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May 04, 2024
 

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JAZZNICITY

Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Feb 9, 2003
Female vocalists singing a new tune
In the past, female jazz singers in Japan were often just pretty faces up front. They had to sing, of course, but their main role was often to provide a contrast to the usually all-male band.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Jan 12, 2003
Countdown to a 4/4 beat
On New Year's Eve, while thousands of celebrants packed Tokyo's shrines and temples to hear the 108 bells ringing out the sins of mankind, many others crowded into Tokyo's jazz clubs to hear musicians offer their own prayers. For these ritual yearend jam sessions, the doors remain open all night so people can end one year and start another to a jazz beat. This New Year's Eve, I decided to join them.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Dec 8, 2002
More than meets the ear
There's just not enough time to write up every good jazz band in Tokyo. As the year draws to an end, I find myself with a backlog of quality musicians who play regularly in the capital. So, in order not to leave out any great picks, here's a Christmas list for your listening pleasure. These players' unique styles all offer something unusual. They are in the jazz tradition, but not quite of the jazz tradition. These groups work primarily with their own compositions, but also give standards a fresh overhaul. They all have recently released recordings, but are not studio bands. These are working bands who take their innovative music into live houses on a weekly, if not nightly, basis.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Nov 10, 2002
Balladeer does it in his own good time
If there are no second acts in American lives, as F. Scott Fitzgerald said, for some musicians at least, there's a second take. After famed recording sessions in the late 1950s that made him popular, Jimmy Scott's unique vocal style was not heard again on a new recording for some 30 years. Then, in the 1990s, Scott returned to the studio once more to record his individual style of jazz ballads and acquire a new generation of devoted fans.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Oct 13, 2002
Fiery duo take jazz to task
Pianist Satoko Fujii and her husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, seem an unlikely couple to storm the citadel of jazz with challenging new sounds. Far from the typical black-clad, scowling and self-absorbed avant-garde artist, they are surprisingly casual -- the kind of people you immediately want to call by their first names.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Sep 8, 2002
Tokyo Jazz 2002: The hybrid of a new generation
Though Herbie Hancock may not have the fancy footwork of the heroes who usually play Tokyo Stadium, as director of Tokyo Jazz 2002, he still managed to draw over 37,000 people to the soccer pitch the weekend of Aug. 24. This attendance alone would rank the festival, the first in a planned annual series, a considerable success by jazz standards. But it was the music that made the event.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Aug 11, 2002
A jazz life to the fullest
It used to be that the jazz life followed a relatively set pattern. Young players joined the bands of older pros, learned what they could, went on to become a leader themselves and, maybe, if they were lucky, got a recording contract. Nowadays, however, jazz players are as likely to get their education at a jazz college as on the bandstand. They are also more likely to catch the ear of an A&R rep and get signed even before their sound has fully matured.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Jul 14, 2002
Skip the jazz club, it's festival season
Most jazz people are night owls who don't get much sun, so summer festivals give the music, players and fans all a good airing out.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Jun 9, 2002
Playing off the beaten track
Certain tensions in the jazz world were clearly evident at the 10th annual Yokohama Jazz Promenade on May 25th and 26th. The performers split into two camps: those focusing on instrumental virtuosity and those avoiding the staple four-beat ching-chick-a-ching-chick-a-ching rhythm. The plasticity of rhythm become the common thread of the weekend -- and jazz was pulled in all different directions.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
May 12, 2002
The smallest jazz club in the world -- or close
At the Hot House jazz club in Takadanobaba, you not only rub elbows with great jazz musicians and intense fans, you also rub shoulders, knees, ankles and hips. To get to the toilet, someone has to stand up (me as it turned out); to get in the door, the pianist has to move his bench; and to get a drink on the far side of the club, you have to wait for the drummer to take a break so he can hand the glass over from the kitchen to his right.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Apr 14, 2002
Bigger, fresher, louder
In the last Jazznicity column, I focused on meat-and-potatoes big bands in Tokyo. But in addition to those bands that work directly in the jazz tradition, there are many others seeking to extend its range of possibilities.
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Mar 10, 2002
Say it loud, big band and proud
On any given night, one full 16-piece jazz orchestra is sure to be playing somewhere in Tokyo. Considering the generally small stages, lack of practice rooms, band members' tight schedules and competition from small combos, it is amazing that big bands regularly pack Tokyo's jazz clubs. But they do. The sheer impact of hearing a large band live is one obvious reason, but it's also their diversity and updating of styles that make them a vital element of the local jazz scene.
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Feb 10, 2002
Jazz that isn't afraid to be entertaining
For a long time in jazz, playing to the crowd was a sign of selling out. Creating music that pleased listeners was considered by many jazz players, and their fans, to be insincere, compromised and unsophisticated. "Entertainment" became something of a dirty word.
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Jan 13, 2002
Take me to your anti-leader
The Shibuya Takeshi Orchestra is one of the most singular, challenging and unusual jazz units in Tokyo. Many local groups strive for accomplished technique, pushing their instruments to the far edge of rapid-fire playing or polishing one style to perfection. The Shibuya Takeshi Orchestra, however, delights in a wild, unbridled style of collective jamming that relishes contradiction.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Dec 9, 2001
A rough guide to buried local treasures
Even though many jazz players in Japan do get a chance to record, it can sometimes be a challenge to find their CDs -- even in the biggest stores. With limited pressings and uneven distribution, last month's release from a popular live performer in Tokyo can be harder to find than an obscure 1950s hard bop re-release from Europe. Then there's the cost. Ranging from 2,300 yen to 3,000 yen, the price of Japanese jazz CDs don't exactly encourage impulse purchases.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Nov 11, 2001
Fusion is dead, long live fusion
Fusion is the style of jazz pioneered by Miles Davis in the 1960s, most famously with his album "Bitches' Brew," in which the power, decibels and feedback of Jimi Hendrix were fused with the searing, exploratory complexity of John Coltrane.
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Oct 14, 2001
Keep on jamming in the free world
One of the ironies of jazz is that it is now more popular in Europe and Japan than in its country of origin. While the fanatic obsession of overseas fans made jazz an important cultural export for the United States after the Second World War, now there is a substantial corps of non-American players no longer content to just listen. The Ninth Annual Yokohama Jazz Promenade last weekend provided clear evidence of the degree to which jazz spans cultures and of how it truly has become an international musical language.
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Sep 9, 2001
Kichijoji ain't nuthin' but a jazz thang
Kichijoji offers more jazz per tsubo than almost any place in the city. Not only are rents cheaper than inside the Yamanote Line, but small-niche businesses seem to thrive here. Teeming with shops, restaurants and clubs, it is dynamic without being overwhelming. With clubs presenting live jazz every night and several of the best jazz kissaten and bars in Tokyo, Kichijoji offers affordable, high-quality venues all within walking distance of each other. The easy, neighborhood feel lets those interested (and those already obsessed) catch a live set at one jazz club, then head to another, then move on to a jazz kissaten to hear it played on audiophile-quality sound systems. For those in need of music to take home, Kichijoji also has more than its share of jazz record stores.
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Aug 19, 2001
The Mike Price experience
Mike Price toured Japan seven times with Toshiko Akiyoshi's big band, and on the eighth, he stayed.
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Jul 15, 2001
In praise of the honest approach
Huddled over a back table at the Roppongi jazz club Alfie, out of earshot of her manager and new record company reps, Akiko confessed.
Biden calls ally Japan ‘xenophobic’ along with rivals China and Russia
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in Syracuse, New York, on April 25.
Yen swings stir talk that Japan is in the FX market once again
An electronic screen in Tokyo displays the yen exchange rate against the U.S. dollar and the graph showing its recent swings, on Thursday.
Harajuku strives to reclaim its former glory — and surpass it
Laforet Harajuku, which celebrated its 45th anniversary last year, has been a witness to the district's evolution over the years.
Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
Japan's May 1 intervention may have cost ¥3.66 trillion, BOJ data suggests
An electronic screen displays a graph showing Japanese yen exchange rates surging against the dollar amid signs of intervention by authorities, in Tokyo on Thursday.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.

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