Popped in to visit our buddy, the master of “the piano bar” on a fairly anonymous third floor here in jazz loving Okayama
Ren-san has had a few challenges recently and we brought him some cookies that Ryoko and Ichiro made (& packed in a tin brother commander bandit brought from Bahrain)
[Pals at our wedding will remember him belting out “what a wonderful world”]
His place was very tidy thoug had hosted 2 live performances earlier that evening as part of Okayama Jazz Street event, so we rolled in just before closing which gave us time and space for a nice conversation
The walls are completely covered by framed album covers (the blue note designs are fantastic), plus all kinds of nostalgic American movie posters, artifacts and evidence of time travel, while the ceiling is completely covered with his unique handpainted designs (he even handpainted some sneakers for Ryoko!)
No, didn’t hit that whiskey shelf for a special scotch but rather had a ginger ale, darling had an iced milk tea, and kiddo (out late at a bar) hit a water to go with some leftovers from his box lunch after a nap in Agnes (our van) en route
The point of all of this is: count 10 stool around bar surrounding piano and drum kit and small but immaculate PA, then another 10 snuggled up against the wall
I explained that nowhere I know of in Canada/US can you make a go of it with a place that tiny without it being a disaster, financial and otherwise
{A few places in Europe you could probably pull this off} but wow, Japan loves jazz, I love small places, everything in its place: fax machine tucked up on a corner shelf, a baffling assortment of stellar CDs, a lovely hi-fi, a tiny with a pulldown chain to flush // so many charming details + I resisted the urge to sit down at the drum kit this time although I have sat in on a song or two in my time
The only drawback for me is walking up three flights of a sort of spiral staircase (accessibility for public, i.e. government offices, train stations and so on is solid, as well as many tourist attractions, temples and shrines is generally pretty great but private businesses in old buildings well, not so much :()
