In the bars and clubs of Tokyo, the cool cats have been cookin’ with jazz since the ’60s.
Ask the average person to name the world’s great jazz capitals and it’s unlikely Tokyo will be nominated. Even the average Tokyo citizen is unlikely to cite their hometown as an inter-national jazz centre.
Why this is true is something of a mystery, as the city has long been home to a wonderfully vibrant and resilient home-grown jazz scene, featuring an extraordinarily diverse array of live houses ranging from tiny basement jam-session clubs to world-renowned nightspots such as the legendary Blue Note Tokyo. Moreover, unlike so many of the cultural phenomena that have come and gone in this fad-happy metropolis, jazz has shown remarkable lasting power, indelibly etching itself into Tokyo’s cultural landscape and in turn forging a Japanese jazz aesthetic distinctly independent from the genre’s American roots, one represented by icons such as reedman Sadao Watanabe, pianists Toshiko Akiyoshi and Keiko Matsui, and trumpeter Toshinori Kondo.
Its resilience in Tokyo has much to do with the spirit of rebelliousness that has long defined jazz in Japan. First introduced to the country in the 1920s by American visitors and migrants from the US-occupied Philippines, Yokohama began to emerge as a jazz hub before the rise of militarism in the 1930s curbed the spread of the music, denounced by Japanese conservatives as an unwelcome Western intrusion. However, the postwar US occupation reignited interest in jazz, and by the early 1960s, smoky, hardboiled jazz joints had become ubiquitous, synonymous with the left-wing student radicalism of the era.
While campus radicals are few and far between these days, the jazz culture that flourished during that era is still very much alive in night-owl enclaves and university ghettos.
Many smaller clubs faced considerable economic hardship during the protracted recession of the 1990s, but Tokyo’s love affair with jazz has shown no signs of abating. The city continues to attract both domestic and international jazz talent while cultivating a new generation of jazz lovers.
Here are some of the best jazz clubs:
Lady Jane
5-31-14 Shirosawa, Setagaya-ku.
+813 3412 3947.
Shinjuku Pit Inn
B1 Accord Building, 2-12-4 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku.
+813 3354 2024.
Sometime
1-11-31 Kichijoji Honcho, Musashino-shi.
+813 42 221 6336.
Blue Note Tokyo
Raika Building, 6-3-16 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku.
+813 5485 0088.
JZ Brat
2F Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel, 26-1 Sakuragaokacho.
+813 5728 0168.
Tokyo TUC
B1 Tokyo Uniform Centre Building, 2-16-5 Iwamotocho, Chiyoda-ku.
+813 3866 8393.
Jazz Spot Intro
B1 NT Building, 2-14-8 Takadanobaba.
+813 3200 4396
Masako Jazz & Coffee
2-20-2 Kitazawa, Setagaya-ku.
+813 3410 7994.
Source: Qantas The Australian Way December 2007
Updated: July 2008