A Night at Tago Jazz Café in Cubao

(SPOT.ph) Tago Jazz Café is one of Cubao’s best-kept secrets—not that it wants to be a secret. That’s the farthest thing owner Nelson Gonzales wants for the local jazz scene.

What we mean is that the establishment is located in the western end of Main Avenue but there is no signage to indicate otherwise. Its exterior is unassuming with a residential facade—we almost got lost if not for the warm ambient lights that invited us inside. Going past the portiere, we were ushered in by the waitress to the beat seats in the house. The time was 8 p.m., and Tago Jazz Café had just opened.

We enter a two-story complex with concrete walls. Warm wooden panels add a touch of rustic charm in contrast to the industrial feel of the place. Displayed on the wall are several paintings and noir pictures of jazz players who have come before them. 

Most striking about the place is how intimate it feels. You are expected to sit next to strangers. Tables are arranged in such a way that no seat is too far from the small, elevated stage at the front. The view is no less exciting from the second floor. It’s here where the magic happens. Tonight, Tago Jazz Collective is set to perform standard and modern jazz, which features Gonzales on the drums.

The chatter of people fills the place before the night’s performance begins. Behind us, a European couple. Next to them are old friends having a reunion. There are best friends in the corner—they get their talks in before the show. It’s a full house tonight.

At half-past nine, Tago Jazz Collective takes the stage with swing rhythms. The music is loud but not overwhelming. Most of all, it refuses to become mere background music.

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Welcome to Tago Jazz Café

Setting the stage

Gonzales has been running Tago Jazz Café since 2011. There is a strong sense of community here, a shared understanding that what we’re experiencing is special. He tells us that it was his late grandmother’s house before he had it converted into the intimate gathering place it is today. There’s no other reason why Tago Jazz Café is situated in Cubao other than he lives here. 

“We started really small, in a really, really old house,” Gonzales says, adding that they could only accommodate 15 to 20 people at that time. “From there, we were able to build a jazz community in the Philippines. That became the mission of Tago Jazz—to provide a space para gumaling ‘yung talents natin and at the same time, para ma-discover rin that there’s this kind of art form.”

But why Tago, meaning “hidden” in Filipino?

“It’s in the middle of nowhere, far from everything,” Gonzales explains. “The general idea was may ganitong venue na hindi mo akalain.” In a way, the name also reflects its initial status as a hidden sanctuary for jazz in a city where the genre has yet to find a strong foothold.

Before the pandemic hit, Tago Jazz Café struggled to establish a presence in the community. The enforced quiet of the lockdowns became an unexpected opportunity for Gonzales to reimagine the space, an effort that ultimately positioned the café for greater success in the post-pandemic landscape.

“After the pandemic, a lot of people wanted to go out and discover new things. Siguro part of it is jazz,” Gonzales says.

The jazz is the soul of the establishment. On any given night, Tago Jazz Café plays host to a variety of talents—from seasoned veterans of the genre to a new generation eager to perform on stage. Because it is only open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, the whole place is easily packed. That’s why getting a reservation is a must.

“There’s no specific set of people we are catering to. The music is for everyone,” Gonzales says. The same goes for the players invited on stage each night: “Basta you can play within the context of jazz.”

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Notes on nourishment

An evening at Tago Jazz Café will cost P250 per person for entrance, where proceeds will go to the performer of the night. You'll have to pay separately for food and drinks.

Gonzales is as hands on as you can get. He preps the place before it opens its doors at 8 p.m. If not playing on stage, he spends most of his time in the kitchen, cooking and cleaning with the staff until Tago Jazz closes for the night at 2 a.m.

Contrary to what one would expect, there are no brewed coffees or handcrafted cocktails at Tago Jazz Café.

The establishment sidesteps the typical bar offerings in favor of a straightforward selection of beer, wine, and bottled spirits, alongside instant coffee. The reason for this being that they commit to the music over the menu. Tago Jazz Café is first and foremost a local jazz venue. The food and drink are only there to supplement—not compete with—the experience.

Its best-sellers include the Take Five (sisig, P350), Tutti (dynamite, P320), Reharm (grilled liempo, P550), Quartals (beef meatballs, P580), and Nardis (grilled shrimp, P580). All are playfully named after classic jazz tunes for good measure.

We got the Wine and Dine set for P2,000, which consists of a bottle of wine and a main dish of our choice, but ended up ordering a lot more that night: Take Five, Reharm, and Nardis along with a bottle of Bistro Rose. Our winner of the night was easily the Take Five with its crispy pork belly as the base for the sisig.

Nourishments comes in all forms. For Gonzales, it's all about feeding the soul with music, where part of his goal is to revive what jazz once was in the 70s and 80s. Beyond Tago, he partners with local government units to put up educational workshops on music to less fortunate children. 

“I treat every night as super special. The idea is to be able to appreciate the honesty in the moment of the music. Nothing more, nothing less,” Gonzales says. A new night is another chance to introduce (or reintroduce) jazz to a whole new set of people. It’s a future that he just not just dreaming of but actively building—one night, one performance, one workshop at a time.

And for those of us who are lucky enough to find ourselves swept up in its rhythms, Tago Jazz Café is a reminder that the most extraordinary experiences are found in the most unexpected places. We’ll just have to look for them.

Tago Jazz Café is at 14 Main Avenue, Cubao, Quezon City. For more information, visit its Facebook page.