho Hazama that has certainly been the case. Moving to New York to study for a master's degree in jazz composition at the Manhattan School of Music (MSM) was an experience that led to the recording of her debut, "Journey to Journey" — a refreshingly original album of orchestral jazz, that stood out as one of the most notable releases in Japan last autumn.
CULTURE / Music / JAZZ NOTES
Jan 10, 2013
Building off that four-letter word — 'jazz'
Something I've noticed recently when browsing the jazz sections of record shops is the proliferation of sub-genres among the Japanese artists. Just hearing the names is enough to get a fan excited about the apparent explosion of creativity.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / Japan Pulse
May 15, 2012
Rediscovering Japan's 'lost generation' and Tokyo Beatles
LIFE.com unearths photos of pill-popping hipsters, doing the hippie hippie shake, back in the day.
Japanese stripper bids to have her porn movies taken off internet
Plaintiff Miyuki Ariga (left) speaks at a news conference along with her lawyer, Yoshitomo Morohashi, after filing a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Monday.
Yen’s fragility raises specter of a new currency war in Asia
Suspected intervention to drag the yen off a 34-year low against the dollar is already seen as unlikely to have a lasting effect if Japan continues alone.
Ishin struggles to set itself apart from other parties
Nippon Ishin no Kai Secretary-General Fumitake Fujita (right) speaks beside Yui Kanazawa, the party's candidate in the Tokyo 15th district by-election on April 28. Nippon Ishin lost in this by-election as well as another in Nagasaki held on the same day.
Online booking for Mount Fuji climb to open on May 20
Visitors climb the slopes of Mount Fuji, Japan's highest peak at 3,776 meters. From May 20, climbers will have access to a new online booking system for Mount Fuji's most popular Yoshida trail in Yamanashi Prefecture.
In Japan, 68,000 people over 65 projected to die alone at home this year
As Japan grapples with its population's rapid aging, supporting people who live and age alone is looming larger on the policy agenda.
Ishin struggles to set itself apart from other parties
Nippon Ishin no Kai Secretary-General Fumitake Fujita (right) speaks beside Yui Kanazawa, the party's candidate in the Tokyo 15th district by-election on April 28. Nippon Ishin lost in this by-election as well as another in Nagasaki held on the same day.
In Japan, 68,000 people over 65 projected to die alone at home this year
As Japan grapples with its population's rapid aging, supporting people who live and age alone is looming larger on the policy agenda.
In a rare event, the Northern Lights show up in Hokkaido
The Northern Lights in Nayoro, Hokkaido, on Saturday
Is black the new green for Japan’s flagging tea farmers?
George Guttridge-Smith brews tea at Kyoto Obubu Tea Farm in Wazuka, Kyoto Prefecture, where he serves as head of international development.
How the discovery of a giant sword in Nara offers clues into ancient Japan
Archaeologists say a 1,600-year-old wooden coffin at the Tomio Maruyama tumulus in the city of Nara was kept in good condition probably because it was protected by a layer of clay and copper ions that had seeped out of the mirrors that were buried together.

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