Just to mention a brilliant,fairly new Jazz Pianist.

The Japanese young man named Makoto Ozone.

I first heard him on a casset tape about 2 years ago and he was playing Opus Half. I was really excited about such a bouncy, swinging, driving beat and tempo. I then found a Video tape of a concert he made with the Gary Burton small band playing Benny Goodman styles.

I was really thrilled with his style which is full of energy literally. He is a powerful yet unique to him style, that really gets to my swinging senses.

I have now found a duo recording on DVD that he and Garry Burton (Vibes) have made. Lovers of classical and jazz may like this, recorded Live at Montreux 2002.They feature arrangements made in a unique setting of jazz style classics of composers
including: Scarlatti; Gershwin; Ravel; and much more.

Captivating and true Virtuosi music.

www.eaglerockent.com

Al, he's been around for awhile. I first heard one of his albums about 20 to 25 years ago. It was more fusion than jazz, heavy synthesizers, very reminiscient of George Duke and Jan Hammer's fusion albums of the day.

Thanks for your point Disciple. I know he has a good bit of past experience for some 20 years from what the sleeve of the DVD explains but I have only heard him for the first time about two years ago when I found a cassette which was given to me along with a lot of interesting jazz recordings.

Alan

He is indeed a fantastic pianist. I saw him play many times in the Boston area when he was a student at Berklee in the early eighties.

He's the pianist that sounds the most like Chick Corea , his biggest influence. Many people will hear Ozone on the radio and assume it's Corea.

Maybe edit the title of this thread to "Makoto Ozone - jazz pianist"


"Makoto Ozone (小曽根真; born March 25, 1961 in Kobe) is a Japanese jazz pianist.

He began playing organ at two and by seven was an improviser. He appeared on Japanese television with his father from 1968 to 1970. At twelve he switched to piano after being impressed by albums by Oscar Peterson. In 1980 he entered the Berklee College of Music and later worked with Gary Burton. He also had his debut album released in 1983 before returning to his native Japan.[/b]"

wikipedia

.

... and conversely, only 1 out of 100 pianists know about Ozone because he sounds just like Chick Corea, where 99 out of 100 pianists know about Chick Corea.

Does anyone know the names of even the best of Elvis and Michael Jackson imitators in the world?

On the matter of Chick Corea and Makoto Ozone. My tapes and DVD of Makoto do not show the similarity that much IMO. As you said, I have also seen a strong tendency to emulate the great Oscar P. If you have heard Makoto more recently he does swing and have a solid beat to rhythm more than Chick whom I feel is more technically lighter in improvisation.

Also I see him being somewhat individual in his style. I believe we are about to find a very special jazz pianist in our midst right now.

The terrible loss of Oscar will take some over-coming for followers of his style.

I look forward to seeing more of this progression with Makoto.

Alan (swingal)

Tatum > Peterson > Solal

When it comes to Tatum/Peterson style piano, Martial is the baddest of bad men around. He has been for almost 6 decades and nobody seems to notice.

In my opinion, his playing far transcends both Tatum and Peterson. Nobody sounds like Martial harmonically and rhythmically:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=j917HbKC4K0

I've fully transcribed alot of Martial's music, play it, and believe me, it's on a whole different harmonic/technical plane than Tatum and Peterson. His sound, though influenced by Tatum and Peterson, is delivered from a completely different angle that's uniquely his own.

Sadly, Although Tatum and Peterson transcriptions are everywhere in print now, readily available, I've yet to see any full piano transcriptions of Solal aside from my own!

Ozone is like a chameleon for years he sounded just like Chick Corea and took Corea's chair with Gary Burton for a while. I have not heard him lately but it seems that he is cloning Peterson's style now days, according to swingal.

I've heard him clone Peterson, but I didn't hear much Peterson beyond a few stylistic signature lines and cliches. He should stick to his past clones of Corea, Jan Hammer, and George Duke. He doesn't have the technique to sustain a Peterson illusion for more than a few bars.