This ‘low talk’ listening bar isn’t everybody’s scene but if it’s your scene, BOY is it your scene
It’s like laying back in an ocean and letting the waves sweep you out to sea.
As you know, I enjoy music. I’m by no means an expert but over the years I’ve managed to get to most of the well-known live music venues in New York City (including Harlem) and Boston, and many of the lesser known ones as well.
Then, in 2017, on a solo trip to Tokyo (it was a post-breakup escape, a ‘whole other story‘) I went to JBS (Jazz, Blues, Soul) in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. Like Tokyo itself, it’s a world unto itself.
JBS is what is referred to in Japan as a ‘jazz kissa‘ cafe. Essentially, the term refers to immersive vinyl record listening bars that are engineered and organized for the best acoustics. They are uniquely Japanese and originate from the 1920’s, when the Japanese couldn’t access American jazz records. If someone got a good jazz record in their hands, they would gather. People wouldn’t talk — they were there to share the experience of listening to something rare, a hard-to-get special vinyl recording. Jazz kissa’s declined in popularity as records became more readily available in Japan, and that continued as vinyls were replaced by cd’s.
But jazz kissa’s started picking up in Tokyo in the 2010’s, and then started to spread to places like Berlin, London and New York.
In New York, some of the Japanese style listening bars are more like bars with great acoustics where people talk. A close friend celebrated her birthday with a private gathering at the Tokyo Record Bar in the West Village, a place that falls more into the latter category, a bar that provides a great place for conversation with great acoustics in the background.
All Blues, in Tribeca, was opened by Yuji Fukushima last year and it emphasizes the listening. That’s why I picked it among the other offerings in New York and Brooklyn to try out. In fact, it’s so serious about the listening being ’the whole point’ that in order to confirm the reservation I had to acknowledge (by text) that I wouldn’t talk (much). That was a feature, not a bug, for me because I wanted that same feeling I had at JBS in Tokyo of music washing over me.
When I walked into All Blues, Cornelius and Nathalia greeted me and explained that there is a bar area where there is more talking, but I had reserved for the ‘listening room’ in the back. Cornelius gave me a brief tour and explained the JBL sound system, which I appreciated but which also went right over my head.
Moving back into the listening room, I was thrilled to see that the owner Yuji Fukushima was spinning the records himself that night. Cornelius could see that I was thrilled to be there and asked me if I wanted the booth next to Yuji, which I jumped at.
Yuji was playing Quincy Jones‘s Body Heat when I took my seat, and it sounded better than I’d ever heard it. He dropped an intoxicating mix of sexy, soulful, bluesy but upbeat pieces. Part of the excitement, of course, is wondering where Yuji is going to take you next. The segue he was creating from one wave to the next. Along with Quincy Jones, Yuji’s mix included Azymuth, George Benson, Brenda Russell, Dennis Edwards, The Jones Girls, Grover Washington, Jr. and Alex Ho, so it went from the 70’s to the present day and was heavy on soul and blues.
I absolutely loved it. I got lost in the music.
It’s like laying back in the ocean and letting the waves drift you out to sea.
I’ll be back soon.
The Crush Letter
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