As far as friendly jam sessions and classes welcoming true beginners, there’s one place that stands out. With its friendly, low-stress atmosphere, Somethin’ is a blessing for those who want to learn more and are ready to try playing jazz with others. Figure 1: A session at Somethin’ in 2015 Somethin’ Jazz Cafe in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, welcomes all amateur musicians who are interested in playing jazz, perhaps especially players with little to no jazz or group experience who may feel nervous about overcoming the initial hurdle of jumping right into regular jazz jams. ...

Singer Yoshiko Saita’s latest release is Back in Time to Boston, an album whose recording was both a homecoming and a musical trip down memory lane. It’s a trip not troubled by turbulence or misadventure, as the entire album occupies a relaxed, late-night mood that’s perfect for this combination of Saita’s rich voice and mellow delivery. Joining the singer is her old musical partner Kenny Werner on piano on all tracks, with Grégoire Maret adding harmonica to about half of the songs, with tracks alternating between duo and trio formats. In a room lush with reverb, Werner’s piano is elegantly pretty and Maret’s harmonica is wistfully bluesy, and both musicians know how to expertly support Saita’s voice in the spotlight. ...

Sketches by Motohiko Ichino is a 2007 jazz album featuring Ichino’s guitar trio and quartet playing his original music. At one hour and 5 minutes, the ten songs lay out an atmospheric and subtle sound, one where Ichino’s tonally rich guitar swings and sways with a warm, vintage electric sound through his songs. Ichino’s guitar is in the spotlight, naturally, as this is a guitarist’s album featuring his original compositions. As a guitar trio with acoustic bass and drums, Ichino takes up most of the melodic and harmonic duties as he spins the chord structures, theme statements, and most of the solo improvisation over the precise drum and bass structures. ...

Oxymoron is a live recording from saxophone player Akihiro Yoshimoto and bassist Takashi Sugawa. The duo recorded a live performance in 2016 at the jazz club Apollo in Tokyo, Japan, and released that recording as this album in 2017. Through the album’s eleven tracks and thirty-six minutes, Yoshimoto and Sugawa play free jazz and experimental music that pushes beyond the boundaries of standard jazz. The pair avoids the more easily identifiable trademarks of conventional music and songwriting to chase the free-flowing exchange of spontaneous ideas and sounds with few limits imposed. ...

Sara Smile is the second album from trumpeter Hikari Ichihara, released in 2006. This nine-track album is an alluring mix of jazz standards, pop covers, and a few of Ichihara’s original compositions. Ichihara’s group on this album is formed by drummer Lewis Nash, bassist Peter Washington, and pianist Adam Birnbaum. While the music is mostly played by the trumpeter’s quartet, the group expands with trumpeter Dominick Farinacci or sax player Grant Stewart stepping in to play with Ichihara on certain songs. Ichihara also switches between trumpet and flugelhorn for further variety in her playing and sound. ...

NordNode is a 2020 album from drummer Kazumi Ikenaga and pianist Taihei Asakawa, with ten tracks and fifty-five minutes of music performed with care, maturity, and a strong bond between the two musicians. This album captures a directly connected musical conversation between drummer Kazumi Ikenaga and pianist Taihei Asakawa. A duo made up of drums and piano is not a very common format in jazz, but it is a format that really shows how, like with the circular yin-yang symbol, the two musicians fit perfectly together and fill out the space as if thinking, moving, and playing as one. ...

Retattanni no Mori (Birch Tree Forest) is a 2019 solo album from bassist Yuki Ito. Over the album’s six tracks and 30 minutes, Yuki Ito is unaccompanied but unafraid with her formidable upright bass, playing three original compositions, two covers, and one free improvisation. It could be considered a brave endeavor to release a solo album on bass (or upright bass, aka double bass, contrabass, acoustic bass, upright, standup, or wood bass). As the great bassist Christian McBride humorously would put it, “I’m just the bass player”, a lighthearted play on a stereotype of the role (similarly, the title of his new album with bassist Edgar Meyer is /But Who’s Gonna Play the Melody? — /a double double bass album!). ...

Reiko Yamamoto’s The Square Pyramid is a jazz record built around her vivid and precise vibraphone sound. With excitement heightened by the targeted force and agility of four mallets striking and bouncing on the metal bars, the crystal clear and warmly sustained sounds of Yamamoto’s instrument pull the listener into the heart of the colorful structure through her compelling compositions. Written in Japanese, Reiko Yamamoto’s name is 山本玲子. Reiko (玲子) contains the kanji character 玲 which represents the sound of jewels and is used in several aural words invoking tinkling and chiming sounds. Whether or not that character had a direct influence on the musician’s life, it’s an appropriately fitting context for her masterful playing of this brilliantly translucent instrument. ...

Jazz singer MIWO’s first album is entitled Tranquillo from 2020. This fifty-one-minute album delivers a sincere and straightforward set of twelve jazz standards perfectly suited to the leader’s modestly beautiful voice. Tranquillo was produced by mentor Hiroko Williams, a well-known jazz singer in her own right, and the result is an album with an authentic approach to vocal-focused jazz albums. While some decorative intros, endings, and arrangements are subtly attached, the performances follow the original music closely to respectfully elevate the original compositions and allow the immediately felt vocals to shine. ...