MAKING JAZZ IN CONTEMPORARY JAPAN a passionate search for self-expression.

[S.l.] : ROUTLEDGE, 2025.

1 online resource

Access is available to the Yale community.

Access restricted by licensing agreement.

Marie Buscatto is Full Professor in Sociology at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne in France.

Making Jazz in Contemporary Japan: A Passionate Search for Self-Expression explores the ways in which Japanese jazz musicians express themselves through their art--not to japanize jazz, but to assert one's creativity, passion, and capacity for self-expression--establishing it as an art form with its own sense of musicality and cultural, social, and economic concerns. This ethnographic survey contextualizes a shift in the Japanese jazz world over the last 30 years: What once was a culture dependent on the American influence is now a thriving local scene creating a wide variety of original, transnational compositions. Based on digital and physical observations and extensive interviews with nearly three dozen Japanese professional jazz musicians while featuring portraits of well-known artists, this empirical investigation into how, where, and why jazz is performed, opens doors to touch on culturally sensitive and taboo topics such as gender, sexuality, and indigenization. Suited for readers in global jazz studies and cultural study programs alike, this book is a timely sociological consideration of the Japanese jazz diaspora, a necessary update to break free of established tropes and clichs envisioning Japanese artists as mere imitators.

Taylor & Francis. EBA 2024-2025.

Print version:

Books / Online

English

October 31, 2024

Jazz > Japan.