Shinjuku Pit Inn

新宿ピットイン

Shinjuku 2-12-4, Accord Shinjuku Building B1, Shinjuku-ku. (03)3354-2024.

〒160-0022 新宿区新宿2-12-4アコード新宿 B1

Cover charge 3,000 yen with one drink, up to 7,000 yen for special shows. Two sets at 20:00 and then when everyone gets back up on stage a second time.

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Shinjuku 2-12-4, Accord Shinjuku Building B1, Shinjuku-ku. (03)3354-2024Shinjuku Station (many, many lines), Shinjuku 3-Chome (Marunouchi Line).

More of an intimate listening room than a club; the Shinjuku Pit Inn has had decades of great jazz inside its Zen temple-like space. Actually, more of an institution than a club, afternoons are given over to promising bands that have not quite made the cut to the evening pros yet. Stopping in for an afternoon of jazz by virtually unknown young players really shows the depth of jazz talent in Tokyo. Playing the evening there means you have made it as a musician. Their annual anniversary concert line-up is a who's who of jazz in Japan.

Inside, all the seats attentively face the stage, with plenty of room to stand at the back. Its somewhat nondescript atmosphere always adapts to the character and intensity of the musicians. Listeners are serious and focused, reading pocket books and jazz magazines during sets, and lining up to get autographs on their just-purchased CDs after the show. The Pit Inn is a large place that lets you settle into the music for a concentrated evening of musical meditation. Pretty much a beer and whiskey kind of place, a lot of customers stick with coffee, too. The audience is there for the music.

The sound system here is always exacting. The right mix of instruments makes an incredible difference to the musical experience, and the Pit Inn offers amazingly good sound. For some shows, tickets are sold in numbered order, but usually, you can just go line up early for the kind of seat you like. There are no bad seats, though. There is no "scene" either. You can head in, sit down, space out, get lost in the music, and wander home.

Once a month or more, the Pit Inn brings in artists from abroad. Many of these musicians have not burst into big-label contracts, but many hardly care. The vibe is much more about getting across the feelings, ideas and forms of their creative expression than it is fulfilling contractual obligations. At the Pit Inn, musicians are creating culture, not making money, and the distinction makes for much better music than one might at first imagine.

Often, the foreign musicians team up with Japanese players, and the mix makes for a real intercultural exchange, except that the underlying culture is, after all, jazz. Fortunately, this year, the Pit Inn set up a recording studio across the hall to capture the magic that goes on and give musicians a place to record what they create. Perhaps the most important club for creative jazz in Tokyo, the Pit Inn is a treat.