J-Town/Bronzeville Suite: A Tale of Two Cities

Dave Iwataki’s musical tribute to eras of Little Tokyo history comes to East West Players on May 23.

By MIYA IWATAKI
SPECIAL TO THE RAFU

Dave Iwataki was walking down First Street when a photo in a storefront window showing three Black men seated at a counter being helped by a Black server caught his eye. The caption read, “Mitsuru Grill.”

It was an old Toyo Miyatake photo of 1940s Little Tokyo. Intrigued, he did some sleuthing and discovered Bronzeville.

That spark of interest has inspired “J-Town/Bronzeville Suite: A Tale of Two Cities,” a musical experience highlighting three major periods in Little Tokyo history, on Friday, May 23, at 8 p.m. at East West Players, 120 Judge John Aiso St. in Little Tokyo. Composed, written and produced by Iwataki, it is an ambitious piece in three movements featuring original music, dance, song and narration spotlighting this unique moment in Little Tokyo history.

During World War II when Americans of Japanese ancestry were forced from their homes and imprisoned in concentration camps, Little Tokyo became a ghost town. Many African American workers from the South were migrating to California seeking wartime jobs. Little Tokyo was one of the few areas with no restrictive housing covenants. African Americans moved in and built a thriving community. including a vibrant after-hours jazz scene. The area became known as Bronzeville.

This production is updated from Dave’s 2006 “J-Town/Bronzeville Suite,” the first artistic introduction of Bronzeville to the community. He was compelled to bring it back now, seeing the importance of uplifting messages of shared histories and unity between communities during this current environment, which is illustrated through this piece of Little Tokyo history.

Dave’s musical journey was influenced by many genres. He and his three siblings, Miya, Joel and Dale, grew up in a close-knit household filled with music. “As a kid, I remember listening to my sister’s R&B 45s and (cousin) Kei Nomura playing Latin jazz and Cuban music and his congas.” Mom, Sadae, listened to classical music, and Dad, Kuwa, liked jazz.

“When I was younger, I would lay in bed with my radio tuned to KBCA and Jammin’ Jay Rich late at night listening to the greats – Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane and Bill Evans. He would read the list of players on each song and talk about them. And I knew I wanted to be a jazz musician.”

As a keyboard player, Dave continued to follow jazz greats like Hancock. He began a full-time career playing with the legendary Latin jazz great Willie Bobo, touring with singers Paul Anka and Olivia Newton-John in the early days. Always returning to jazz, fusion and R&B.

Dave began to score documentaries at the Media Arts Center at the Japanese American National Museum when Bob Nakamura, Karen Ishizuka and John Esaki gave him his first opportunity to work with them on the films they produced. This allowed Dave to spread his compositional wings.

Today he is touring Europe and Asia with Al McKay and the Earth Wind and Fire experience, and playing locally with R&B legends Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Gladys Knight, Peabo Bryson and Terry Steele. “40 years of performing and traveling with these artists has greatly enriched my musical and personal growth.”

However, he says, “There was so much Black and Latin music, but no Asian genre.” He wanted to see a Japanese American genre. He was an early keyboard player with Hiroshima, wrote for June Kuramoto’s koto, and continues to gig with JA bands. He was also aware of and appreciative of the community activism, the movement for social justice, JA reparations, the spirit of community service. He wanted to infuse that spirit in JA and Asian music genres.

“How can I use music to contribute?”

Drumming is a part of every ethnic culture. After the Rodney King police beating and the L.A. Uprising in 1992 exposed fissures in the community, he produced “Healing Drums” bringing together different ethnicities through the shared cultural practice of drumming. “I wanted to show that our cultures can and do work together.”

In 2002-3, Dave produced “Project J Justice: Barbed Wire and Hip-Hop,” an innovative CD using music for social change and making education about the struggle for Japanese American reparations accessible to a younger generation.

Hip-hop artists rapping analogies between police abuse and camp guard beatings of JAs in concentration camps exposed shared histories. Experimental music using sounds and excerpts from Issei testimonies at the 1981 Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians hearings, and spoken-word performances were included. The CD also had a booklet with history of the JA reparations campaign.

In 2003. intrigued by Miyatake’s photo, Dave was excited to learn about the unspoken history of Bronzeville. He again saw the potential of bringing together different communities through music and shared history, and began researching, talking to musicians and composing.

In 2006, with a California Civil Liberties Public Education Program grant. the first production of “J-Town/Bronzeville Suite” was performed at JANM, and the next year at the Getty. Later in 2017, it was performed at Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute.

For the 2025 “J-Town/Bronzeville Suite,” new features have been added to each of the three movements to contemporize and enhance the experience. Greg Watanabe will narrate to help transport the audience through different time frames, using spoken word to amplify the musical journey.

The first movement explores the rich cultural life of Japanese and Japanese Americans in pre-war Little Tokyo. Japanese classical dance has been added, choreographed to flow with the accents of the original music, and enhancing the experience.

Noted classical Japanese musicians are Madame Matsutoyo Sato, singing minyo and shigin, and her daughter, Marisa Kosugi, playing shamisen; Yuki Yasuda, koto sensei; and Nori Tani on fue (Japanese bamboo flute).

Three new Japanese classical dances have been choreographed by the highly respected Azuma Kotobuki Kai with Carolyn Morinishi, Nicole Kimiko Kaichi Matsuoka and Miranda Emiko Kealy.

The second movement swings into the war years. With Japanese Americans imprisoned in concentration camps, African American workers move into Little Tokyo, building a new community with a vibrant jazz scene that becomes known as Bronzeville. Two new jazz dance works choreographed by Pat Taylor’s Jazz/Antiqua are performed to heighten the musical theme.

Respected jazz artists are featured: Theo Sanders (who has played with Freddie Hubbard, Bill Evans and Joe Lovano) on piano; Henry “The Skipper” Franklin (Willie Bobo, Hugh Masekela, Stevie Wonder), descendant of a Central Avenue band leader, on bass; Don Littleton (Roberta Flack, Stanley Turrentine, Hank Crawford) on drums; Keith Fiddmont (director of the Santa Monica City College Jazz Ensemble since 1998) on sax and flute; Maceo Hernandez (“Demon Drummer of East L.A.”) on taiko.

The Resolution: As Japanese Americans return, cultural tensions and exchanges unfold between the two communities. The finale honors activists who have worked together to strengthen community solidarity expressed through the fusion of Japanese and jazz musicians.

Atomic Nancy Sekizawa will perform an original song, “Kansha Shimasu” (Profound Gratitude), a moving tribute to the fighting spirit of the Issei, the Nisei, and Sansei activists who are continuing the fight for justice and reparations in solidarity with the Black community.

A panel featuring Kenniss Henry, co-chair of N’COBRA (National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America); Miya Iwataki, Nikkei Progressives/NCRR (Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress) Reparations Coalition; and Kirk Silsbee, jazz historian, will be moderated by Alison De La Cruz.

“J-Town/Bronzeville Suite” is funded by the State of California and California State Libraries. Fiscal sponsor is Visual Communications.

Tickets can be purchased at: https://www.eastwestplayers.org/events/jtownbronzeville