All Night Concert 2011-2012

Here's one for people looking to get 2012 off to a sophisticated start. For the umpteenth year running, venerable jazz den Pit Inn will be staying open until 4.30am on New Year's Eve, with performances going all through the night. Sax player Kazutoki Umezu is reconvening his off-kilter D.U.B band earlier in the evening, while the piano-led Hiroshi Minami Trio gets the countdown slot (joined by saxman par excellence Naruyoshi Kikuchi). Yoshihide Otomo's rocking quartet Emergency! should ensure that nobody doses off in the wee hours of the morning, before the Fumio Itabashi Group brings things to a rousing close. Unusually for a Pit Inn gig, you can also leave and come back during the course of the night – ideal if you get the sudden urge to visit a shrine at 2am for a spot of hatsumode.