Cochi

Cochi jazz club, located near Koiwa station in Tokyo, Japan (website, map).

The Hisatsugu Suzuki Quartet playing at Cochi in 2019

Cochi is a reliably satisfying jazz bar with a friendly neighborhood feel, the kind of place to rub shoulders with local folks while listening to home-ground jazz musicians. Although the room is tiny, the space is well furnished with vintage decor and ambiance, featuring a small bar and a set of tables and low couch seats where you can watch the musicians play within arm’s reach away. In fact, the nearest front table offers an up-close-and-personal experience, basically sharing floor space with the musicians, alongside a bass drum and cymbal stands on nights when drums are featured—a really nice way to get into the music.

Performance duos and trios are common here, as is a monthly jam session where amateur musicians can join the house band for a song or two each. The schedule includes local professional musicians and talented up-and-coming artists. Cochi is a perfect setting for an opportunity to catch popular and soon-to-be-popular artists in a comfortable and casual setting. The grand piano at Cochi is also a musician’s favorite, whose sublime tuning and sound occupy a large part of the sonic and physical territory in the room.