In 1993, three Japanese men started to form a band in NYC. They called the band Wednesday Night Music・because they practiced on Wednesday nights. The music they played was a mix of Blues, Funk, Soul and Rock. With the addition of new members, the band became 6 pieces by 1995, occasionally playing at parties. A yearly trip to the Poconos was initiated for fun and to improve the skills of the band.

Wednesday Night Music changed their name to J STEW GROOVE・ Hiro Odaira who is the leader of the band said, our band is the same as stew cooking. A number of ingredients and stuff is dumped into the stew pot, and is mixed and united to create a better taste. It is called exactly what we are, a melting pot・ Although members are mainly Japanese, there have been opportunities to collaborate with other cultures. He was also a big fan of the saxophone player, King Curtis and liked the songs Memphis soul stew・and Instant Groove・ That gave him the inspiration for the name the band as well.

In 1997, the band started playing in front of audiences. The first great experience was when they joined the Spring Celebrated Festival at UN International School in New York on April 1, 1997. The festival was organized by the NEASTJ, Northeast Association of Secondary Teachers of Japanese. About four hundred students who were interested in Japanese culture had gathered and joined the event from 34 schools in New York State. The festival introduced various elements of Japanese culture. The band played four songs; one song used traditional Japanese drums to show traditional music. Another was an original song Shinjuku George・

In 1998, the band added jazz influences to their music. At same time, they started playing performances at local bars such as Spiral in the East Village, and The Baggot Inn in the West Village. With more opportunities to play live, keyboard and saxophone players became permanent members of the band.

J Stew Groove had a live performance at The Baggot Inn in Sept 1st, 2001. After 10 days, the events of Sept 11th・occurred. The band members decided to make a record album of the live performance even though the quality of the hand-recorded sound wasnt good enough to allow for its release. Sept 11th・affected all of our lives.・Hiro said. this record album is dedicated to the memory of life before September 11th.・