Palace Hotel Tokyo stages quiet evenings of refined jazz
The Palace Lounge welcomes night with live performances centred around a white Steinway grand, where a pianist, cellist and drummer transform the hotel's lofty ground floor space into an intimate concert hall.
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A white Steinway grand piano sits beneath the soaring ceiling of Palace Hotel Tokyo’s Palace Lounge, its polished surface catching the warm amber glow that spills from above. Beyond the tall grid of windows, the greenery of the Imperial Palace Gardens disappears into Tokyo darkness. Inside, the pianist settles at the keys whilst the cellist and drummer take their places to either side, instruments ready.
Each evening, jazz fills this ground floor sanctuary. The performances run on the hour from eight until ten: piano solo on Sundays through Wednesdays, and a full trio on Thursdays through Saturdays. Forty minutes of refined melody that asks nothing of the guest but a moment’s quiet attention. The music drifts through the cavernous lounge where cream coloured armchairs face the performers, and cocktails rest on low tables nearby. There is no cover charge, no obligation, simply an invitation to let the day close gently.
The lounge itself has long been a destination for afternoon tea, its high ceilings and abundant natural light transforming it by day into something between a gallery and a drawing room. Night brings a different character. The large fireplace that commands one side of the space adds a second source of warmth, its flames dancing as the music rises and falls. It is the kind of evening that requires nothing: no conversation, no ambition, only the company of refined sound and the knowledge that Tokyo’s quiet night has arrived.
Imagery courtesy of Palace Hotel Tokyo (@palacehoteltokyo).