Jazz journalism in Japan

This website is based on eight years of writing about jazz in Tokyo for a number of magazines. I felt cramped by the editors, no let me restate that, ANGERED by editors who knew nothing and cared nothing about music. Even stranger, a few of the people in charge cared little even about language and writing. My experience with editors has been at extremes. Many editors are fantastic, but many are simply terrible. It is a strange and curious divide between the two, but they have an impact much greater than the average reader can imagine. I have had to quit writing for four of them after finding that most magazines, online radio stations and newspapers are afraid to really write about real music. They want to make money or follow some imagined correct editorial policy. Really, though, they have no policy and are afraid to offer real music writing to real readers. Most people who rise to power at magazines or newspapers do so because they prefer follow what is advertised and promoted by large companies that might as well be selling soap as music. I hate that. So, I started this site.

Music journalism always seems to lag behind other types of writing. Most editors think it is easier and more profitable to just report on musicians the promotion sections of large corporations have packaged. The result is lousy music reporting. I could include some shocking examples here, but suffice it to say that much of what gets printed is based on hasty decisions, fear of the new, and a rather conservative approach to journalism. Writers on music should find a way to write in response to the music, not in response to space restrictions in a newspaper. I felt I wanted more space to write and more freedom to expand. Not every response to music fits into simplistic, trite previews and written-already reviews. The formulaic approach to music writing gets dull very quickly. Interviews with musicians are naturally a bit sprawling, but always enlightening when given room. Reading only the few best quotes that fit between the rock, hip-hop and fashion articles gives little of the human flavor of what great music is all about.

Many music writers do not really listen widely or deeply. They pick up whatever is on the front racks of the big CD stores, though getting a CD in those racks costs a lot of money. The power that corporations have in defining public taste is astounding. The spin-doctors of promotion sections send out information about music that gets picked up as the buzz. In other words, these promotion sections have outsourced their advertising to the music writers! Most writers do not listen to twenty CDs and choose the best one. They listen to two and pick the one they can find information on right before the deadline. That information was brought into the information chain by publicity artists most of the time. The editors, who do not really listen to music themselves or have much of a feel for it, go for what seems hip or popular. Hip is easy to write about, of course, since all the adjectives are handed to you. Most media barely scratch the surface of what is really happening. An amazing amount of genuine, creative music goes unreported. I want to correct that.

Many jazz journalists in Japan love the music but give in to the system. I am always amazed to actually see a jazz journalist for one of the big magazines or newspapers out at a club. It so rarely happens. They tend to go for the big names, the established performers, the musicians supported by large record companies. The jazz writing in Japan is possibly some of the best in the world, however, it all too often falls into critical ruts. It plays it safe. The owners and editors establish a hierarchy, then watch the musicians move up or down according to their whims. It often seems much more about power than about critical reaction, much less enthusiastic response. The magazine and newspaper world does not allow for much personal reaction and individual commentary. There are exceptions, of course, but they are all too rare. It seems a shame that so many dedicated jazz writers are confined to their spot in the hierarchy. Young writers write on unknown musicians in small back-page slots. Established writers write on the famous Japanese and famous American musicians.

Confined on one side by English publications unsympathetic to jazz, blues or non-corporate music, and trapped on the other by Japanese publications who tend to give in to social pressures and soft solutions, I felt I wanted a different format. I had to create that format myself. I hope you find it interesting.