Jazz From Japan : Now And Then

Japan has world's biggest jazz community today. They had "love-hate" relations with this musical genre from WWII, when jazz has been proclaimed "enemy's music" by militarist propaganda. Still after the war US military bases in Japan with their local radio stations and clubs, playing live jazz became main source of genre popularization around the country.

At early stage of modern jazz in Japan there were a few artists,known internationally (of whom veteran Sadao Watanabe still plays and records new music), true explosion happened when free jazz met Japanese young generation musicians at late 60s. Often being under-valuated as "secondary" or "copy-cats" till that time, Japanese scene gave some original world level music at that step.

Free jazz revolution shaded away very soon in early 70s in Japan (same as in Western world though) and the next significant jump was jazz fusion. Some best Miles Davis fusion albums are recorded live in Japan, many of leading world fusion stars played there and local following was truly enormous. This fashion influenced birth of hundreds of local fusion bands (very few were really original though), them dominated on domestic scenes right up till the end of the century and some are still active and popular today.

At the same time starting from late 70s Japan suddenly became main market for high quality mainstream jazz. Many hard bop and post-bop Western stars who lost scenes around America and Europe almost in one day stayed highly regarded on prestigious Japanese scenes for decades ahead. Many best mainstream jazz albums during 70s,80s and 90s have been recorded and released in Japan (Herbie Hancock VSOP band's series of release are great example).

Starting from late 90s and till now Japanese scene can offer all the line of original young artists playing modern jazz, mixing electronics,rock,hip-hop into their music. Still Japanese jazz is almost unknown outside of the country and possibly only modern fusion star Hiromi received true international success.

At the same time, local jazz market is burgeoning with lots of new names, strong releases and world largest best jazz re-issues programs. Being follower of Jazz from Japan (i.i. jazz,recorded by Japanese artists and international jazz artists releases,recorded/released originally in Japan) for some years, I would like to spread some more interesting moments of it on this thread. It supposed to be no way chronological or any other systematic writings, more a collection of brightest impressions from some very new music and some really old, with no order. Hope some will find it interesting and useful.

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snobb Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Forum Admin Group Site Admin Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Location: Vilnius Status: Offline Points: 28472	Post Options Post Reply Quote snobb Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 15 Dec 2017 at 4:12am
	TRI4TH are Japanese band, founded almost a decade ago. They play high energy modern hip mix of jazz,fusion and electronics and are one of most popular jazz collectives on Japanese scene today. Their last CD has been released a few month ago, it radiates positive energy and fun. The next one is already announced to be released at the very beginning of 2018. It will contain the soundtrack to "Silver Bullet" anime. Edited by snobb - 07 Jun 2018 at 12:09am

snobb Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Forum Admin Group Site Admin Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Location: Vilnius Status: Offline Points: 28472	Post Options Post Reply Quote snobb Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 15 Dec 2017 at 4:05am
	Japan has world's biggest jazz community today. They had "love-hate" relations with this musical genre from WWII, when jazz has been proclaimed "enemy's music" by militarist propaganda. Still after the war US military bases in Japan with their local radio stations and clubs, playing live jazz became main source of genre popularization around the country. At early stage of modern jazz in Japan there were a few artists,known internationally (of whom veteran Sadao Watanabe still plays and records new music), true explosion happened when free jazz met Japanese young generation musicians at late 60s. Often being under-valuated as "secondary" or "copy-cats" till that time, Japanese scene gave some original world level music at that step. Free jazz revolution shaded away very soon in early 70s in Japan (same as in Western world though) and the next significant jump was jazz fusion. Some best Miles Davis fusion albums are recorded live in Japan, many of leading world fusion stars played there and local following was truly enormous. This fashion influenced birth of hundreds of local fusion bands (very few were really original though), them dominated on domestic scenes right up till the end of the century and some are still active and popular today. At the same time starting from late 70s Japan suddenly became main market for high quality mainstream jazz. Many hard bop and post-bop Western stars who lost scenes around America and Europe almost in one day stayed highly regarded on prestigious Japanese scenes for decades ahead. Many best mainstream jazz albums during 70s,80s and 90s have been recorded and released in Japan (Herbie Hancock VSOP band's series of release are great example). Starting from late 90s and till now Japanese scene can offer all the line of original young artists playing modern jazz, mixing electronics,rock,hip-hop into their music. Still Japanese jazz is almost unknown outside of the country and possibly only modern fusion star Hiromi received true international success. At the same time, local jazz market is burgeoning with lots of new names, strong releases and world largest best jazz re-issues programs. Being follower of Jazz from Japan (i.i. jazz,recorded by Japanese artists and international jazz artists releases,recorded/released originally in Japan) for some years, I would like to spread some more interesting moments of it on this thread. It supposed to be no way chronological or any other systematic writings, more a collection of brightest impressions from some very new music and some really old, with no order. Hope some will find it interesting and useful.