The central streets of Shibuya often conceal some cool little music spots amidst the brand stores and chain restaurants; the recently opened Quattro Labo, located in the basement of Parco Department Store is another fine addition to the music bar scene.
It’s a medium-sized square space that can seat about 35, with the whole left wall covered in vinyl, over 5000 records in total and plenty of CDs as well. Not just jazz but roots, rock, soul, reggae, from past to present in pretty much all the best genres on a top notch audio system.The vibe is mellow and not at all stiff; they’re about the music here and you can tell.
The previous version of Quattro Labo was located in Kichijoji but after closing for awhile relocated to the all new basement food & bar hall in Parco Department store. Open from 1100 to 1700 as a cafe and then from 1800 as a bar, with a rotating number of special guest DJ nights, I strongly recommend stopping by here for either a coffee or some drinks. Extra points for having Guinness on tap and no table charge. Audio system as follows:
TURNTABLE：Technics SL-1200G ×2、LUXMAN PD171A×1
CD PLAYER：Accuphase DP-550
MIXER：ALPHA RECORDING SYSTEM MODEL-9000 Music Mixer
<MAIN SPEAKER SYSTEM>
SPEAKERS：HANDMADE by Haruo Nomura
POWER AMP：McIntosh MC275Ⅵ
CONTROL AMP：McIntosh C22
<SUB SPEAKER SYSTEM>
SPEAKERS：TANNOY Autograph Mini
PRE-MAIN AMP：McIntosh MA5200
Clear map on the website
Closed 2015
Small Hours is a new cafe/bar located in the back streets between Ochanomizu, Jimbocho and Suidobashi stations. Owner Nihei-san opened it in June 2011 and has already established a loyal customer base. It’s a long, narrow space with a beautiful wooden counter bar that comfortably seats about 10 and a table for 4 or 5 in the front.
The friendly and chatty Nihei-san is not a typical jazz cafe owner as she is young and not a manic record collector. She plays sax and flute though and certainly knows the music. “Soul Station” by Hank Mobley was playing when I walked in the first time; that gets immediate respect. One of her goals with the cafe is to have a space for those non-“maniacs” to come hear the music but not feel intimidated by older, regular customers who can be a bit prickly about the music (and new fans.)
For either coffee or some drinks Small Hours has a completely relaxed vibe where anyone can feel welcome. There’s beer and a large whisky selection though closing time is 9pm so get here by 8 for an early nightcap.
Grauers is a new cafe/bar opened August, 2011. Owner Furusho Shinjiro is a long time jazz journalist in Tokyo whose major project in recent years was a massive documentation of the complete Riverside Jazz Records discography. This book and many others by Furusho-san and other jazz writers are in a cabinet in the cafe available for customers to poke through.
It’s a fair sized cafe with one counter area as you walk in and some non-smoking seats in the are to the back. There’s a lot of wine and fancy snacks on the menu and with the minimal decor I think it works better as a nighttime bar rather than an afternoon cafe.
The space is dominated by two huge speakers along the back wall. Furusho-san informed me these are not for sale to the general public and were acquired from a recording studio. The sound was exquisite. Overall, Grauers is a happy new addition to the Tokyo jazz scene.
Jazz House Five Star Records is a unique little place in the Noge neighborhood, next to Sakuragicho station in Yokohama. This is an area that still has some of the rough and tumble vibe of old Yokohama, a place packed with small drinking dens and several jazz bars. I cam across FSR by chance while wandering around Noge one Saturday afternoon.
FSR is an independent record label run by Mitsukoshi Yoshie-san, a 50ish lady who speaks a mile a minute and knows the entire history of jazz in Yokohama. Before I could finish my coffee I had pages of notes with details about the area and all the bar owners, as well as the “Yokohama Jazz Association” (横浜ジャズ協会) that puts on various events around town.
The small building has a studio up top where brothers Pat and Joe La Barbera and have recently recorded CDs while in Japan (Mitsukoshi-san kindly gave me free copies, they’re great.) The first floor bar/cafe seats about 12 people and there’s room for monthly live events alongside occasional CD release parties. There’s the usual coffee and tea plus alcohol, and a book shelf with magazines and jazz guides customers can flip through while drinking.
FSR should be one of your first stops on a Yokohama jazz night; the community is lucky to have Mitsukoshi-san around to keep things vibrant.
The Vagabond is a classic joint right next to the West Exit of Shinjuku station. I think the review from the Japan Times in 2002 pretty much says it all. Have a drink downstairs to start, then head up for some food when the live music starts. Lots of good pictures on the website.
The Ribbon is what most people would think of when hearing the words “Ginza Jazz”. It’s a bar that features nightly live vocal jazz, serves up some gourmet snacks, and serves a lot of whiskey on the rocks. It’s sleek, expensive and very very “Ginza”.
B2, right side on the sign in the pic above. One look at the website will tell you all you need to know about this place.
Kenny’s Bar is by far the hippest place in not-so-hip Ikebukuro. It’s a small, dark joint with superb speakers and occasional live gigs. Many bonus points for the super-cool Mingus and Coltrane posters up in there, and for Kenny (Katakura-san) himself being so welcoming. Lots of hard-bop classics on the stereo and good chat sitting at the bar. One of my favorite places in town for a beer and some good music.
Pearl Bar is a real sleek “grown up” jazz bar in the center of Shinjuku. Lots of cocktails, nightly piano & vocal/instrument duo live music, ‘romantic’ view out the long bar window. It’s a nice place to take your customers or a first date to. The music is fine, nothing to write home about. A quick look at the website is enough to tell you all about the place.
I found this small-even-by-Tokyo-standards “piano bar” while lost in Nakano one night. The system is quite unique; they have live music a couple times a week but on “bar nights” customers are welcome to start jamming or rehearsing, using the grand piano that’s wedged in the place or by bringing their own instruments. While sitting at the tiny bar in the corner one night I saw two guys walk in and order drinks, then start playing trumpet and bass. Very casual, very cool.
Pignose is a real neighborhood joint, very cramped but really friendly. Highly recommended.
Funky is the upstairs “Bar” part of the Bar & Kitchen Funky. It’s a sleek, dark room with a beautiful bar and great food available from the restaurant downstairs. Don’t expect too much (if any..) “funky” music here though, it’s more of a late-night wind-down vibe, great spot to end a longer Kichijoji night at. Expensive so bring enough dough. Great pics in the gallery on their homepage.
Funky is part of the Mugi group, owners of Sometime Piano hall in Kichijoji and several other bars and eateries.
Jazz Nutty opened in 2009 next to the campus of Waseda University. The wonderful Mr.& Mrs. Aoki ran their own flower shop for 26 years before deciding to open their own cafe. It’s a small narrow place dominated by two out of this world speakers; this is a cafe for some serious jazz listening and not idle conversation.
All the drinks, including beer, are 500 yen. Closed on Tuesdays. All rejoice! A new jazz cafe is born in Tokyo, let’s all spend some money there so it survives!
This is a quiet piano bar with live music nightly though more BGM style, not really a live club. Nice for a relaxed drink though a bit soft for my tastes..more for a client or romantic pursuits than real jazz listening.
Neighborhood cafe/bar/small live club. This is the kind of place you really only find in Japan; intimate, friendly and wonderful. Live music most nights but it’s not really a “club”.
Coming out the station go to Bus Stop #3, take the bus bound for Shin-Yuri Green Town. Get off at the 6th stop, Hakusan 4-Chome (白山4丁目)
Kamome means “seagull” in Japanese; it’s an apt name for a venue in the port town of Yokohama. It’s a great new-ish restaurant club in the historic but recently downtrodden Kannai neighborhood, not far from Chinatown or the baseball stadium. There’s live music every night with a really eclectic mix of styles..be sure to check the schedule (and have a Japanese reading friend confirm the genre of the evening) before going. The food is very good here and all the seats face the stage for the most part. The gigs usually end about 10pm so Kamome is a good first stop on a jazz-hopping evening in Kannai.
A reminder: there is no smoking inside many (not all) establishments in Kanagawa prefecture, to which Yokohama belongs. Certain bars still allow it but many places with food do not.
Modern jazz specialty shop, more than 8000 records on sale from the 50s & 60s. Been open since 1973.
Sadly, 10×10 closed in 2014. A neighboring cafe owner told me that Takeyama-san closed the shop to take care of her grandchildren..I hope they appreciate her Max Roach records.
Hakuraku (白楽) 10×10 is a hidden gem of a cafe. It’s in a residential part of Yokohama city (but only about 25 mins from Shibuya in Tokyo, on the Tokyu Toyoko Line) yet has regular live events at night. The lovely Takeyama-san has been the owner for the past 40 years. She’s one of the world’s top Max Roach collectors; there are portraits and photos of the great drummer/composer all around the cafe, all drawn by the wonderfully named “Asobi-nin no Kin-san” (遊び人のKINSAN)
I only visited 10×10 a few times but Takeyama-san always treated me like an honored guest. When I left last time she gave me a copy of Kin-san’s book of essays and drawings about life and jazz as a present, proving yet again that jazz cafe & bar owners are generally among the kindest people you will ever meet. 10×10 is worth the trip out on the Tokyoko Line; after the cafe you can stroll along Hakuraku’s famous old-town shopping street, and maybe grab a meal at the legendary TanTan Ramen shop.
Kissa Ko is one of the older cafes in town but had a facelift in 2012 so now has an all new decor. It’s in the is back streets of Jimbocho in an Edo-style wooden house that seems to be one of those buildings that survived the war.The owners have kept some of the original furniture in the small second floor tatami-space, a very relaxing spot to linger in.
They specialize in gourmet coffee here and are open from 7:30am during the week for breakfast. The jazz is mostly standard stuff with some vocals, nothing too challenging but nothing too “lite” either. Kissa Ko is a great place to stop by after browsing the book shops in Jimbocho or even a late morning coffee before hitting the streets.
European style cafe, heavy on female vocalists and piano jazz.
Cafe Ragtime has live music every Thursday and Friday nights, usually piano and sax or vocalist duos. It’s a friendly place, good to drop by if you are doing an Iidabashi & Kagurazaka afternoon walk.
Haikara-Tei is another Shinjuku jazz bar that somehow never popped up on my jazz radar after all these years in the neighborhood. A basement bar with a real American feel to it (is it the red brick or the Miller beer sign? not sure…), it’s a great place for some quiet drinking and record listening. The picture above pretty much says it all as you can see the bottles on offer, and the two huge hanging speakers (which were playing some crisp Art Pepper records when I dropped in one night).
“Haikara-Tei” in Japanese is a pun, the phonetic pronunciation of “High Collar” (think “white collar”) and “Tei” being a “place to stop by”. Thankfully there’s nothing pretentious or off-putting about this bar, and the record collection on the left as you walk in immediately told me that the owners were serious about the music. It’s more spacious than the average bar so it’s a good joint to head to if you want some personal space or got a group of rowdy jazz fans out for the night. The address is Shibuya-Ku but Shinjuku Station or JR Yoyogi are the closest stations.
NOTE: Masako closed in FEB 2010…I’m leaving it here anyways, so people will remember.
Masako in Shimo-Kitazawa is close to perfect, one of those places you could stay in for hours drinking coffee or beer, listening to one album after the next. As one of the oldest remaining jazz cafes in Tokyo it has a regal sort of atmosphere to it. When you walk in you come face-to-face with a large oil painting of Masako herself with the great Mal Waldron, a long-time visitor to Japan. A look further inside reveals a series of oil paintings on the walls, all of famous jazz musicians. What I liked even more were the old concert posters spread around the paintings, some from as far back as the 1950s.
No live music here, just 2000+ records and roughly the same amount of CDs. Lots of swing and 1950s and 60s albums in the collection, but even some fusion too. Requests are gladly accepted if they can find it in the cabinet. The seats and tables are low and the shop is kept fairly dark; like all the best jazz spots it’s a place for hard core fans who want to listen intently to the music and not work on their lap top or chat loudly to their friends.
There are two bookcases packed with old `Swing Journal` and `Jazz Review` magazines, fun to browse through even if you don`t read Japanese. I’ve learned a lot about jazz by browsing these magazines over the years, and still remember working my way through a long Japanese-language profile of Freddie Hubbard one day.
Masako passed on in 1984, and the place has been run since then by Fukushima-san. He said there weren’t as many regulars as there used to be, but every time I go there it’s packed so business seems good. (I’ve noticed again and again that jazz bar/cafe owners here often moan about the lack of customers compared to 30 years ago, yet their places are still open and usually at full capacity…. nostalgia for the old days perhaps?)
Masako is the oldest jazz cafe in Tokyo and second oldest in the whole Kanto area after Chigusa in Yokohama. Here’s hoping it stays open another 50 years.
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