Back on the road, with love

When Japanese pianist Makoto Ozone last visited New York City, a not-so-funny thing happened. He was in the Big Apple in January 2020, planning to visit friends in advance of his next scheduled trip, an April 2020 appearance with his trio at Dizzy's Club.

“I was supposed to be there only for a few days, but I got COVID as soon as I got there. So I had to lock myself up for about 12 days. I had to cancel a gig in Germany because I couldn’t fly out,” Ozone emailed me. He couldn't return that April because his Dizzy's Club gig, and virtually all others in the jazz world, vanished thanks to the pandemic.

Shortly after his 2020 touring plans bit the dust, he started live-streaming solo piano concerts from his Tokyo home. He played every night for 53 consecutive nights. That initiative, “Welcome to Our Living Room,” drew more than thousands of viewers nightly. They included many musician friends and collaborators.

Still adventurous after all these years

Trumpeter Terumasa Hino, at age 79 a jazz dynamo and elder statesman in his native Japan, divides his time between his homeland and the U.S. He worked steadily in New York starting in the mid-1970s, playing and recording in the bands of saxophonist Jackie McLean and drummer Elvin Jones, among others.

Terumasa Hino

This hard-bop player, whose musical forays have ranged from jazz-rock fusion to the avant garde, became a snowbird four years ago. He was attracted to Southwest Florida primarily to golf in the winter and spring, returning to Japan for concert tours and club dates for about half of the year.

Hino was the special guest of the Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra for the quintet's Wednesday, January 12 All That Jazz concert at Artis-Naples' Daniels Pavilion. By his recollection, this was Hino's first performance in the U.S. as a bandleader or featured player in more than 10 years.

And what an interesting performance it was, revealing Hino's trumpet mastery, range, playfulness and enthusiasm as he found ways to interact musically with each of the quintet members. They included tenor saxophonist and artistic director Lew Del Gatto, trumpeter Dan Miller, pianist Jerry Stawski, bassist Kevin Mauldin and drummer Mike Harvey.

The thirst for live jazz performances is back

Thursday night, July 8, saw another full house at The Barrel Room at Twisted Vine Bistro in downtown Fort Myers for the Dan Miller-Lew Del Gatto Quartet. It was the band's fifth week back at the rathskeller-style room after a 15-month lull because of the pandemic.

Lew Del Gatto, Tony Vigilante

The band is top-notch, featuring trumpeter Miller, tenor saxophonist Del Gatto, bassist Brandon Robertson and drummer Tony Vigilante. On this night, they had one guest musician sit in for most of the evening: Terumasa Hino.