An evening in Yokohama

Sunday afternoon it was down to Yokohama -- or more specifically the redeveloped port area for the Afrontier club event at Motion Blue in the Akarenga Soko (Red Brick Warehouse).

The main attraction of the event for me was to see Native live, playing songs from their recent new album. The event started at 5p.m., and we arrived at about 5.10 thinking a warm-up DJ would be playing, but in fact Native were already on stage, playing to a half empty club. They were really good however, and the keen jazz dancers in the crowd were impressive to watch too, and it was disappointing that they only played a 50 minute set.

After that the Afrontier DJs were on followed by live performances from Maki Mannami and the Higher Self Ensemble Orchestra and then Isao Osada Club Jazz Session, who were OK but didn't really do it for me. I enjoy music which blends different influences to create a new sound, but sometimes, if you put too many ingredients into the pot, you end up with a stew which is less than the sum of its individual parts.