NYSQ AND THE STATE OF PIANOS

Last night we played at Body and Soul in Tokyo. This is another great club with a long history of jazz performance and a legendary Mama-san. (The mama-san, or master if the club owner/presenter/host is male, determines the character of the club. Jazz clubs in Japan tend to be a little more personal, almost jazz fan-club-like, and the owner really does set the tone for the place. A strong master or mama-san can get out the troops and fill the club as much as (or more than) a particular artist does. This is very important as the numbers of regular attendees at jazz clubs seems to be moving downward.) I was happy to see a lot of musicians from the area and thanks to all of those who came out. Tonight, we're at a smaller neighborhood place, Strings in Kichijoji. Tokyo is an unusual city in terms of the number of clubs that have good grand pianos. I remember hearing that there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 clubs that have at least some sort of semi-regular jazz booking policy that have grand pianos in them, most of them Yamahas in good condition. (There's even a club called Swing City that uses piano keyboards and cases as part of the decor. I think there are 3 pianos or pieces of pianos built into the walls.) When you compare this to the number of grands in New York jazz clubs it's quite impressive. This may be due to the bubble economy years, but I'm glad they're still there. On the downside, however, tuning apparently is more expensive here than in the US (especially in the countryside) so you tend to encounter a lot of these nice pianos that are a bit ripe sounding. Body and Soul, though, as one of the better clubs in town, always has there's in good condition, so last night was both rocking and well-tempered.