Conventions

After missing one gig I managed another in the afternoon.  The Japanese can seem unconventional.  Certainly a club that has gigs every afternoon and evening seems unconventional to me.  This was the Shinjuku Pit Inn and the music was again free jazz.  I was a few minutes late and came into a trio of alto, piano and drums playing moving segments of solos, perhaps alto leading the trio, a piano duo, alto trio again, alto with drums, drum solo, piano enters.  Moving through combinations, mostly at a steady medium tempo with all manner of interactions and free interplay.  Then towards the end of the set, strains of Ornette Coleman Lonely woman and the head tailing out the set.  The second set started much the same way, finishing with a lovely rendition of Body and soul including some richly substituted but self-evident piano chordal accompaniment.  And unexpectedly, a take on Blue Monk with an obvious melody from the start. End of set and a short encore.  All expansive and dissonant alto with a malleable time sense, full handed piano with a great ear and a responsive drummer laying down a fairly constant mid-tempo.  There was a surprisingly large audience for an afternoon gig, ~55, mostly older and mostly male.  I enjoyed but struggled through a conversation with a neighbour who recommended another bar, No room for squares.  Great name but I won't be able to visit.  But this Pit Inn was impressive with its stage and Yamaha grand, little JBL phase array and its recording Studio Pit Inn by the stairs in the basement of this otherwise glass and steel building.  Quite a revelation.  And on the way to the station, another music store, this time e-instruments with ~200 basses on level 2f at Ishibashi Musical Instruments.

Eichi Hayashi (alto), Ami Ogaeri (piano) and Toyoaki Sekine (drums) performed one afternoon at the Shinjuku Pit Inn, Tokyo.