A Guide to Jazz in Japan

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the musicians who've made my evenings a serious pleasure. Yes, I have my day job, friends, and family, but more than anything, it's been jazz that made me feel at home in Japan. Kokoro kara, arigatou gozaimasu.

About this guide

This guide will introduce you to the small clubs, backstreet kissaten, vinyl stores, jam sessions, and big band contests that make up the vibrant jazz scene in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area. With nearly forty million people within train distance of the heart of the city, that means a lot of different clubs, innumerable musicians, and an incredible amount of great live music every night.

However, the sheer scale of Tokyo and Yokohama can also make it hard to find the best music. This guide points you towards the best places and best musicians. It is intended for people who live here as well as for visitors. It's designed for anyone who likes jazz, is curious about it, or is just interested in a great night out in Tokyo.

The people and places in the Japanese jazz world are generally humble, but intensely devoted to the music. It's not that the jazz world is closed off exactly, but rather those in the know are quiet about it, partly because the jazz scene is so huge, and partly because playing jazz is such an ambitious undertaking.

I've been covering the jazz scene in Japan since 1999 for a series of publications and for my website, Jazz in Japan (www.jazzinjapan.com). Some of the material in this guide overlaps with the website, but a book is a handy reference just the same. In putting this guide together, I feel like a band leader trying to decide which songs to play-there are too many choices.

The guide is not just about great music. It's about culture too. The clubs, groups, and musicians have their own way of doing things, and like so many other "ways" in Japanese culture, jazz has its "way." That an African-American subcultural art form could fill the basement clubs of a city far away is a fascinating phenomenon. It's a story of cultural exchange, globalization, musical passion, and artistic exploration, and the story is far from finished. If anything, the jazz scene in Japan is livelier than ever.

I've divided the book into several sections. In the first part, there's a guide to the jazz clubs. I haven't covered every club in Tokyo and Yokohama, much less Japan, but I've picked a solid selection of the best. I have reviewed those (some are like a home away from home) to give you an idea of the kind of music, the performers, and the atmosphere at over forty clubs. I've organized those by atmosphere and style, but don't take that as a hard and fast rule. On any given night, the music can be unpredictable. But this section will get you where you want to go (and maybe where you need to be).

Second, I've chosen the musicians I've seen and treasured over the years. I've organized them by instrument. That might not be ideal since musicians often play different styles and instruments. But musicians consider their instruments central to their musical identity, so I'll take that as a cue for arranging. Check out the bands that musicians lead or play in, and the descriptions I've added too, for what kind of jazz they usually play. You can also check the Jazz in Japan website for past reviews. Links to their websites, usually with music samples or videos, will give you even more ways to find who you'd like to hear.

Next, I've added some pointers for jam sessions where musicians can meet and jam with other musicians. If you're a musician at any level, bring your instrument and find a time and place to join.

I've chosen a few of the better-known jazz kissaten coffee shops, but be advised that there are many more out there, as with clubs and musicians. Jazz fans are enamored of vinyl records, and Japan has many stores where records are sold. Vinyl in Japan is always well cared for and priced accordingly. Jazz kissaten are a unique experience. They are discrete islands of jazz culture and libraries of musical history. This section gives you pointers toward those other aspects of jazz.

In the last part, I've included longer articles about jazz in Japan. Three of my academic works are reprinted from books and journals, and two new essays discuss the history and cultural factors surrounding jazz. They examine why jazz in Japan is so interesting, how it got to Japan, and why it's continued to flourish. There's plenty to think about there.

Take this guidebook as your genkan-that little area in every Japanese home just inside the door where you take off your shoes and step inside.

And then go on in.

Irrashaimase!

About the focus

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture" is a quote attributed to many different musicians, writers, and critics. Reluctantly, I half agree.

In contrast, the essayist and critic Walter Pater said, "All art constantly aspires to the condition of music." I pretty much agree with that.

This guidebook lies somewhere between those two. I feel it's helpful to have writing that provides information and background. Writing can enhance the music by helping listeners go deeper into the work. Listening to jazz is not just an aural pleasure-it's a creative experience. Music is all subjective at one level, maybe at the best levels, but having a guide can help in numerous ways.

This book is primarily a list of people and places I recommend because I've heard them, usually repeatedly, on CD, live, or both, and have found them compelling and meaningful. The clubs are places I've been to repeatedly over many years. One or two are almost like home. I sit in the same seat.

In this age of AI, it's easy to vacuum up information and pass it off as experience. The information here is handcrafted, individually shaped, and personally obtained. I think that fits the nature of jazz itself. It's about individual tone and self-expression. Part of the reason this guidebook is limited is because it's filtered through one person. But I like the human touch with whatever I read, watch, listen to, or consume. I hope you do too.

Because the jazz world in Japan is so huge, I've necessarily had to leave out quite a few places and people. No guidebook can be, nor should it try to be, exhaustive. I have my likes and dislikes too, though overall, I like all kinds of jazz and all types of music-Latin, African, rock, blues, flamenco, Chinese opera, you name it. A broadly appreciative view of all different genres, approaches, and styles forms the framework here.

But if some important musician or club didn't get a mention, that's my bad. I'm not a large travel publication corporation. I'm just a jazz writer.

Likewise, I included "Japan" in the title, but almost all the clubs and musicians are based in Tokyo and Yokohama because that's where I live. Not all are Japanese, either. Many foreign musicians have made Japan their home.

This guidebook is for anyone interested in jazz or in Japan. Sometime fans, short-term visitors, die-hard jazz lovers, long-time residents of Japan, and people just passing through will find recommendations and new possibilities.

Even people who can't visit Japan will find much to consider here, with many links to follow up. The descriptions of the clubs and musicians are more than just a travel guide's to-do list. Combined with the essays about history and culture, they offer insight into another world.

All the clubs and people in this guide are also on the Jazz in Japan site, www.jazzinjapan.com. Over the last twenty-some years, the site has grown into a trove of information about musicians, bands, CDs, backgrounds, ideas, and the jazz scene in Japan. Check the calendar for more on upcoming shows.

With this guidebook in hand, you have forty-some clubs and over two hundred musicians. That should be enough to help you navigate the vibrant musical scene, delve deeper into the music, and enjoy many evenings of great jazz. I hope it opens up a fascinating world of musical experience.

As Nietzche said, "Without music, life would be a mistake." I couldn't agree more with that.

About me

This guidebook is the product of nearly thirty years of listening and reporting on Japanese jazz. I started going to clubs in the 1980s, when it wasn't easy to find jazz spots. Back then, it was word of mouth or sheer chance. I stumbled across spots while walking around the city or caught sight of "jazz" written on a sign from the train window. Friends and acquaintances told me about their favorite places and musicians, sometimes reluctantly, as some were well-kept secrets.

I picked up flyers, announcements, and handouts dangling from a string or clip for other clubs and shows at each club. Those led me into a vast world of live music. The network was there, but was hard to uncover. At that time, the online world was yet to take off, and though there were a few publications in Japanese, there was not much in English.

My first jazz writing gig was at the English-language online mag Tokyo Q, which didn't mean much to musicians or club owners. Still, those musicians and club owners were welcoming, allowing me to take photos, chatting with me between sets, and, maybe most of all, remembering me. That wasn't hard, as there were few other foreigners to remember. Their kindness led me to continue.

In 2001, The Japan Times invited me to cover the jazz scene. With that meishi name card in hand, doors opened more easily. I could ask a...