Uncle Tom Jazz Kissa
Sangenjaya, Tokyo
Conducted by Rowland Reyes Martinez via Google Translate July 2025.
Jazz Inn Uncle Tom
Arts & Culture
Sangenjaya, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
Photography, Design, Interview
9:00pm. First martini ordered.
The bar is dim and warm the way only rooms with decades of music in their walls can be. I show Teppei-san a photograph — the poster Angela and I made for him in 2019. He looks at it for a moment, then looks up. He remembers us.I ask if I can interview him. He agrees.
Playing: Redman / Mehldau / McBride / Blade — Round Again
Interview
9:21pm
R: Why do you do this every day? Is it your love for music, or people — or because of your father? You could do anything, but you do this.
T: To put it simply, it's because I love jazz. But I also want other people to have the same experience I had when I first started listening to it — that feeling of discovering it and coming to love it.
R: What made you love jazz? Was there something specific — a moment, a record?
Teppei-san steps away from the conversation. He goes to the shelves, pulls a record, and places it on the turntable.
Playing: Wes Montgomery — Perfect (1974)
T: I took over the bar because I found out my father was going to die from an illness. I was 22 years old. I knew very little about jazz at the time. It was the only window I had to take it over, so I did — thinking it was okay if I failed. But after working here for a while, I grew to love jazz more and more. And I couldn't quit.
R: Were you and your father close? Do you feel like you've gotten to know him more since taking over?
T: Yes.
A quiet answer. The record plays.
R: What were your father's favourite records?
T: I hardly ever talked about jazz with my father. From what I remember, he seemed to like older jazz.
Teppei-san moves to the shelves and pulls out three records, placing them on the counter one by one: Instrumental Classics — The King Cole Trio. Hoagy Carmichael Sings Hoagy Carmichael. Ben Webster — The Big Tenor (The Complete Ben Webster on EmArcy).
He chooses one and sets the needle down.
Playing: Hoagy Carmichael Sings Hoagy Carmichael
R: Did you come into the bar when your father was working?
T: Yes. The shop and the residence were the same building. In the past, the bar was on the second floor with the living space at the back. My grandparents had a bookstore on the first floor — which is now the bar.
R: So much family history in this building.
He nods.
R: Where does the name Uncle Tom come from?
Teppei-san reaches beneath the counter and produces a book: British English, The A to Zed by Norman W. Schur — page 561.
He points to a phrase: "Uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all the rest of the gang."
R: What year did your father open the bar?
T: 1977.
R: When was your father born?
T: 1950. I am 45 this year. I am a Virgo.
R: Yes, I can see that. Virgos have a particular way of doing things.
T: (smiles)
R: Does your mother love jazz too?
T: Yes, of course. My mother can listen to anything. She likes free jazz. When I first started listening to jazz, she made me listen to free jazz — and I almost started to hate it. Now I like free jazz too.
Playing: Wes Montgomery Trio — A Dynamic New Sound
R: What record is the most precious to you?
T: Chick Corea — Return to Forever.
R: Why?
T: This is my favourite album. I first listened to it when I was 22.
He pulls another record and places it on the turntable.
Playing: Thelonious Monk — Misterioso
He says the drawings reminded him of it. The album cover was painted by Giorgio de Chirico.
R: What's your favourite coffee for pour over?
T: I don't have it now. But a few years ago I found some coffee from the Quatro Caminos farm in Panama — it was really delicious. I also found a Mandheling from Indonesia called Bintan Lima. That was really good too.
12:23am. We wrap up. The bar has been just the two of us and the music for most of the night.
R: Where can I get a good ramen at this hour?
T: Down the road. Close to here. I go often. Bushikotsumen Taizo — the Sangenchaya shop.
Teppei-san
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