Letter from the Road in Japan: Three

Now I am getting hooked on writing these things. I guess I'll have to get back to blogging. The only problem is that when I'm not on the road and I get busy with other things, it's hard to keep it up. Also, it's relatively less exciting to write about working on someone's tunes for an upcoming gig or preparing for a Harmony class in my everyday life. Anyway, that's a problem for another day...

Last night's gig was very unusual. It was the opening of the Dila shopping mall that is connected to a JR train station in Asagaya. Tokyo is probably different from most outsiders' conception of it--there are modern centers that are very built up but much of the city feels like small connected towns, little branching streets that surround train stations, tiny standing bars and wooden storefronts. In these areas, there aren't the skyscrapers and modern office buildings that you associate with the more western looking parts of the city: Shinjuku, Shibuya and Roppongi. Sometimes these parts of the city have a theme--the sports gear area, the music store area, the electronics area. Asagaya has an association with jazz--it has a festival in October called jazz streets and jazz was used as a theme in this shopping mall. For this reason, the JR train company decided to sponsor a performance to celebrate the grand opening. They also gave away 1000 of my solo CDs (Self-portrait on Red Piano Records) as a Christmas present. I've done a number of these kind of events in Japan, special events that mix jazz and business and are sponsored by large companies: breweries, department stores and now train companies. The alliance between business and arts can sometimes be a little uncomfortable, but in the precarious world of jazz infrastructure, it can be life-saving for a tour. In this case, it went very well--we played a trio set for a mixed, but largely older crowd, one that included (for an event at what is really a non-jazz venue) a surprising number of hardcore jazz fans. For $20 (roughly) they got a one-hour concert, a CD and dinner, which is a pretty good deal. We got tour support, another another venue for the tour, and I got to check out another fascinating part of Tokyo.

Today's gig is at a place that is new for me--T's Lounge in Kokobunji. One of the positive developments I've seen in the time I've been coming to Japan is an increase in the number of small jazz clubs that allow younger jazz players to hang out and play jam sessions. When I first started coming to Tokyo, one of the things that I noticed was that even when I was traveling with strong bands of players from New York, almost no local players (peers or younger) were hanging out at our gigs. In contrast, when I was living in Cleveland and someone came from New York, I'd always come out to hear them--usually with a group of my friends--sometimes standing in the doorway of the club when we were low on money. In Japan, there are a lot of things working against this kind of hanging out--something that is so important for the local jazz community. First of all, the trains stop between 12 and 1 am and cab rides of any distance are pretty expensive, so mostly people hurry to get home as soon as the gig is over. Second, the cover charge for most places is fairly high, ranging from about $20 for an inexpensive one to $120 for one set at the Blue Note. Usually the clubs I play have cover charges that are from $35 to $50. Guest lists are usually discouraged by club owners here (something that put me in the doghouse with one famous club owner for years since the first time she met me, a friend had put me on the guest list at her club). Once they know you, they won't let you pay, but in the beginning when you are trying to get established on the scene, the cost of going out here can be prohibitive for a young relatively poor musician. However, recently things have been changing. There are more jam sessions at clubs with low covers. There are more jazz programs, and one of the best, which I believe is run by the great pianist Makoto Ozone, is in Kokobunji. So I am looking forward to rubbing shoulders with what I hear is a very young enthusiastic audience. (I mean that literally, I hear the place is very small.) I'll let you know how it goes...