I went to Smalls to hear Makoto Ozone

I was so excited to go to Smalls, a club in New York's West Village, because Makoto Ozone was performing there!
I was lucky because a friend of mine had been waiting in line early in the cold for me.

As luck would have it, the staff member was someone I know from when I usually go there to sing, and he praised me, saying, 'Atsuko, did you actually buy a ticket? Good for you!' 😅

Actually, the late-night jam sessions at Smalls are surprisingly tough when it comes to fighting for the microphone.
Just when I think it's finally my turn, a singer the age of my daughter (if I had one) tells me, 'This pianist is my boyfriend, so it's my turn,' or I get beaten to it by an aggressive singer. I've really been toughened up over the last few years.

Because of all that, I always position myself near the microphone, so it's deeply moving to be able to see Mr. Ozone from that very spot.

The bassist was Yasushi Nakamura and the drummer was Clarence Penn. Apparently, both of them had a gig in Texas the day before. Penn-chan is based in LA now, but he came to New York just for this gig! What an amazing friendship!
Saxophonist Donny McCaslin is someone he's known since his Berklee days. Needless to say, the performance was white-hot and overwhelming!

It was sold out, so it was a two-set system, but I was lucky because the staff told me I could stay for the second set!
Ah, I'm so glad I stayed to participate in the session among the young folks.
I congratulated myself, thinking, 'Atsuko, I'm glad I'm a singer!'

I was lucky that the second set had a mostly different setlist too!
Mr. Ozone got a laugh during the MC by saying, 'I'm cheating by looking at the sheet music for my own songs, but Yasushi on bass doesn't look at it at all. Does he have it all memorized, or can he not read music?' Yasushi Nakamura is truly the most in-demand and amazing bassist in New York right now. Apparently, Penn-chan introduced him to Mr. Ozone. That's impressive! Yasushi said that Mr. Ozone has been his hero since he was a student and he was happy to be able to play with him, which is just wonderful!

For the last song, it seems Penn-chan was really in the groove and started at a fast tempo.
Later, Mr. Ozone said, 'Clarence, that was fast, so fast! I wondered if my fingers would keep up.'
He said, 'It was like an old man's rock!' and we all burst out laughing!

I was just listening to the performance, but I was so exhausted from holding my breath while watching such high-energy playing.
Wow, that was amazing!

But I still followed my usual routine afterward, went to sing at Mezzrow, and even came back to Smalls in the middle of the night to sing!

New York is the best for being able to experience such incredible performances up close!