The K Experience

The Smallest Jazz Bar in the World?

Past - Japan

Sunday, 09 March 2008

Japan, the home of small cars, small streets, small people, small gadgets, small apartments, and small Jazz bars. While living in Takaoka, I was lucky enough to live about a minutes walk away from a great little jazz bar. Little being the operative word here. It was called the Jam House, and was by far the smallest jazz bar I had ever seen, and quite possibly the smallest in the world...

OK, when I say "the smallest in the world", I haven't exactly been to every Jazz bar in the world with a tape measure, but when you see the pictures of the inside the Jam House, you'll know what I'm talking about.

The pictures above show the stage, with the performers doing a set. As there was hardly any room there, when the other band members were doing their solos, the lead guy on trumpet would have to squat down. Yes, that is indeed a grand piano you can see in the corner there. I was totally baffled as to how they got that in there, until I mustered up the guts to ask the owner himself. He explained that they pretty much had to take the thing apart and put it back together again once all the bits were in the bar. Good effort!

The picture on the left is the bar, which doesn't really give you a feel of the dimensions, but as you can see, you could barely swing a cat in there.

I would frequent the Jam House as often as I could to catch the free live Jazz performances, which were about once a month. The music was great all the time. The performers would range from young fresh musicians, to old pros.

The Jazz collection, there was phenomenal. There was everything from Miles Davis, to Chick Corea, to Jimmy Smith, with pictures of some of the greats adorning the walls of the establishment.

As the place was so small, the performers couldn't help getting up-close-and-personal with the punters. I often had a chat with the musicians, most of which had a good grasp of the English Language. In fact the pianist in the picture on the top right encouraged me to never give up on piano. I had lessons for about 8 years from when I was 8 till I was 16, then quit because...well because I didn't like taking lessons. I did however love playing the piano, and a few years down the line, deeply regretted giving up. I explained this to the pianist at the Jam House and he told me that he didn't start learning the piano until he was 24. Now (or then anyway) at the age of 43 he was still learning, but had nearly 20 years of experience, and he sounded amazing.

As the only guijin, or foreigner that went there, I was fairly friendly with the owner of the establishment, which everyone called Master. He was cool, and always offered me a free drink of whatever I wanted. Goodness knows how he was able to afford to have such a small Jazz bar, and pay the performers, but somehow he did. There were other Jazz bars that I used to go to regularly. Two others in fact, but one of which shut down due to a drop in business. I hope the Jam house is still going strong, and Master is still getting those great performers in. I hope to go back one day and catch some more great music.