Hi Ted. You need to check out the podcast Tokyo Jazz Joints and their brand new accompanying photo book. It goes very deep into these wonderful places - it’s a treasure trove of information. I extended my tour in Japan once just so I could visit as many as possible. Dream places!
I just returned from a trip to Tokyo where I visited a number of excellent vinyl bars, some focused on jazz, others mixing funky beats below an underpass on a Monday night, and yet others in what seemed like the proprietor's living room. Jazz Blues Soul Bar with the soup nazi-esque demeanor of Kobayashi-san was pretty awesome, as was Grandfather's Cafe in Ebisu.
The ones I've been to in the Bay/LA (Bar Shiru, In Sheep's Clothing), while nice, lacked the charm and intimacy of the Japanese Kissas. Felt too much like trendy cocktail bars with vinyl as an afterthought, than vinyl bars with good drinks to complement what you listened to. Given that I shipped my vinyl collection to Mumbai after moving here in June, I've now been sufficiently inspired by you to start one here soon.
P.S. Ted, your son Mickey and I are good friends from Stanford. He told me he's visiting Mumbai soon - if you make the trip with him I'll have a collection of 70s Indian funk covers for you to enjoy.
I don’t want to hijack this thread from jazz- but I think I’d love Indian funk.
I watched “Demon 79” on Black Mirror and was charmed that Boney M’s “Rasputin”, a Russian themed subject drowned in Indian influenced disco, was the centerpiece.
I read a little about it and discovered they were adored there. Hung out with Bollywood stars etc.
It made me want to dive into that whole genre.I hope Ted takes you up on that.
But have only been there for Pre-Fox/Paramounting...not on one of their scheduled jazz nights ie. Sonny Rollins' 93rd coming up. Cocktails were great and accept the compromise.
It's not jazz, but Lion Cafe in Shibuya is worth a trip. It's all Classical AFAIK, and is quite an experience. Very quiet and a special place to be, if you can handle some cigarette smoke.
Paul Brown, the jazz bassist, told me he was walking down the street in Koenji and through an upper floor window he heard his new record being played! The record had just come out. He assumed it was a cafe and went upstairs. Turns out it was a real band--they had learned the whole record!
This kind of thing is (or used to be--I haven't been there for awhile) ubiquitous in Japan. I remember a great vocalist who sang JUST LIKE Ella, with perfect diction on the lyrics. I went up to talk to her but she didn't speak English!
I was in Tokyo on business many years ago and one evening, along with my clients, strolled through the Roppongi district looking for a place to down a few cognacs before retiring .Suddenly from a small entrance I distinctly heard Robert Plant singing,then to my utter amazement, Jimmy Page on lead guitar. We all dashed up the stairs convinced that we'd stumbled across a Zeppelin re-union. We'd actually stumbled across the Bauhaus club and Led Zeppelin were in fact four Japanese gentlemen. Four blokes who sounded and played as a facsimile of the British band. It was quite astonishing. On the way back to the Park Hotel, I wondered whether John Coltrane might be around?
When I was on R&R in Japan in 1958, I went to a circular building in Shinjiku and every floor ha restaurants from different European countries. The top floor was all deserts and had Jazz bands of every era rotating from 10 am to midnight. After one set, a musician came up to me and asked if i played Jazz? I said yes and he invited me to sit in. After the set, a beautiful young woman said, "Come with me and I'll show you Tokyo." I fell in love with the country.
Thank you so much for the pleasant, esoteric adventure.
I recently directed a short play about an ol’ time DJ, and Jazz aficionado, Alan Palmer (he’s kind of the Art Bell of jazz if you will) who works overnights at an obscure public radio station, playing the old jazz greats, Quincy, Miles, Mingus, Tyner, Hubbard, Hancock and Benson. One night a young lady bursts into his sound booth in the middle of his show to tell him she’s been hired to “make some changes” to his format. It’s at that moment we realize Alan clearly has a strong audience. It’s wonderful little play called, “And This Was Our Music” by playwright Mike Rothschild. This post, like the play, is a magnificent example of the earthy richness, cerebral beauty, and universal appreciation of jazz, cushioned in mahogany, with a light scent of cherry tobacco and the aroma of Hennessy Cognac lingering in the air.
I have never heard of a Jazz Vinyl Club. I was researching material for the play, I just didn’t come across such a thing. I’m grateful to you for enlightening me. It’s a delightfully majestic way to keep the love, and the romance of what is such a spiritually wealthy and timeless genre of music. I look forward to sauntering into a Jazz Kissa coming to my community soon. I can just imagine that they have headphones at the bar and private listening booths for special groups. How artfully romantic is that?! I’m in awe.
Here’s a link to the play which I invite you and your readers to read when you visit a Jazz Bar and there’s a ten minute break in the music. It may even complement your listening pleasure.
That play was fantastic. Easy to visualize it happening based on market research and lack of listener reach out. I've seen several long running rock stations change to different formats that fail not many years later. Maybe it is corporatization of radio.
and I can no longer tell the difference between high and low fidelity. I'm sure my speakers and systems sound just as good as it ever did, it's just that the tinnitus doesn't seem to get out of the way. My main reason for looking to vinyl is that some of it never made it to CD and that means it never will make it to streaming and so on. And even Youtube is missing a lot of it. So my little record shelf and all my recordings are not to be found elsewhere in many cases.
Hmm.. I see myself in that article. I should perhaps consider a jazz cafe / restaurant / bar / whatever. My wife would certainly faint with joy at seeing all the space created by the vacated vinyl :) But, will I be able to bear being separated from all my precioussss ...
I like the idea of jazz cafes (or music cafes in general), but I'm not sure tying it to a trendy medium will result in a long-term, positive return for your investment. I say play the music from whatever medium, heck even a bootleg cassette of The Jazz Messengers might be cool to hear in a cafe (assuming such a thing exists).
A great concept. I've never been to one myself. Wish we had them here in Australia.
I think beauty of the idea is hearing music somebody else has chosen. Music that you had no idea even existed.
As a less exciting substitute I can recommend a series of compilations put together by a group of young German Jazz DJs who call themselves Jazzanova. They were allowed into the Blue Note vaults to put together four different albums under the name 'Blue Note Trip'.
Some interesting jazz choices mostly from the late 50s/60s.
I started to listen deeply to Jazz in the 70's; and become a sax player later due to my "jazz kissa (Japanese jazz coffee shop) visits" in Japan. I owe this coffee drinking establishments a lot.
I also had my first professional gig at a jazz kissa in Osaka. Ted Gioia is coming up with a great idea in his article. Check it out. (https://www.Sohrab.info)
I'll have to see if I can find one of these jazz meccas in Toronto, Canada, the next time I'm up in the "Big Smoke" one of Toronto's nicknames. Coincidentally I 'll be there to attend the UofT Faculty of Music's fall Jazz Concert, with LIVE jazz performers - students from several years of the current UofT Jazz School. These concerts are a highlight of my year, and this one falls on my real birthday date. So I'm giving myself a big birthday present in 2023. Thanks for the info!
Hi Ted. You need to check out the podcast Tokyo Jazz Joints and their brand new accompanying photo book. It goes very deep into these wonderful places - it’s a treasure trove of information. I extended my tour in Japan once just so I could visit as many as possible. Dream places!
I just returned from a trip to Tokyo where I visited a number of excellent vinyl bars, some focused on jazz, others mixing funky beats below an underpass on a Monday night, and yet others in what seemed like the proprietor's living room. Jazz Blues Soul Bar with the soup nazi-esque demeanor of Kobayashi-san was pretty awesome, as was Grandfather's Cafe in Ebisu.
The ones I've been to in the Bay/LA (Bar Shiru, In Sheep's Clothing), while nice, lacked the charm and intimacy of the Japanese Kissas. Felt too much like trendy cocktail bars with vinyl as an afterthought, than vinyl bars with good drinks to complement what you listened to. Given that I shipped my vinyl collection to Mumbai after moving here in June, I've now been sufficiently inspired by you to start one here soon.
P.S. Ted, your son Mickey and I are good friends from Stanford. He told me he's visiting Mumbai soon - if you make the trip with him I'll have a collection of 70s Indian funk covers for you to enjoy.
I don’t want to hijack this thread from jazz- but I think I’d love Indian funk.
I watched “Demon 79” on Black Mirror and was charmed that Boney M’s “Rasputin”, a Russian themed subject drowned in Indian influenced disco, was the centerpiece.
I read a little about it and discovered they were adored there. Hung out with Bollywood stars etc.
It made me want to dive into that whole genre.I hope Ted takes you up on that.
I’d be interested to hear recommendations for Indian funk music
Agree about Bar Shiru https://www.barshiru.com/
But have only been there for Pre-Fox/Paramounting...not on one of their scheduled jazz nights ie. Sonny Rollins' 93rd coming up. Cocktails were great and accept the compromise.
Thanks for the couple of recommendations in Tokyo... Any others to recommend there or in Kyoto? Thanks
It's not jazz, but Lion Cafe in Shibuya is worth a trip. It's all Classical AFAIK, and is quite an experience. Very quiet and a special place to be, if you can handle some cigarette smoke.
I’ve only ever been to one, and that is the Eagle Yotsuya in Tokyo. Loved it!
I’m not even that into vinyl but I would absolutely visit one of those cafes. Very cool, thanks for writing.
Paul Brown, the jazz bassist, told me he was walking down the street in Koenji and through an upper floor window he heard his new record being played! The record had just come out. He assumed it was a cafe and went upstairs. Turns out it was a real band--they had learned the whole record!
This kind of thing is (or used to be--I haven't been there for awhile) ubiquitous in Japan. I remember a great vocalist who sang JUST LIKE Ella, with perfect diction on the lyrics. I went up to talk to her but she didn't speak English!
I was in Tokyo on business many years ago and one evening, along with my clients, strolled through the Roppongi district looking for a place to down a few cognacs before retiring .Suddenly from a small entrance I distinctly heard Robert Plant singing,then to my utter amazement, Jimmy Page on lead guitar. We all dashed up the stairs convinced that we'd stumbled across a Zeppelin re-union. We'd actually stumbled across the Bauhaus club and Led Zeppelin were in fact four Japanese gentlemen. Four blokes who sounded and played as a facsimile of the British band. It was quite astonishing. On the way back to the Park Hotel, I wondered whether John Coltrane might be around?
Fantastic!
When I was on R&R in Japan in 1958, I went to a circular building in Shinjiku and every floor ha restaurants from different European countries. The top floor was all deserts and had Jazz bands of every era rotating from 10 am to midnight. After one set, a musician came up to me and asked if i played Jazz? I said yes and he invited me to sit in. After the set, a beautiful young woman said, "Come with me and I'll show you Tokyo." I fell in love with the country.
OH yeah!
Hey Ted, I love this!
Thank you so much for the pleasant, esoteric adventure.
I recently directed a short play about an ol’ time DJ, and Jazz aficionado, Alan Palmer (he’s kind of the Art Bell of jazz if you will) who works overnights at an obscure public radio station, playing the old jazz greats, Quincy, Miles, Mingus, Tyner, Hubbard, Hancock and Benson. One night a young lady bursts into his sound booth in the middle of his show to tell him she’s been hired to “make some changes” to his format. It’s at that moment we realize Alan clearly has a strong audience. It’s wonderful little play called, “And This Was Our Music” by playwright Mike Rothschild. This post, like the play, is a magnificent example of the earthy richness, cerebral beauty, and universal appreciation of jazz, cushioned in mahogany, with a light scent of cherry tobacco and the aroma of Hennessy Cognac lingering in the air.
I have never heard of a Jazz Vinyl Club. I was researching material for the play, I just didn’t come across such a thing. I’m grateful to you for enlightening me. It’s a delightfully majestic way to keep the love, and the romance of what is such a spiritually wealthy and timeless genre of music. I look forward to sauntering into a Jazz Kissa coming to my community soon. I can just imagine that they have headphones at the bar and private listening booths for special groups. How artfully romantic is that?! I’m in awe.
Here’s a link to the play which I invite you and your readers to read when you visit a Jazz Bar and there’s a ten minute break in the music. It may even complement your listening pleasure.
https://www.10-minute-plays.com/comedies/this_was_our_music.html
Again, thank you Ted!
That play was fantastic. Easy to visualize it happening based on market research and lack of listener reach out. I've seen several long running rock stations change to different formats that fail not many years later. Maybe it is corporatization of radio.
The secret? Get old. Then streaming music, CDs, and vinyl all sound the same.
and I can no longer tell the difference between high and low fidelity. I'm sure my speakers and systems sound just as good as it ever did, it's just that the tinnitus doesn't seem to get out of the way. My main reason for looking to vinyl is that some of it never made it to CD and that means it never will make it to streaming and so on. And even Youtube is missing a lot of it. So my little record shelf and all my recordings are not to be found elsewhere in many cases.
Unfortunately I have to agree with you. I still love music but rarely listen much anymore. Silence has become more important.
I listen to as much at 76 and I ever did. My tastes have become even more eclectic, thanks to Apple Music and, to a large degree, Ted Gioia.
Hmm.. I see myself in that article. I should perhaps consider a jazz cafe / restaurant / bar / whatever. My wife would certainly faint with joy at seeing all the space created by the vacated vinyl :) But, will I be able to bear being separated from all my precioussss ...
Brazil could use a serious "wake up call" for its vintage jazz culture.
I have wanted to start a kissa for the last four years now. The problem is that I am NOT an audiophile and do not have a collection.
So if someone else wants to contribute their collection, I will set up the drinks and izakaya food.
Seems fair.
You inspired me to post on LinkedIn Ted, hope it brings you some more readers :) https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:share:7102165829131124736/
Check out Bar Shiru in Oakland.
I like the idea of jazz cafes (or music cafes in general), but I'm not sure tying it to a trendy medium will result in a long-term, positive return for your investment. I say play the music from whatever medium, heck even a bootleg cassette of The Jazz Messengers might be cool to hear in a cafe (assuming such a thing exists).
Ok, now I can't wait to open my jazz vinyl beer bar, Hoplicity
A great concept. I've never been to one myself. Wish we had them here in Australia.
I think beauty of the idea is hearing music somebody else has chosen. Music that you had no idea even existed.
As a less exciting substitute I can recommend a series of compilations put together by a group of young German Jazz DJs who call themselves Jazzanova. They were allowed into the Blue Note vaults to put together four different albums under the name 'Blue Note Trip'.
Some interesting jazz choices mostly from the late 50s/60s.
Would definitely add a zing to any party.
In the mid-60's, in Sydney and Melbourne, there were cafes that had Jazz jukeboxes. There was one at the Cross, down the hill from The El Rocco.
I started to listen deeply to Jazz in the 70's; and become a sax player later due to my "jazz kissa (Japanese jazz coffee shop) visits" in Japan. I owe this coffee drinking establishments a lot.
I also had my first professional gig at a jazz kissa in Osaka. Ted Gioia is coming up with a great idea in his article. Check it out. (https://www.Sohrab.info)
I'll have to see if I can find one of these jazz meccas in Toronto, Canada, the next time I'm up in the "Big Smoke" one of Toronto's nicknames. Coincidentally I 'll be there to attend the UofT Faculty of Music's fall Jazz Concert, with LIVE jazz performers - students from several years of the current UofT Jazz School. These concerts are a highlight of my year, and this one falls on my real birthday date. So I'm giving myself a big birthday present in 2023. Thanks for the info!