About (Extended Version)

An extension of the About page, with a short Q&A, version history, and some background details.

Continuing from the About page…

Q&A

1. What’s this website about?

For sharing information about jazz and related music from Japan and Japanese musicians.

2. Do you write mostly about newer albums?

Yes, mostly albums released during the last twenty years.

3. Do you publish new articles in order as new albums are released?

I post about brand-new releases and older albums in no particular order, but I try to prioritize new releases when I can.

4. How can I find a specific musician here?

You can search the archive or check the Index.

5. How can I find more information about the musicians?

Check the Index for links to webpages and albums.

6. How can I find albums from jazz vocalists on this website?

Use the Vocals tag filter to see albums with vocals (the primary album artist is a vocalist or most songs on the album feature vocals).

7. How can I search for albums with solo piano, bossa nova, violin…?

You can search the archive for keywords like “straight ahead”, “bebop”, “solo piano”, “bossa nova”, “Brazilian”, “violin”, “duo”, etc.

8. Where can I buy these CDs?

You can check hmv.co.jp, amazon.co.jp, tower.jp, and cdjapan.co.jp, but be aware that not all sites ship overseas. You may also be able to buy CDs directly from the musicians at their live shows or through their websites.

9. What’s J Jazz?

Japanese Jazz. An earlier version of this website and newsletter was named “J Jazz”. To simplify things I changed the name to “Jazz of Japan”.

10. I thought J Jazz was more like fusion/groovy funk/dance beats with horns/electronic...

Sometimes the term is used to mean that, or even club jazz, but that is limited to a specific subgenre. Generally, J Jazz stands for any type of jazz and related music from Japan or by Japanese musicians.

11. What about “J Jazz: Deep Modern Jazz from Japan”?

I’m not affiliated with that project, though I do recommend it—it looks and sounds great.

Version History

2018 Jan - 2021 May: “J Jazz: Modern Jazz From Japan”

• Initial website v1.0 with 150+ Album posts

• Ran at jjazzist.com using WordPress/AWS/Google App Engine

2021 May - 2022 Jan: “J Jazz Substack”

• Website v2.0 & newsletter with 200+ Album posts and emails

• Ran at jjazz.substack.com using Substack

2022 Jan - 2023 May: “Jazz of Japan”

• Website v3.0 with 300+ Album, Clubs, and Preview posts

• Ran at jazzofjapan.com using GitHub/Jekyll

2023 May - present: “Jazz of Japan”

• Website v4.0 & newsletter with optional membership

• Running at jazzofjapan.com using Substack

The rest of this article discusses the reasons for and technical details about moving from WordPress to Substack, to GitHub, and back to Substack.

WordPress, Substack, and GitHub

Notes and Notebooks (2005)

This online project was first published online in January 2018, but I began writing notes on this topic after visiting Japanese jazz clubs and buying Japanese jazz albums for the first time in 2005. Those dozen or so notebooks practically make up version 0.1 of this project, and I continue to take handwritten notes to this day.