Library Reviews
A GUIDE TO JAZZ IN JAPAN
Tokyo can cater to jazz lovers every night of the week. This is true whether performed live in a club or emanating from vinyl while ensconced in a dedicated cafe. A GUIDE TO JAZZ IN JAPAN is a specialist repository of insider knowledge written by a lifelong fan and genre expert. It’s efficiently organised and has the recommending appeal of details that were experienced personally.
Author Michael Pronko was born in the US and has since had a varied career abroad. His academic and teaching pursuits have seen him live in China, the UK and mostly Japan. His affinity for jazz began from childhood and his infiltration of the Japanese jazz scene from the 1980s. He has considerable journalistic chops having run or contributed to various jazz publications and was regular writer about jazz for The Japan Times. In 2017 he launched the first of a now seven volume series of well-received detective thrillers.
The book title contains “Japan” but this is a misnomer. Even the author quickly admits that he only covers Tokyo and not even all of the possible venues. He can’t. There are more than 100 clubs in Tokyo alone, and these are distinct from cafes. Instead this book contains his handpicked selections.
The book starts off with clubs sub-chaptered by theme “Down to Earth” ones or cozy suburban ones or serious ones etc. Yokohama gets its own subchapter. Each of the 50 odd establishments are allotted a blurb, location, pricing, address, phone number, and various URLs and often directions and operating hours. The next section covers notable musicians. They are sub-chaptered by primary instrument (or vocalists), plus a subchapter for 16 who use exotic, unexpected gear. Cafes and shops are in another section. Five, long-form written pieces explaining about the history and culture of jazz in Japan form the last major section.
