In early January we played a few shows on the East Coast of the U.S. Then after a week off, we headed to Japan - our first trip there as a band - where we’ll play in jazz clubs in four cities.
The above picture is of the band, with Masa, our Japan promoter. Yes, he’s way younger than we are!
First show is in Tokyo, at Blues AlleyPete's picked up a local keyboard - spends the afternoon setting it up.Still at soundcheck, this is Erik Lawrence, our sax and flute playerJeff Siegel on drums. (this picture is from the show... a drum solo, of course, gave me time to snap it!)I also have a few moments free when Pete introduces songsor does an organ intro!Off to a great start - we're enjoying being here a lot.Clearly the gentleman in the middle got the memo about the Levin Brothers look!Taking the train is the best way to move between cities here. Fortunately we have help from some friends with our gearAnd Leonardo, our friend and booking agent, is along on the tripOur second show (well, there are two shows each night) is at the Motion Blue club, in Yokohama.Next it's on to Nagoya, where there is no shortage of taxis at the train stationA tad crowded at the venue... Jeff is somewhere in this picture...
We played two nice shows here, but with very little room to manoeuver on stage, I didn’t bring the camera on, so have no pictures from tonight’s shows.
The Osaka venue, where I did take picturesIt's the last show of our tour, but we're still changing the setlistLater, backstage, after playing, signing, and packing up. By the end of the night we'd done a pretty good job on the eels, chocolate coffee beans, Chianti, cough medicine, and takoyaki(!) Where else but here would you see all that on one table.
The tour is over so quickly. Wish there was more.
I’ll leave with a picture, from hotel bathroom back in Tokyo, showing something we can all use more of!
