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Ace Ono, aka Alison Carney, took the main stage at Art All Night DC this past Saturday. And when I say she “took the stage” I mean she took the stage. I mean she owned that stage. She adorned the stage as well as her outfit in flowers, she tossed more flowers and shared more with the members of her band. Why? “Because we need flowers right now…” or words to that effect (I was a little busy at the time). She let it be known that she was going to do things her way regardless of what people might have expected. From her first step she took on it to the last beautiful note she sung, she declared to all watching that this was her stage. And those of us fortunate enough to be in the audience, were glad that it was.
While Ace Ono’s style is difficult to peg down, other than to say it is uniquely Ace Ono, her voice is not. Her voice is remarkable. With a dynamic range so broad it is almost scary, a lush round tone when she wants and an airy mesmerizing head voice when she pleases, an ability to glide in and out of her falsetto effortlessly and seamlessly, and a toolbox filled with spot-on runs and adornments, she has taken an astonishing gift and trained and crafted it to an instrument beyond compare. And when combined with her overall artistry, evolving vision and her unique and fluid style, Ace Ono is, herself, incomparable.
Reflecting on her performance at Art All Night and the road that preceded it, Ace Ono posted: “NOW, give me every stage–big, little, local, and worldwide–that I should’ve ALREADY been on… ALL OF IT. i want ALL the STAGES.” I am sure that she will own each and every one.
Here is how I saw it…
