Big In Japan: Jay Thomas's Far East Connection

By Todd Matthews

For Seattle trumpet player Jay Thomas, his first introduction to the Japanese jazz scene started with nothing more than a name: Hidehiko 'Sleepy' Matsumoto. The oddly nicknamed tenor saxophonist was a popular musician during the 1950s, particularly among Americans in that part of the world. One such American was Rollo Strand -- a saxophone player and friend of Thomas's family. While in Korea, Strand would often travel to Japan and listen to Matsumoto in Tokyo clubs. In the 1960s, Strand was discussing the Japanese jazz scene with Thomas and mentioned Sleepy Matsumoto. "[I heard that Sleepy] could play very well," Thomas recalls. "I knew Japan had something going on because I was at a stage band back in the 1960s, and Toshiko Akioshi was the piano player teaching there.” At the time, I thought, 'Wow, she is great.'" Thomas didn't witness the Japanese jazz scene until 1986 -- when he traveled to Tokyo with a quartet that included guitarist Milo Peterson, drummer Craig Hoyer, and vocalist Becca Duran. The group's agent took Thomas to see Sleepy Matsumoto one evening. "He had a very good, international rhythm section," says Thomas. "He sounded like Jimmy Heath or early Coltrane. He sounded beautiful." That experience shaped Thomas's view of jazz in Japan. A decade later, he regularly began traveling to Japan. He built a solid list of contacts and friends based in and around Nagoya. He was invited to join Continued In The Underground (CUG) Jazz Orchestra -- a Japanese big band that traveled to the United States in 2001 to perform at the Earshot Jazz Festival. In spring 2004, he spent three weeks touring Japan (the sixth year in a row he made the trek). "[The Japanese] have been performing jazz for a long time," he says. "In fact, they've got quite a few generations behind them. I have found there is really this kind of subliminal jazz thing all over the place. You go into a shoe store and you hear classic jazz recordings -- and not just 'Kind of Blue.' We're talking 'A Love Supreme' and late-Coltrane." According to Thomas, many Tokyo coffee shops also serve as jazz-listening stations. "You can find some of the finest vinyl jazz records there," he adds. "They also have a lot of people into human, cultural pursuit. They seem to enjoy things like that. Their education and infrastructure is better than ours. There are so many people that can play up to a high level. It's kind of a fertile ground for jazz to flourish." Thomas's connection to the Japanese jazz scene complements an already impressive biography. He is one of the most popular jazz musicians in the Pacific Northwest, and readers of this magazine selected him Musician of the Year in 1996 and 1998. As a high school student in Seattle, he received a one-year scholarship from Down Beat magazine to study music at the Berklee College of Music. He later moved to New York City, where he spent a summer working in Machito's Afro-Cuban jazz band. In the 1970s, Thomas lived in San Francisco and performed in that area's jazz clubs. He returned to Seattle in 1979 and has built a solid career ever since. He has performed with jazz heavyweights that include Diane Schuur, Elvin Jones, Ray Brown, Bud Shank, Joe LaBarbera, Pete Christlieb, Herb Ellis, Jessica Williams, George Cables, Harold Land, and James Knapp. But it is Thomas's link to the Japanese music scene for which he is most associated. Ask area musicians and jazz fans about Thomas, and they'll likely comment, 'He's that trumpet player who tours Japan all the time.' To be sure, Thomas isn't the only American jazz musician working in Japan. However, he has established himself comfortably in that part of the world, largely on a grass-roots level. "There are several big promoters in Japan who bring Christian McBride and Cedar Walton and Ray Brown and people like that," he says. "I'm sure they do pretty well. I'm definitely not on that kind of touring level. I lucked into my situation by meeting Japanese musicians, going over there, and just playing with them." One reward for traveling to Japan is the opportunity to perform in many different venues. Thomas's journey last spring landed him at Blues Alley in Tokyo for two performances with the CUG Jazz Orchestra. "The guy who opened Blues Alley was Miles Davis," he says. "They still have a picture [from that night] in the club." On another evening, Thomas met a saxophone player who took him to a club named Sonare. "I think it may be one of the smallest clubs in the world," he says. "There's seating for twelve people. Fans pay forty bucks apiece, and I think the club is run by one person. Musicians really love to play there." Thomas also performed for a packed hall in Tokyo. A popular Japanese TV personality sang along with the band. "People really go out for entertainment," he adds. "In the U.S., people don't go out as much. It's different over there." The crowning achievement of that tour was the opportunity to perform and teach in Shanghai, China. In 2002, Thomas met a Chinese visitor at the International Association for Jazz Education conference Toronto, Canada. That visitor also happened to be friends with an ex-student Jay’s who happens to co-own Club JZ -- a jazz venue in Shanghai. At the end of the tour last spring, Thomas traveled to Shanghai for a four-night booking at the club. He also taught clinics at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. "That was kind of another happenstance situation that just fell together kind of by accident," he adds. Thomas isn't the only one benefiting from his Japan connections. Pacific Northwest audiences have also been fortunate. In 2001, he facilitated at trip to Washington State for the CUG Jazz Orchestra. The group performed at Pacific Lutheran University and the Earshot Jazz Festival. The reception from the festival crowd was overwhelmingly enthusiastic. "Jazz musicians hardly ever get standing ovations," says Thomas. "You'd have to fall down or do some kind of levitation to get a standing ovation. Or else you have to be some kind of venerable person. We did this Ornette Coleman tune at Tula's during the festival, and people were practically jumping on the table. Collectively, the band could just go through all kinds of gyrations. They certainly put out a lot of energy." Thomas is planning a return trip to Japan in November to perform with the CUG Jazz Orchestra. Despite the frequent trips to Japan, he hasn't quite mastered the language. "I probably sound like Johnny Weissmuller or something," he says, laughing. "I think if I lived there for six months or a year, I would get a lot better. The Japanese people that I hang out with, they speak some English and we keep it pretty simple." It may sound cliche, but jazz is the international language for Thomas -- an important facet of an enviable and exciting music career that spans the globe. This article originally appeared in Earshot Jazz magazine.