Apple Jump
Apple Jump
Jazz of Japan #264 • Sep 16, 2024 • Brian McCrory
Apple Jump jazz club, located near Ikebukuro station in Tokyo, Japan
With a pleasantly minimalist sensibility focused on creating a simple space for live jazz, Tokyo jazz room Apple Jump is easy to love. This small club is another favorite place to catch live performances from small combos featuring vocalists, violins, horn players, flutists, vibraphonists, straight-ahead piano trios, and more. Genres can also vary based on the night’s schedule.
Located in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Apple Jump was a newer entry (about fifteen years ago) to the Tokyo jazz bar scene. It’s a small star in the wide galaxy of jazz bars in Tokyo, a humble joint that has continued to make an excellent impression through a calendar of steady and satisfying events.
Depending on the day, audiences may be treated to a vocal group, a bossa nova band, violin mu bebop, straight-ahead, Latin, or modern jazz. A brief description of the event is usually mentioned on the shop’s online schedule, alongside musicians’ names, start time, and admission price—and, importantly, whether or not the event has already sold out. Apple Jump is a small room and a full booking of advanced reservations is not uncommon, so arriving without a reservation on certain nights can be risky.
Like many jazz spots in Japan, this jazz club’s interesting name is a reference to a song or item from jazz history. The name “Apple Jump” is initially evocative of a cute drawing from a primary school textbook, perhaps… and what does that have to do with serious jazz? It turns out that this club’s moniker is named after either the Count Basie tune from the 1930s or the Dexter Gordon song from his 1974 album Biting the Apple. Admittedly, “Apple Jump” is a lesser-known pick compared to famous jazz hits like “All of Me”, “Body & Soul”, “Hot House”, “Salt Peanuts”, and “Satin Doll”, which each have jazz clubs in Tokyo named for them. The in-the-know audience may find the choice of “Apple Jump” to be an appealing selection, a sort of deep jazz cut, and another appealing move to honor the greats while avoiding more obvious titles.
Inside Apple Jump, what you see is what you get. Apple Jump offers at-home style concerts in a clean and simple jazz room, one that appears as if it could have been a hobbyist’s garage workshop in another life. As such, decorations and amenities (such as there are at a casual neighborhood spot) are minimal, but one gets the sense that everything was hand-selected and chosen by the owner—not too fussy or overly considered, but everything selected for a reason.
Run by a quiet but friendly bar master, the atmosphere is calm and simple. Like the simple but effective Apple Jump logo painted on the wall behind the stage, this is an open canvas for the musicians to fill with their finely polished jazz performances.
As a one-person operation, everything at Apple Jump is handled by the owner/manager. From the layout, the menu, and the schedule of performers, an awareness of clarity and ease are primary. The overall impression is that the goal of satisfaction, simple and clear, for both the audience and performers rises to the top. An avid photographer, the owner’s photos are sometimes pinned to the walls in an impromptu gallery style and capture performances at Apple Jump and some overseas travel snapshots.
Speaking of photography, taking photos in overt or distracting ways during performances is usually frowned upon and sometimes against the establishment’s rules. This is true at Apple Jump as well as many jazz bars these days. There may even be a sign stating “Photography not allowed” at the entrance or on a wall. However, these rules may be flexible depending on the details of a particular event or the performers, and some customers will discretely snap a photo or several, without flash or shutter noises, at the end of the event or during any encores. It’s usually a good rule of thumb to be subtle and polite while following the behavior of other customers.
The Apple Jump menu includes a standard range of drinks, some small snacks, and a few cooked or assembled dishes. For drinks, beer, wine, liquor, and soft drinks are available. For dishes, the appetizer platter and the handmade Margherita pizza (seasonally offered) are great options. For snacks, pickles, olives, crackers, and cheese are typical (and at times, a bowl of freshly popped popcorn). Everything is very reasonably priced.
From Ikebukuro station, Apple Jump is about 10 minutes by foot from the west exit. A west-side underground passage from the station leads to the nearest neighborhood from the last station staircase exit, from which Apple Jump is only a minute away on foot.
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