For Steve Himmelstein, a jazz performance senior, the connection between jazz and sushi is simple.
"Both are an acquired taste," he said, while perched on a barstool at Sushi 101, 920 E. University Drive.
Then, he paused for a moment and added another example in the same vein of thought: Jazz is like a dark beer.
"When you first try the beer, you don't like it," Himmelstein said. "Then you drink it again and it grows on you and you start to crave it."
Himmelstein and a small group of musicians, some of them students at ASU, perform upbeat, improvisational jazz Thursday evenings at Sushi 101.
Since the musicians began playing there in September, more people are craving it.
Thursday-night sales at the Japanese restaurant have risen by 5 percent to 20 percent, said Yumi Moon, co-owner of Sushi 101.
Moon said that while she does not have exact numbers on the increase in revenue, she often receives calls asking about Thursday's live show.
It's partially because of the location, she said.
"Nobody [in the Valley] has jazz -- live music -- at a sushi restaurant," said Moon, who is from California. "This is Arizona. It's different from California, where everywhere you go, there's jazz."
Ray Thiry, a music education junior who has been going to the jazz show since September, said he has noticed an increase in the number of people coming for California rolls and Coltrane.
The reason for that, he said, is the uniqueness of the jazz at Sushi 101.
Each week, different people make up the band, which adds a different, unconventional flavor to the music.
And, he added, the sushi is beginning to grow on him.
"I like jazz, and I just kind of started to like sushi," he said.
Reach the reporter at ilan.brat@asu.edu.
