Jazz Mind's Young Yi

We stride along, past the hodgepodge of wing-back chairs and leather sofas, all open seating which is damn refreshing in the age of bottle-service and VIP sections. Mamma San guides me through a curtain, saying "I can't hear you out there," referring to the performance of jazz group The Deadbeats happening onstage. We are in the kitchen now, a narrow space filled with pots and pans, plates of kimchee tofu, pork and fried calamari resting on the stove. She pulls up two foot stools, opens the back door to let the air come through, and then instructs me to have a seat.

Mamma San, whose real name is Young Yi, looks like she could use a break. Tonight she has been cooking, cleaning ("You could sleep next to the toilets," she boasts,) rubbing elbows with her best customers and "looking after" her staff...all of which, she says, is part of a day's work.

"I worked my ass off," Yi says, laughing when recounting the journey that led her to open Jazz Minds nearly three years ago. "I spent all my strength--physical, emotional and spiritual-- to open this club." Yi came to America 30 years ago with $800 in her pocket. Since then, she has become a Jane of all trades, running her own restaurant, sports club and Korean bar before deciding to open a jazz club.

"I believe in Jesus, he changed my values," says Yi, placing a hand on her heart as if to emphasize where these words are coming from. "I used to be an importer of Italian clothes; my shoes cost me $700. Now," she says, pausing to lift her foot and show me her dirty red Crocs. "I wear these."

Yi explains that nightclubs which offer strictly jazz music haven't gone far here in Hawaii, a trend she hopes to buck.

"It's about the philosophy of jazz, which is freedom, love and creation," Yi says. "There are so many cultures here in Hawaii, and through jazz music we can all come together."

The club itself has become a sort of Easter Island for jazz musicians migrating from the mainland. Yi takes these transient beings under her wing, buys them clothes and supplies them with instruments, all so their craft can continue.

"I love the young generation," says Yi, a single mother with two grown sons, both of whom are in the military and have fought in Iraq. "I believe young people should have a purpose and value life."

With this kind of mentality, Yi has led many up-and-coming and established artists into her haven, and she is proud of every single one. Jazz Minds offers a fresh, modern slant on the definition of jazz music, each night highlighting a different variation on the American art form. Reggae and Latin infusions, Acid Jazz and freestyle spoken word are only a few of the routes you can see traditional jazz music take.

Yi gushes endlessly about the talent of her "magicians," her Korean tongue slightly altering the word "musician," but she creates a comparison that is not far off base. One gets the feeling that magic is in fact being conjured at Jazz Minds, that there is some indescribable and immense energy fueling the passion of both performer and customer; we are all wizards here, masters of the spirit and destiny of jazz, reveling in the mutual syncopation of our lives.

Six nights a week you can hear the music from Jazz Minds fighting the noise of downtown Honolulu traffic. The tickled keys of a grand piano, the reverberating vocal chords of a soulful singer, an undeniable bass line or jazzy drum beat; they all carry into the evening like they were made to match the Hawaiian breeze.

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