A tight sextet with a sense of the classics and their own singular view of how a solid rhythm section can best work with a front line that has punch and energy.
Read MoreSinking into the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim with such talented musicians is a rare treat.
Read MoreUnlike most Japanese groups, he comes out swinging from the first beat.
Read MoreTo hear her together with Lew Tabackin in a duo at B Flat, especially with a packed-in, welcoming audience, is to hear history, but it’s also to hear great jazz.
Read MoreNakagawa’s playing was the center of the evening. His guitar style is his own, but draws on so many of the greats.
Read MoreBanda Caliente Grande is a real pleasure of a big band, whether one dances or not. Even though there were more big band lovers than dancers, that didn’t mean things were not dance-rhythm ready. They were rhythmic and then some!
Read MorePiano singer duos are matches made in jazz heaven. You can’t force them, manufacture them or produce them with demands from record company executives. They just happen magically, naturally, creatively, and humanly. Katz and Hopkins are one such duo.
Read MoreYosuke Yamashita might be one of Japan’s best-known jazz pianists, but he still likes to mix it up.
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Nishiyama studied classical music when she was young, as do many jazz converts, but she secretly loved heavy metal music.
Read MoreTo see just how deeply jazz is rooted in Japan, you need only go to the annual Asagaya Jazz Streets. The area of western Tokyo with a laidback vibe, small yakitori grills and drinking spots opens its streets, and interiors, to jazz once a year for the past two decades.
Read MoreFor the Jazz Street weekend, the gym was hung with spectacular visualizations of what jazz looks like.
Read MoreShe radiates musicality, and after each song, the feeling is of having been steeped in a deeply musical experience.
Read MoreThe Kanoko Kitajima trio is a young, hard-driving bop-based trio who plays jazz like they just fell in love with it yesterday.
Read MoreThe opening act of Hayashi and Fujimoto was an impeccable, lush duo of acoustic music. Their set was interrupted by a huge earthquake that stopped them in the middle of a song, with everyone stood up deciding whether to evacuate or not.
Read MoreAt the height of intense improvising during Dojo’s recent live gig, one of the strings on the koto broke, adding an unpredictable tone and a surprising moment. Frankly, though, it was a surprise only one string broke during the evening.
Read MoreMark Tourian’s sextet is a straight-ahead group that plays what can only be called perfect jazz. That might sound off-putting, since the rough and dirty edges of jazz are often its appeal.
Read MoreCalling out tunes from her 100-plus playbook, Barbara Hadenfeldt took the stage and took control over the audience’s heart. Her singing is old school, and beautifully so.
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