[2] Although considered "enemy music" in Japan during World War II, due to its American roots, the genre was too popular for a ban,[3] and many disobeyed the state-mandated destruction of jazz records.
[13] Local jazz practice, built around the performances of visiting Filipinos, began to emerge in the early 1920s, most notably in the prosperous entertainment districts of Osaka and Kobe.
[4] After the war, the Allied occupation of Japan provided a new incentive for Japanese jazz musicians to emerge, as the American troops were eager to hear the music they listened to back home.
After having formed the Cozy Quartet she was then noticed by Hampton Hawes, who was stationed in Yokohama with his military band, and brought to the attention of Oscar Peterson.
Akiyoshi studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1956, and later achieved worldwide success as a bop pianist and big band leader.
Critic Teruto Soejima considered 1969 as a pivotal year for Japanese free jazz, with musicians such as drummer Masahiko Togashi, guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi, pianists Yosuke Yamashita and Masahiko Satoh, saxophonist Kaoru Abe, bassist Motoharu Yoshizawa, and trumpeter Itaru Oki playing a major role.
[23] Other Japanese jazz artists who acquired international reputations include Sadao Watanabe (the former soloist of Akiyoshi's Cozy Quartet), Ryo Kawasaki, Teruo Nakamura, Toru "Tiger" Okoshi and Makoto Ozone.
[25] Expatriate Toshiko Akiyoshi drew on Japanese culture in compositions for the big band she co-led with her husband and long-term collaborator Lew Tabackin.
[28] Muraoka helped to popularize the shakuhachi as a jazz instrument, a practice carried on today by musicians like the California-born Bruce Hebner and New York-based Zac Zinger.
[29][30] The Los Angeles-based smooth jazz band Hiroshima has always featured Asian Pacific American musicians who play or double on traditional Japanese instruments including the shakuhachi, koto, and taiko.
[33] In 2004, Blue Note Records released an album by 17-year-old mainstream and bop pianist Takashi (Matsunaga) featuring his own compositions, Storm Zone.
She also appeared on bassist Stanley Clarke’s Heads Up International release, Jazz in the Garden, which also featured former Chick Corea bandmate, drummer Lenny White.
The bands and artists that represent those new sounds includes MEGAPTERAS, Yasei Collective, Shun Ishiwaka(石若駿), Mononkul, and Takuya Kuroda.
[47] Shun Ishiwaka, jazz drummer and composer, has received huge recognition in Japan because of his incomparable technique and cutting-edge sound and been a part of many recordings and projects with notable musicians such as Terumasa Hino, Tokyo New City Orchestra, Taylor McFerrin, and Jason Moran.
[49] Ryo Fukui, a now deceased jazz pianist who, in life, struggled to achieve recognition outside of Japan, experienced a monumental rise in popularity thanks to streaming platforms like YouTube Music, Spotify, and others.