Gary Burton & Makoto Ozone

Gary Burton & Makoto Ozone Presented by South Florida JAZZ March 4, 2017

South Florida JAZZ, the area’s premier modern jazz organization, presents the renowned Gary Burton / Makoto Ozone on Saturday, March 4, 2017 at 8 PM. The concert takes place at the Rose & Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center on the Nova Southeastern University campus, 3100 Ray Ferrero Jr Blvd, Davie 33314. Tickets are $40 ($10 for students under age 25 with valid I.D.) and can be purchased from Ticketmaster either online via southfloridajazz.org or by calling 954-462-0222.

Vibraphonist Gary Burton  is well known to South Florida JAZZ audiences, serving as the organization’s artistic advisor, while also playing notable duo performances with  pianists Chick Corea and Makoto Ozone, as well as with his band. Gary is the most important vibraphonist of the modern era. Largely self-taught, he has been a major innovator on his instrument having mastered a much-copied four-mallet technique. His accomplishments are widely noticed with 22 nominations resulting in seven Grammy Awards. He has been voted Best Vibraphonist in innumerable trade publications. In 2016 he was awarded a Fellowship by the NEA as a Jazz Master.

Makoto Ozone (o-zo-nee) was born into a musical family in Kobe, Japan and began to play rogan at age two. At twelve, inspired by Oscar Peterson, he switched to piano. While classically trained, he strove to become a jazz pianist and met Gary Burton whenhe came to Berklee School of Muicis in Boston to study in 1980. He played a solo concert in Carnegie Hall in 1983, the samae year that he joined Gary's band. He stayed in the US until 1989, returnig to Japan where he continued  his jazz career and also hosted a TV show. In recent years, Makoto has been performing works from the classical repertoire with major orchestras to rave reviews - a very rare acceptance of a jazz musician. He remains a serious jazz player, as this concert will confirm.

In 2013, in commemoration of the  30th  anniversary of their debut together, Makoto toured with Gary in Japan for a month. They have now collaborated memorably for over 33 years.