Great jazz, in styles ranging from traditional swing to eclectic free jazz, can be heard nightly in Tokyo. Two of the most popular and listenable acts are the cool-jazz guitarist Sadanori Nakamure and the hard-bop group Alto Nakayoshi Koyoshi. Though both play styles of jazz that originated in the '50s, their enthusiasm and technique make their gigs glisten with a thriving jazz spirit.

Sadanori Nakamure at Sometime

These two groups play regularly around town at different venues but really show their skills during weekday gigs at the relaxed, intimate jazz clubs Sometime in Kichijoji and Someday in Kagurazaka, whose nightly live shows consistently pull in a good crowd of jazz fanatics and those just looking for a good time.

Equally conversant with both sides of the crowd, I settled in with a couple of Stoli on the rocks for two nights in a row of great, blow-away-the-rainy-season jazz, first at Nakamure's three-set gig at Sometime last Sunday and then for Alto Nakayoshi Koyoshi's lengthy two sets at Someday the following Monday.

If Sadanori Nakamure has a traditional, mature sound, he has a right to it -- he's been listening and playing jazz for 55 years.

"I never heard jazz during the war, of course, but since I first heard it, in 1945, I've been crazy for it," he said between sets.

Nakamure plays hollow-body guitar with a buoyant, warm tone that has neither too much vibrato nor too little. He has an obvious love of ballads and plays them in a cool, relaxed style that builds on his deft, precise chording and smooth, flowing melody lines.

Nakamure honed his style by listening to records and going to New York in the postwar heyday of jazz clubs. When asked about influential guitar players, he held up his hands in deep respect and said, "Jim Hall is like a god. Oh, and you know Tal Farlow, too."

Though these influences are obvious, Nakamure has captured what only years of playing can provide: a very individual sound. Working well within the traditional jazz songbook on Sunday, Nakamure was well supported by bassist Satoshi Kosugi on bass and Yoshihito Etoh on drums, both of whom play on Nakamure's "Remembrance," released this year on the Zest label.

The fullness of Kosugi's bass lines kept the lower end thick and round, while the accents from Etoh's high-hat kept up a constant pulse that perfectly meshed with the middle register of Nakamure's innovative guitar lines and chording.

All three cohere neatly into a calm, lyrical style that blends clarity of tone with a confident belief in the expressive power of softness.

"We three are really a good fit," noted Nakamure, deferring to Kosugi's "good ears" and Etoh's "young style."

Added to the trio that night was the interesting sax work of Kosuke Mine. His novel statements of the melody added an important dimension, at times delicate, at times punchy, to standards such as "Come Rain or Come Shine," "Body and Soul" and "All the Things You Are."

The quartet just kept getting better and better as the three sets progressed. Their take on "In a Sentimental Mood" lifted the delicate melody lightly up to its hopeful, breathless high, then plunged it back down to a bluesy low. When the last plaintive refrain of "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" ended, the crowd asked for more.

Nakamure plays regularly at Sometime in Kichijoji, (0422) 21-6336. Information about his recordings and live schedule is posted (in Japanese) at: www.aoki2.com/zest/index.html

Alto Nakayoshi Koyoshi lays claim to being one of the most high-energy jazz combos in Tokyo with very good reason. Few other groups in town make so many toes tap and heads shake from the intensity of hard-driving flights of bop-oriented jazz.

Alto Nakayoshi Koyoshi at Someday

Despite its cutish name, which comes from having two lead alto saxes as well as the title of a Japanese children's song meaning roughly "we all get along together," Alto Nakayoshi Koyoshi plays anything but cute.

Formed about five years ago, the band shows in its playing a dedication to the Blue Note sound from the late '50s and early '60s. But rather than thinking of themselves as entertainers, they reduce onstage chit-chat to a minimum and get tucked right into delivering high-flying melody lines and reassembling them into fresh improvisatory workouts.

Their aerodynamic design is built around three of the best horn players in Tokyo -- Seiji Tada and Joh Yamada, both on alto sax, along with trumpeter Yoshiro Okazaki -- and the fastest-fingered pianist in town, Masaaki Imaizumi. The bass and drum chairs often change and were filled last Monday night by the refreshing 22-year-old Shinnosuke Takahashi on drums and the gravity-centering Kiyoshi Hamamure on bass.

On well-chosen gems from the jazz archives by Hank Mobley, Dave Brubeck and Kenny Barron, the quality and quantity of their improvising was consistently astonishing for two long sets of intense playing. Okazaki pulled down the most elegant solo of the night on a slow ballad, taking time to slide notes up or down to the lovely, skin-chilling point of greatest ripeness.

On more upbeat numbers, Yamada added an exploratory, biting edge to his solos, but always resolved things into attentive, well-composed endings.

Tada is also a consummate improviser. His sustained melodic trajectories worked over phrases and melodic ideas with unceasing energy and resourcefulness, especially on an untitled piece written by Bobby Watson.

Imaizumi's supportive chording added dynamic tension to every tune. His rapid-fire solos show a Bud Powell-like facility to follow the thread of an idea easily at even the fastest tempos.

Particularly electrifying were the back and forth exchanges between the horn players and the lively drumming of Takahashi. The seasoned horn players pulled out tricky lines, but Takahashi answered them with clever rhythmic lines that turned into challenging questions of his own. Even Tada had to stop at one point and turn back to ask, "Are you really only 22?"