Native & Shima and Shikou Duo live at Tower Records Shinjuku

Friday night saw me hot footing down to Tower Records in Shinjuku after work to catch a free in-store gig. First on were Shima & Shikou Duo, a trumpet and piano combo playing jazz-influenced tunes. They opened with their version of Dizzy Gillespie's 'Night in Tunisia' , and played a couple of other selections from their album 'Road To The Deep North', which were very enjoyable.

After a very short break it was time for Native to take the stage and play three tracks to promote their new album. Frontman Tomoyoshi Nakamura got to display his talents on flute, alto and soprano sax over the course of the short set. They started with 'Mirage' and also played 'The Edge of Daylight' before closing with the title track. A great little gig, especially since it was free, and I'm certainly looking forward to the album release party gig in March.