The Tokyo Blue Note

      Back on June 5th (or sometime thereabouts) I went to the Blue Note jazz club in Tokyo to see legendary bass man Ron Carter play with other jazz masters Mulgrew Miller and Russell Malone. This probably doesn't mean anything to most of you readers, but that's okay because I won't be going into detail about the performance or anything. So, no worries.
      Before I get to anything involving any real content, I want to iterate how much I hate making reservations in Japanese on the phone. I don't really even like speaking or listening to Japanese on the phone in general because for some reason, compared to speaking directly to a person, it's much harder to pick up. Maybe it's just me, though. Iuno. I suck at talking on the phone in general. But yeah, I had to call the Blue Note to make reservations for two first-year friends from the Jazz-ken circle (Ko and Yukiko) and myself. When I called, I wanted to make it flawless. I mean, HOW LONG have I been studying how to make a reservation in class!? REALLY LONG. We start that in 101. Of course, in 101 it's like:

"Hello. Is this the movie theatre?"
"Yes, it is the movie theatre."
"What time is Indiana Jones?"
"7:30pm."
"I will buy two tickets."
"OK. What is your phone number?"

... etc, etc.. But in REAL LIFE, the reservations go something like this:

"HellothisistheTokyoBlueNoteTakahashispeakinghowmayIhelpyou?"
"I would like to make a resrb... rervti... rsvtn... res-er-va-tion for um... the Ron Carter live performance, but..."
"Aojaosjfo0uq0ufF"
"Excuse me? Sorry, girl, I didn't understand your keigo. Could you speak to me like I'm a real human being instead of you pretending that you're my vassal? I mean, it's kind of hot, but I just want to make a reservation! COME ON."

Or, you know, something to that effect. Longer story made less long, I stumbled around and they decided to say some things in English to me, which frustrates me more than if they spoke slower keigo to me. Whateverrrrr. I made it and we were set to go. Tickets were $80. That's double I usually pay for seeing someone who I doubly want to see.
      I arrived early and sat around in the lobby for a while until my friends came, and much to our surprise, one of our senpais, Jyunsuke, was there! So, when we got into the club we sat down at our respective seats until practically everyone was seated and then we had Jyunsuke moved over to where we were sitting. You can see the seating in the Tokyo Blue Note goes something like this and we were sitting in the second row back from the stage at one of the long tables. Originally, Jyunsuke was sitting in the front row off to the left side of the stage, but that's because he got inside much later than us. The seating is first come first serve, and I was one of the first ones in the waiting area, not to mention the fact that I payed for the $80 ticket. Jyunsuke, on the other hand, payed about half that much at a student price and as a result was let in later than everyone else. But, I guess that still didn't matter now, did it? *sigh* There went eight Gundam games...
      Oh, and as for the people I was with, I'll give them a short introduction. First, here's a picture of us in the train station afterwards. From left to right, that's Jyunsuke, Ko, and then Yukiko. I met Jyunsuke at a rather late Jazz-ken function where he turned out to be a wily, off-the-wall kind of guy. Rather hilarious, really... he wouldn't stop shaking my hand. We talked about onsens and he kept on making the sound effect that is in regards to someone just jumping into an onsen and making a huge splash (I think it was something like "ZABUUN"). Why he would do that for an onsen... eg, so yeah, that's him. Ko I met during the first nomikai that the circle hosted. He started as a metal bass player and moved to jazz this semester. He majoring in English at Sophia and also likes Radiohead a lot, so we sang "No Surprises" at the karaoke that took place after said nomikai. I don't know much about Yukiko, but she was always very nice when I talked to her. Her instrument of choice is the alto sax, and the last time that I played with the Jazz-ken members we played one of those rhythm changes songs that has a name like a bunch of other bebop songs so it makes me forget the title. She just started playing and couldn't really do the song, but as I had mentioned before, it was cool that she would even just attempt it playing with and for players that are just leagues above her.
      Anyway, the place was beautiful. I wish I could have taken photos, but unfortunately it wasn't allowed in the club, so you have to see online for yourself if you're actually interested. The place was a really nice restaurant, too, and although we weren't obligated to buy any food, each of us had to buy one drink. So, we all picked up the drink that Ron Carter HIMSELF recommended, which was some fancy grappa. I don't even know what a grappa is, per say, and neither, I guess, does spellcheck. Regardless, it tasted, if I recall correctly, sort of like a champagne... dry... with an odd flavor to it. Overall? Probably wouldn't buy it again. Thanks a lot, Ron Carter. JEEZ.
      As for the show, it was good. Ko was floored by it particularly because it was his first concert featuring real jazz masters, and as a bass player, Ron Carter's playing really made an impression on him, especially when he played a song with no accompaniment. But, did I myself fall asleep like I do during every movie/practically every jazz show? YUP. Just a little bit though. The good thing is, I was able to listen to the whole thing again and can now forever because I snuck in the Zoom H2 recorder. Yoink!
      I may as well talk about the other show I went to on June 19th at the Blue Note now as well because I don't have any pictures of that. I ended up going by myself because I was ditched by fellow saxophonist senpai Ryuuichi from the circle because he had to use his money for saxophone repairs instead of the show, but it was still cool. His loss, missing the Mike Stern Group (featuring Randy Brecker, Chris Minh Doky, and Dave Weckl!). Randy Brecker isn't even close to being one of my favorite trumpet players. In fact, I don't really like him, especially because he gave a masterclass at ODU my first or second year in high school and it kind of really sucked. But, he can indeed play, proving that to me at that show. Oh, and by "play" I mean "play good" and, at the same time, mean "play corny". Seriously, sometimes I just didn't understand why he thought what he was playing was hip because to me it was really just lame and made everyone look like they crapped their pants or something. It was embarrassing. The other players were cool though, especially Mike and Dave. Got a recording of that show, too, though it's a little crappy because I was in the VERY front. But yeah, score. That show cost me $80 at first, but then I got the cheapest meal and ordered one of the band's recommendations and another drink, soooo it was something like $120 in the end. Egad.

      One thing thing that is funny about Japanese audiences is that when someone plays a standard, like in this case, "Autumn Leaves", they go crazy. And I'm not talking about old people rockin' out to "Girl From Ipanema" crazy, but they shout really loud, clap a lot before and after the head is played, etc.. It was funny to hear, especially when they played some pretty hip originals that were MUCH more exciting than another rendition of "Autumn Leaves". But, what do I know?
      Another thing about the audiences is that there was a good amount of young people in the audience. There were a lot at the Mike Stern show which makes sense because that band was funk- and rock-based, but there was still a surprising amount of kids my age at the Ron Carter show. They were playing more old-school and Ron Carter and the other guys are in their 80s, probably, so the show may inherently be a little bit of a turn-off to the younger crowds, but that didn't stop a good deal of younger people from actually coming.
      Lastly, sometimes it seems like Japanese audiences don't really know the boundaries between rock and jazz-based rock or funk and jazz-based funk. I'm not saying that many people in general understand that there's a difference either, but one may think that okay, maybe the audience is a little more knowledgeable about jazz styles because they're coming to see Mike Stern and not, oh, Chris Botti. Maybe that's a bad example because Chris Botti has nothing to do with rock or funk, but I think you may get the point. There were also tons of examples of the clouding of genres that existed within the playing of members of the Jazz-ken circle, too. But anyway, Mike Stern knows that the Japanese love the rock, I think, and so he really hammed up his performance at some points. He went for the metal/rock style high-note hammering and came to the front of the stage to rock that playing out for the crowds... stuff like that. He'd make goofy smiling faces when he was doing it or at other points in the show, too, which was evidence enough for me that he was kind of poking fun at the situation.

      So that was my Blue Note experiences in a nutshell. Coming soon, awesome karaoke and more baseball.


Until next time...!