Author: 1982toru0113@gmail.com

I played walking bass in South Korea.

October 1–2, 2015. I joined a local jazz band and played two nights in Geumsan (Kumsan), a small town in South Korea. Here’s the full story — travel log and live report.

Day 1 — Getting There

Left Haneda at 9:00 AM, landed at Seoul Gimpo Airport by 11:30.

I’d been to Seoul the year before, so I had a rough sense of the city. I headed to Yeongdeungpo-Gu Office station on subway line 7, where my friend Hansoo lives. Hansoo was a classmate at a language school when I lived in New York — a 20-year-old fresh out of mandatory military service.

He took me to a famous naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodle) restaurant in Seoul, apparently popular with celebrities.

I love how they start you with kimchi before anything else.

The noodles come incredibly long, so you cut them with scissors at the table.

After catching up over the meal, we wandered through the city. I love the busy, layered feel of Seoul streets — very much that classic Asian city energy.

I hadn’t slept the night before, so I crashed at Hansoo’s for about three hours. Dinner was home-cooked kimchi jjigae — delicious.

(Apparently every Korean household has a dedicated kimchi refrigerator separate from the regular fridge. Hansoo had two, about the size of a dryer each.)

Club Evans — Jazz in Hongdae

That evening we went to a jazz club in Hongdae called Club Evans. Named after Bill Evans — I couldn’t not go. I’d actually visited the year before too.

That night’s act was a piano quartet playing violin, cello, upright bass, and piano — original arrangements of classical and fusion pieces rather than straight jazz.

Honestly I was hoping for hard bop, so it wasn’t quite what I’d had in mind — but the quality was high, the room was packed, and I genuinely enjoyed it. Cover charge: 8,000 won. Beer: 5,000 won. About 1,300 yen total. The room felt roughly like a medium-sized Tokyo basement jazz club — comfortable and easy to take in.

Day 2 — Show Day

October 1st. Up early, then a 2-hour bus from the Express Bus Terminal to Geumsan.

Geumsan is a town of about 10,000 people, roughly two hours from Seoul — similar to the Tokyo-Maebashi distance. It’s known throughout Korea for its high-quality ginseng, called “jinseng” locally. The drummer who invited me, Jinwoo, lives there. We’d met in New York playing jazz together.

Breakfast at the bus terminal:

Instant ramen, served in the pot. 4,000 won.

Arrived. Very rural.

Then we ate again.

Kimchi jjigae again. Spicy. But completely addictive.

The venue for both nights was “Cafe Estate.” Here’s the space:

Jinwoo offered to lend me an electric bass, which saved me a huge amount of hassle — I traveled with just two backpacks and no bass case.

The bass was a jazz-type with two single-coil pickups — high action, very punchy and growly. It reminded me of an Atelier Z in feel. It blended into the ensemble beautifully. Easily one of the best-playing basses I’ve ever gigged on.

I couldn’t quite make out the brand name. Jinwoo said he’d paid $1,000 for it in New York.

The Ginseng Festival

Before soundcheck, we had some time so we walked around the town. It happened to be the annual Jinseng Festival — stalls everywhere selling ginseng in every form.

Ginseng is quite bitter on its own, but deep-frying it makes it much easier to eat.

Goes well with makgeolli (Korean rice wine).

The actual live report from the show continues in Part 2.

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I found a jazz spot in Taipei where you can actually sit in on a jam session.

Jazz Spot “SWING”

About a 15-minute walk from Zhongshan MRT Station.

Inside the venue.

Upright bass in the corner. House instrument.

The owner spotted me and switched to Japanese:

“Are you a musician?”

“I play bass!”

And that was all it took.

Jam session — in Taiwan.

A sax player jumped in too.

Before I knew it, there were this many of us.

That evening we played around 10 tunes:

• F Blues
• You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To
• Take the A Train
• St. Thomas
• Softly as in a Morning Sunrise
• In a Sentimental Mood
• It Could Happen to You
• If I Were a Bell
• A Night in Tunisia
• The Girl from Ipanema
• Autumn Leaves

The owner, Mr. Kuwabara, is a pianist. He had transposition charts ready, and there was a Real Book on hand. Vocalists are welcome to sit in too.

Jazz Session Spot in Taipei

Jazz Spot SWING shows up near the top of search results when you search for “Taipei jazz.” I’d read a lot of reviews before going, but none of them mentioned that sessions were possible — so actually walking in and getting to play was a real surprise. I hadn’t touched a bass in days at that point, and I played like a fish back in water.

There are other jazz spots in Taipei — places like Brown Sugar and Blue Note — but Mr. Kuwabara and some of the expats at the bar told me SWING is probably the only one doing open sessions.

There’s something about playing the same tunes you always play — Blues, Autumn Leaves — but in a foreign country that makes it feel completely different. The energy was high. And everyone was warm and funny.

The owner Mr. Kuwabara is on the right. Plenty of listeners in the house, too. If you’re ever in Taipei and want to play jazz, Jazz Spot SWING is the place.

Venue Info (as of 2015)

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This is Part 2 of the Niigata-Toyama Tour Report. After a car accident on an icy road, the first show had still gone well. Now it was time to head to Toyama.

January 18 — A Day in Niigata

The morning after the accident, I went to a neurosurgeon to rule out whiplash. The MRI came back clear, which was a huge relief.

Okay — I survived, the show went fine, and tomorrow I’ll do it again. Let’s go.

Then I turned on the TV and caught the news: a major snowstorm had hit Tokyo, and severe weather was sweeping across Japan. Snow warnings in Niigata and Toyama, and a strong wind and wave warning around Kashiwazaki — the coastal city I was in.

Even worse: the train line between Kashiwazaki and Joetsu-Myoko, the route I needed to reach Toyama, had already announced it would be suspended the next day.

Seriously? There’s more? I can’t get to Toyama?

Not much I could do about it, so I spent the day practicing instead.

The windows started rattling with the sound of the wind.

I sat with theory books, bow etudes, score analysis, and some lesson prep materials for about four hours.

January 19 — The Toyama Show

I woke up to the howl of a raging wind, right on cue with the forecast.

And sure enough — no trains between Kashiwazaki and Joetsu-Myoko. But I had a show to play. So I got in the car and drove into the blizzard anyway, inching along the coast in near-zero visibility. It took twice as long as normal, but I made it to Joetsu-Myoko Station.

That was genuinely terrifying.

Joetsu-Myoko Station was built on the site of my grandfather’s old barbershop. The neighborhood got redeveloped, and a lot of familiar places disappeared with it — the tofu shop next door, the little grocery where I used to beg for gum. But the station itself is beautiful.

I had a bit of time before the Shinkansen, so I stopped by my grandfather’s new house nearby, said a quiet hello to the photo of my late grandmother on the shelf, and then headed for Toyama.

I hadn’t played in Toyama since the summer of 2014. And this was my first time on the Hokuriku Shinkansen. The train itself was stunning — but what really amazed me was this:

My contrabass fit in the seat next to me.

On the Joetsu Shinkansen, there’s never room for a bass in the car — you’re stuck in the vestibule no matter what. But here, there was enough space right at the seat. I was overjoyed.

Mobile office: up and running. Freelancers can work anywhere on earth.

Arriving in Toyama

Joetsu-Myoko to Toyama: just 40 minutes. What used to take two hours by limited express felt like a miracle.

That evening’s show was a private event at a venue in Toyama City. My collaborator was Yui Iino, one of Toyama’s premier jazz pianists. We’d first met in New York in 2012 — she was part of a small jazz study group I was involved in, where a group of Japanese players who’d met at sessions would gather late at night each week at a studio in Astoria, Queens. Yui was one of the founding members. We’d last performed together back in 2014.

That New York circle eventually produced this:

“The World Tribe” — my first album as a leader. Yui’s musical sensibility is woven into it somewhere.

Toyama was under serious snow.

We’d arranged to meet at Inaricho Station, but when Yui arrived, we quickly discovered her car couldn’t fit the contrabass.

“Should we get a taxi?”

“Taxis are sedans — folding the back seat won’t work either.”

So we made an emergency call to a friend with a bigger vehicle. Thirty minutes waiting at a nearby department store, and our ride finally arrived.

Usually I have wheels attached to the bottom of my bass case and can roll it around. But there was too much snow to move on foot. One more thing I needed help with.

I kept getting saved by people on this whole trip. Traveling with an upright bass is genuinely a team effort.

We made it to the venue through the blizzard.

I wanted a beer — badly — but we had no setlist yet, so straight into rehearsal.

The Show — and “Beyond the Night Sky”

We built a setlist of jazz standards and also decided to throw in something from the pop world. We landed on a SMAP song, one of Japan’s most beloved pop groups.

The setlist (approximate order), decided in an hour of rehearsal between the two of us:

• Take the A Train
• St. Thomas
• Fly Me to the Moon
• Spain
• Anthropology
• Yozora no Mukō (SMAP)

Transposing “Yozora no Mukō” to B♭ made the harmony surprisingly idiomatic for jazz. The verse has a clear ii-V-I, which is one of the most jazz-friendly progressions there is.

Here’s how the show looked:

Playing with someone you know well at that level — it’s its own kind of joy. The audience seemed to feel it too.

After the show, one of the guests came up and asked:

“What are you thinking about during a performance?”

I answered by drawing this:

“There are two places where I’m present at once — here (①) I’m listening to the audience’s energy, and here (②) I’m listening to the pianist. My job is to stay tuned in to both, so I can respond instantly to whatever the room needs.”

That night we stayed at a friend’s sharehouse in the city. We ended up talking with the locals until around 3 in the morning.

I cracked the window open before sleep. Cold winter air came in. The night felt very quiet after everything that had happened.

That’s the end of the tour report.

Postscript: This trip reminded me again that music isn’t something you make alone. So many people helped us through. I’m grateful every day that I get to play and teach — and I want to keep at it.

---

Editorial Note

The bridge on my bass had shifted slightly, so I straightened it. Cold weather takes a toll on the instrument too.

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On Sunday, November 27, 2016, we held the very first Walking Bass Showcase.

The 1st Walking Bass Showcase

The Walking Bass Showcase is a student recital event open to everyone taking lessons with me.

I had been planning it since summer, and the day had finally come.

Here’s how the whole day went.

10:00 AM — Setup and Departure

At 10 in the morning, my student M came over to help haul gear.

It was a rare, perfectly clear day. So naturally:

Cheers. Asahi and Jagarico in front of the FamilyMart at 10 in the morning.

We used to do this kind of thing all the time back in the day.

11:00 AM — Venue Setup

For this event, we rented out a small izakaya bar called Kuromon Ichiba in Ueno exclusively for the day.

It had no music setup whatsoever, so we brought in a portable PA system, moved tables out of the way, lined up chairs, and spent a while figuring out how everything should go.

Where should the keyboard go?

How about here?

How does the volume sound?

Too quiet?

We kept going back and forth like that, trying things out as we went.

I’d always been on the player side of things, so getting a little taste of what it’s like backstage was eye-opening.

12:30 PM — Musicians Arrive

The musicians who joined us as the house rhythm section were:

Guitar — Shintaro Masuda
Drums — Yu Yamamoto

Both of them are musicians I’ve worked with for years — absolutely solid and reliable.

1:00 PM — Rehearsal Begins

Sound check started at 1:00.

We ran electric bass, guitar, and piano through a portable PA system (CLASSIC PRO PAeZ) I’d purchased from Sound House. For upright bass, we tried running a monitor feed, but the acoustic sound was so much better that we just played it without amplification.

After sound check, people went out to grab lunch and had some free time before the show.

Since all my students do individual lessons, most of them were meeting each other for the first time. I was a little worried it might feel awkward and quiet — but:

Everyone started fueling up. Far from awkward — the room was already buzzing with conversation, practically feeling like an after-party before the show even started.

I was thinking, we haven’t even played yet — but went ahead and had another drink myself.

That’s jazz for you.

2:30 PM — Showtime

I hosted and MCed the event.

We had 9 bassists plus one full band — 10 bass players in total.

The songs performed were:

• Isn’t She Lovely
• Blues Work
• Fly Me to the Moon
• I’ll Close My Eyes
• Softly as in a Morning Sunrise
• Milestones
• Autumn Leaves
• Satin Doll
• You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To
• Fly Me to the Moon
• The Days of Wine and Roses

Isn’t She Lovely

Made famous by Stevie Wonder, this one was performed as a bass duo.

M, the youngest performer at 19 years old, looked a little nervous up there.

Blues Work

Best known from Lou Donaldson’s recording, this one also went down as a bass duo.

A bluesy tune works surprisingly well as a bass duo!

Fly Me to the Moon

A jam session staple.

This performer tackled the bass melody head.

I’ll Close My Eyes

Another jam session classic.

The melody is so catchy and memorable — it’s one I used to listen to a lot when I was just starting out.

Softly as in a Morning Sunrise

A tune where that dramatic shift to the B section really stands out.

This one also featured the bass melody head!

Milestones

A modal jazz standard with the slightly tricky AABBA form.

The tempo was fast, but they pushed through to the end.

Everyone locked in.

(Though in the back, people were already drinking pretty steadily.)

Autumn Leaves

A true autumn classic.

This player had only started walking bass that summer — and made it all the way through a solo.

Satin Doll

The only woman in this group of active jazz students.

Satin Doll is catchy enough that beginners often tackle it early — but there’s a lot of depth to it once you dig in.

You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To

The Captain takes the stage. Helen Merrill’s recording is the famous one.

I have to say — the Captain was putting away drinks at an impressive rate. (laughs)

Fly Me to the Moon / The Days of Wine and Roses

The life-of-the-party crew shows up — and brings a full band.

This group also handled photography for the event. Thank you!

They’re a hardworking group — but they also drink like pros. The five of them knocked back roughly 60 drinks between them. (Estimated.)

Finale

To wrap up, the house musicians played a couple of tunes.

We played “A Child Is Born” and “Ornithology.”

After Party

We talked gear, technique, music — the kind of shop talk that gets more fun when there are a bunch of bassists all in the same room, which is a rare thing. It was a blast.

Thanks, Everyone

I went into it with a lot of nerves, but everything went smoothly without a single problem. I’m genuinely grateful.

Thanks to everyone who came out and performed!

We’ll definitely do a 2nd Showcase — so keep practicing until then. I will too.

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Students from around the world are using this to fix exactly these kinds of issues and steadily improve their jazz bass skills.

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A live show report. May 21, 2017 — a jazz gig at Bar W in Yoyogi, Tokyo.

The Lineup

I was reunited on stage with two musicians I’ve known since I first got into jazz: guitarist Tsutomu Onogi and vocalist Akiko Konno. That was about seven years prior to this show.

Tsutomu was the first person who ever hired me for a jazz gig. Akiko came to visit when I was studying in New York. Playing with both of them again after so long — I was genuinely fired up going in.

Our schedules rarely line up, so we ended up doing everything — rehearsal, run-through, final tweaks — the same day. Rehearsal started at 4:30 PM and ran practically up to showtime. It was hot. We were tired before we even started.

I don’t usually do much rehearsal before gigs these days, so the process of working things out together as a group — deciding on intros, endings, specific hits — was actually fun. We figured things out through group messaging and then settled it in the room.

The Show

First set: five tunes including “Stella by Starlight,” “Bye Bye Blackbird,” and some originals by Tsutomu. We started as a guitar-bass duo, then Akiko joined for the second half.

I was nervous at first. We hadn’t played together in years. But once we started, it came back quickly — muscle memory, the familiar way of playing together, the little cues that old collaborators pick up without talking about them.

Second set: four tunes including “I Hear a Rhapsody” and “Street Life.” A session segment was included. By this point the room was warm and I felt like I could play more freely.

After the Show

Seven years ago, I wasn’t thinking about what the music would look like seven years later. And honestly, I can’t picture what it’ll look like seven years from now — or even next year. But seeing the same people still at it, still serious about it, and being able to share a stage with them — there’s something in that I don’t have words for.

I’ve been playing live since high school. That means more than half my life has been spent doing this. I still doubt myself. I still have nights where I think I played terribly. I still get too loose after a good set.

But I want to keep caring about the people I play with and the notes I put down. That’s what I’m trying to hold onto.

Want Personalized Feedback on Your Playing?

This is exactly the kind of thing that’s hard to fix alone — and where having a teacher makes all the difference.

At Line on Bass, I offer an online lesson service where you send me a video of your playing, and I give you specific, detailed feedback — every single day if you want.

Students from around the world are using this to fix exactly these kinds of issues and steadily improve their jazz bass skills.

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On June 25, 2017, we held the 2nd Walking Bass Showcase — a student performance event where the people taking lessons with me get up and play what they’ve been working on.

Setup Begins at 10 AM

June 25th — and it was raining.

One of my students came over to help me move equipment in the morning. We hauled the upright bass by train (a standard sedan taxi can’t fit one) and I took a cab with the keyboard, electric bass, and PA rig.

Setting Up from Scratch

The venue doesn’t have its own sound setup, so we built everything from the ground up.

Having done this once before made setup faster. Rehearsal at 1 PM, doors open at 2:15.

Showtime

1. “Fly Me to the Moon”

This student takes lessons via video call, so the showcase was actually the first time we met in person. We started working together when walking bass was completely new to them, and here they were delivering “Fly Me to the Moon” cleanly from start to finish.

2. “My Romance”

The youngest performer in the lineup, and their second time at the showcase. They performed “My Romance” including a Ray Brown-influenced bass solo. Sounded great.

3. “Moon River” + “Bye Bye Blackbird” + “Don’t Know Why”

A vocalist joined for this set. Three tunes: “Bye Bye Blackbird,” “Don’t Know Why,” and “Moon River.” This student has started performing at live venues regularly — it’s all coming together.

4. “The Girl from Ipanema”

The classic Antônio Carlos Jobim tune performed in an upright bass + electric bass + drums configuration.

The harmonics in the electric bass part were beautiful — clean and crystalline.

5. “Autumn Leaves” + “Bye Bye Blackbird”

“Autumn Leaves” in a piano trio, then “Bye Bye Blackbird” in a guitar trio.

6. “But Not for Me” + “All the Things You Are”

A jazz club regular with a solid foundation in theory and ensemble playing. Both tunes were delivered with confidence — “But Not for Me” and “All the Things You Are.”

7. “Here’s That Rainy Day” + “Summertime” (Host Performance)

Closed the evening with two tunes. Guitar: Shintaro Masuda. Drums: Yu Yamamoto.

Wrap-Up and After-Party

Everything wrapped up by 5 PM. Everyone who performed did their best — first-timers came in confident, and those performing for the second time were noticeably sharper than before.

When a room full of bassists gets together for drinks after a show, you’d expect the conversation to be all about bass. Instead, somehow we ended up debating regional ramen styles from different parts of Japan.

A great day. Looking forward to the next one.

Want Personalized Feedback on Your Playing?

This is exactly the kind of thing that’s hard to fix alone — and where having a teacher makes all the difference.

At Line on Bass, I offer an online lesson service where you send me a video of your playing, and I give you specific, detailed feedback — every single day if you want.

Students from around the world are using this to fix exactly these kinds of issues and steadily improve their jazz bass skills.

Check Out the Lesson Service →

A New York pianist I’d been hearing about for years was coming to Tokyo for a tour, and somehow I ended up as the bassist for one of her Japan dates.

Playing with someone at that level isn’t something that happens every day — so let me tell you a bit about who she is.

About Kayo Hiraki

From her official profile:

Steinway Artist. Grammy Award voting member. Has been captivated by the New York jazz scene since 1988. House pianist at the legendary Greenwich Village club Arturo’s for over 24 years. Has led her own band at Blue Note New York and other prominent venues. Recently released her 6th album, Manhattan Sunset.

Blue Note New York. Grammy voting member. 24 years as a house pianist in Greenwich Village. That’s not a bio — that’s a career.

Meanwhile, my own credentials could be summarized in three words: former punk rocker.

That contrast was a little funny to sit with before the show. But regardless of where each of us came from, a performance like this — playing alongside someone with that kind of musical history — doesn’t come along often. I wanted to give it everything.

Collaborating with musicians who are operating at a high level has a way of raising your own game. The expectation level is different, the listening is sharper, and the communication happens faster. You find yourself playing things you didn’t know you could.

If you ever get the chance to perform alongside someone more experienced than you — take it.

Want Personalized Feedback on Your Playing?

This is exactly the kind of thing that’s hard to fix alone — and where having a teacher makes all the difference.

At Line on Bass, I offer an online lesson service where you send me a video of your playing, and I give you specific, detailed feedback — every single day if you want.

Students from around the world are using this to fix exactly these kinds of issues and steadily improve their jazz bass skills.

Check Out the Lesson Service →