Una Mas
The club is sadly closed.
快適生活音空間 ウナマス (残念ながら閉店されました。)
Mitaka North Exit Cooperative Building 2F, 1-10-6 Nakacho, Musashino-shi, Tokyo. (0422)36-6252.
東京都武蔵野市中町1-10-6 三鷹北口共同ビル2F
Two sets from 20:00 and 21:30. Cover charge around 3,000 yen. 1,500 for students. Sunday and Monday always off and some nights no live show. Singing lessons for chanson and jam sessions at different times.
http://www.jazzinjapan.com/homepage/una-mas/
Mitaka station (Chuo and Sobu lines). Go out the north exit. Walk around the large circle for buses and taxis and head down the largest street straight ahead (not the semi-large one veering slightly to the right). In a couple blocks, there is a Tokyu Food store. Look for a small sign on the left and the club is on the second floor. It’s not far.
There is not much fancy to eat at Una Mas, but all the energy has gone into the sound system. With one of the best acoustic interiors in Tokyo, Una Mas is more of a recording studio than a club. The master, Sawaguchi san, was a sound recording engineer at NHK for years before retiring to set up the club and another recording and mastering facility nearby. The instruments are all positioned and miked with great care, and the walls and ceiling have special acoustic tiles. This care and attention pays off; it’s as if you have never heard piano, bass and drums so clearly before. Most other clubs sound muffled, even slightly strangled, compared to Una Mas.
Una Mas brings in some of the best musicians in Tokyo, even though it was only set up in 2004. Part of the flow of talent through the club is due to drummer Dairiki Hara, who more or less runs the house band. He is a dynamo on drums, with a wide view of jazz, and a sound that fits the intimate sonics of the club. With Hara on drums, every group swings. He’s an amazing first-call drummer who no doubt relishes playing most nights at the same club rather than being called to play all over the city.
Trios and small ensembles are the norm here, and the seats let you see and hear well. Mondays and Wednesdays, the club features chanson. Bossa nova and Brazilian music groups play every so often. The homepage marks the music fairly clearly, so anyone planning on going can check beforehand.
The musicians and groups at Una Mas are ones that like a small, close setting where they can be heard directly. Many groups play at Una Mas just for the recordings they can get. Almost every evening is captured by the high-quality mikes and top-class mixing board, which is set in a soundproof room rather than dropped unceremoniously on whatever open space, as in most other clubs. That makes everyone play at their best with the live recordings occasionally turned into CDs.
The club is a friendly place, too, and though every stop on the Chuo Line has clubs of all different kinds, Una Mas is not just “one more” but “una mas muy especial!”