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Jazz performances at Blue Note
By Ken Lin
Translated by Patricia Li

      Established in 1974, Taipei’s Blue Note has been nourishing jazz lovers’ souls for many years, and giving jazz bands a place to perform. It is definitely the place for jazz fans.

As you enter Blue Note, Billie Holiday’s solitary gaze welcomes you. The décor is simple… the atmosphere, relaxed. Then photographs of jazz greats grace the walls, keeping America’s good old days alive. On one wall is the owner’s personal CD collection and albums he recommends.

     There are daily jazz performances, which differ from other jazz restaurants because instrumental jazz is the focus here, with rare vocal performances, so audiences can appreciate the purity of instrumental music. When there isn’t a band playing, the owner DJ’s. A true devotee, he has always been deeply fascinated by jazz and muses, “Once you fall in love with her, you love her for a lifetime.”

While Blue Note’s main attraction is the music, it also offers beer, cocktails, juice, and coffee, as well as appetizers like Taiwanese sausage (180NT), dried fish and peanuts (170NT), German beer sausage (180NT), and fried noodles with sauce (180NT). The homemade noodles have won over many hungry hearts.

     Jazz names lend themselves to cocktails. Experience the sensation of falling in love while drinking the tangy “Fall in Love” (280NT), stirred with Chet Baker’s romantic soulful voice. Drink the grapefruit juice concoction, “Walking” (250NT), as you listen to Miles Davis’ trumpet sounds and it feels like you’re sauntering through the clouds. These cocktails have the same appeal as the music that inspired them--they naturally draw you into a mood to unwind. Moved by the band’s rhythm, you can indulge in one of life’s great pleasures: fine jazz.