Ryo Sasaki

Datum: 00.08.2014
Venue: Jazz live at Washington Square Park, NY., August 2014
Ryo Sasaki auf Facebook
Website
Autor/Fotograf: Jörg Neuner

Musikalische Erinnerungen in Zeiten des Virus

Ryo Sasaki damals in New York

Sinzheim – I’ve got to tell you a wonderful story about the miraculous and multiple encounter with a great musician. In 2014 me and my family started our little tour through the United States with a two days visit in New York City. We surely had no recommendation to choose such a hot August day for a foot walk from the Highline in Chelsea down to Wall Street, but so we did. As far as the Greenwich Village we were exhausted, grabbed something for launch and hid in the green cool of Washington Square Park.

And here, just 5 minutes after passing by the famous Blue Note Club, we ran into a jazz quartet playing some relaxed tunes in the shadow of the trees. Right next to it was our first row bench for the lunch break.

A very laid back trumpet was accompanied by a pointed sax, a mellow upright base and some small, smooth drum set. Little kids stopped by and were fascinated by the Japanese guy with his amazing trumpet. Squirrels and pigeons around our feet and awesome jazz in our ears were putting us in some hot-summer-in-the-city-trance.

From the NYC point of view this might not have been such an outstanding event – but for us it was one of these moments when you get the feeling of being at the right place at the right time. Enchanting … Before we left I thanked him for the marvelous entertainment and bought one of his CDs – and it became a good part of our soundtrack on our way through New England to the Missississippi.

Somewhere south of Lake Michigan the CD player of our rented car quit and refused to play or throw out our treasured souvenir from the Village. Not even the car dealership could help. When we reached our final destination Minneapolis the guy from Hertz assured us to rescue the disc and deliver it to our friends where we stood for one more week. We never saw it again.

Back home I started my research on Ryo Sasaki, the jazz trumpet. I still had the cover of the CD, but there was given no address or link or anything. I checked on Spotify, myspace, insta … nothing. Youtube – nothing with any possibility to get in contact. I even checked facebook, which is not my turf at all. Ok, I marked that one lost.

Some two years later I met a nice lady from NYC and while chatting over dinner it sure came up to my sad musical episode. She smiled and said “So I happen to live in the Village. Let’s see …”

I saw about some months later: a thick envelope on my desk from NYC, NY, USA. Out fell a note saying „Guess who I ran into the other day …“, accompanied by two CDs. There it was back: Pure Imagination – the one I lost to the hungry Ford – and even another one. Boy was I happy! And guess what – it was not like with that awesome wine you brought from the holidays. Which has lost all its greatness when you drink it back home … no, it’s still one of our favorites whether around the house or anywhere abroad. Just like these days we have it coming out of our small Marshall box while we are enjoying the waterfront in Denmark.

So I should have chosen the other CD for our trip those days because of its title Two For The Road – and because that cover now came along with Ryo‘s email address on it.

On second thought I’m quite glad about that miraculous detour of the music coming back to me – to really appreciate that personal experience in times of instant availability of everything. You find him on spotify as well now, but isn‘t music based on the very personal experience?

Ryo tells on that cover also his story about a green card won in Japan, giving way to his fortune of becoming a jazz musician in the Big Apple … really touching.

So finally I made use of his email address to close the loop by sharing my little story with him … All that brings up some live concert vibes each time we listen to those CDs.

Now if you want to join him, you‘ll find him wearing a black hat and working his horn as a New York City Jazz Park Ranger in the shade of a park tree.

And on instagram@ryosasakijazz.