Paco is a tiny jazz bar in the central Hanzomon/Yotsuya area that features excellent food and comfortable jazz performances. Upon entering, one feels literally surrounded by jazz, encountering walls covered with jazz CDs and record covers. In this small room, the performers (often a singer plus a guitarist or pianist) will sit or stand right in front of the seated customers for two or three performance sets starting at 7:30, 8:30, and 9:30 PM. The audience area holds about 12 customers at most; at certain times for popular performers, reservations are recommended, although the gracious bar master will try to squeeze in anyone who arrives on crowded nights. ...

Chihiro Yamanaka’s Outside By The Swing (2005) is her fourth piano trio album and continues her annual series of releases since bursting on the scene with her 2001 debut Living Without Friday. While previous releases were on the Osaka boutique jazz label Atelier Sawano, this release marks her first in a long run with Verve Records. The album contains a baker’s dozen of fun jazz tracks, some quite short but mostly in the four-to-six minute range, plenty enough to showcase Yamanaka’s piano filled with percussive fire and melodic creativity. ...

Alfie is a jazz bar that offers a quality experience in the heart of Roppongi and is a great choice for jazz in Tokyo. The music here is excellent and delivered at a professional level, well-suited to the high level of service and atmospheric setting. Depending on any particular night you may hear vocal jazz, funk jazz, modern jazz, or straight-ahead jazz performed by experienced musicians on a small stage surrounded by tables and a nearby overhanging balcony area. This spot offers an amazing vibe and location with a long history of being an authentic and popular Tokyo jazz club. ...

Yoyogi Naru is one of a pair of stylish jazz bars that go by “Naru” in Tokyo. Both Narus are elegant without overdoing it, clean and comfortable places that have been operating for a long time while maintaining high standards. Figure 1: Naoko Akimoto (vocals), Ken Nakayama (bass), Shuichi Uchida (drums), and Naomi Komoto (sax) at Yoyogi Naru (June 2012) ...

Picture this: a dazzling city, clean and modern yet old-fashioned and traditional – a city of the future and of the past, simultaneously. Bars and izakaya everywhere, busy and tipsy uniformed and suited-up masses of people rushing to and fro. Digital voices emanating from brightly lit signs looming large in the sky, on the sides of buildings, on shop walls. In the middle of this, an unlimited supply of food, drink, merchandise — seafood restaurants, alcohol establishments, and convenience stores are everywhere. And hidden in the dark corners and underground floors… the jazz of Japan. Welcome to the world of Japanese jazz. ...

Yasumasa Kumagai’s Pray (2010) is a stylishly straight ahead affair, a cool and groovy collection of the pianist’s original tunes which melds modern jazz, soulful grooves, and gospel influences with his characteristic piano playing and original compositions. On Pray, Kumagai’s trio opens with “Brotherhood”, setting up an atmospherically moody yet light and relaxed vibe. Other album highlights include his live-show favorite “Yellow Tail”, a well-developed modern jazz exciter, and “Choir’s Got Fired”, a laid-back groove with irresistibly catchy riffs and an album highlight. The music is influenced by modern jazz players like Robert Glasper as well as hip hop concepts and includes enough dashes of unexpected changes, odd meters and beats, honest sensitivity, and spicy dissonance to keep the album in regular rotation for a great J Jazz piano trio playlist. ...

Yukako Yamano’s 3rd Stage is the third album in her live set series, following her 1st Stage and 2nd Stage naturally and wrapping up the symbolic three-set performance established by the album titles. With ten tracks and a running time of approximately 60 minutes, 3rd Stage demonstrates Yamano’s funky, poppy, delicate, and groovy sides through mostly original songs with a few covers as well. Differing from the first two releases, this album focuses on her work as a solo artist and showcases many of her original songs. Throughout, the music is infused with her special style of melodic and memorable jazzy pop creations. As a solo pianist, Yamano’s playing is loaded with catchy riffs and repeating patterns over which she develops improvisational explorations. At other moments, she can create lovely, somber themes with fragile atmospheres. Songs like “Mahoruba” and “Before After” range from galloping grooves to sweet and cute music, while the show-stealer “Summertime/Piano Concerto No. 2” merges Gershwin and Rachmaninov themes in an impressive medley. The final track, “Love Coke!”, is another popular crowd-pleaser and a fun tribute to her collection of variations of this addictive soft drink. ...

Another Ordinary Day from 2002 is pianist Harumi Nomoto’s debut album as a leader of her own jazz trio… actually, two jazz trios. Recorded over two summer days in Tokyo, the exciting young pianist runs through eight tunes: five songs with one trio arrangement and two songs with a second trio. Also included among the trio tracks is one solo piece, where Nomoto plays on piano the quiet and affectionate “You Only Know What I Know” by saxophonist Atsushi Ikeda. ...

Like explorers on a caravan, Bungalow produces imaginative music on their third album Unseen Scenes from 2015, carving their unique path through new jazz and rhythms. Compulsively rhythmic and compelling, this album is another fantastical journey through the nooks and crannies of modern jazz with exotic fringes. With Bungalow, creativity is in focus, and on Unseen Scenes this creativity often incorporates repeating riffs and loops of fresh drum patterns and evocative moods. Strands of music weave together to provide the fabric over which saxophone melodies arc and swoop. A combination of dense flavors, spicy accents, and lush spaces with some straight-ahead modern jazz as well. ...