In 1983, Makoto Ozone graduated from Berklee College of Music, with a degree in jazz composition and arrangement at the top of his class. In the same year, he signed the first Japan record exclusive contract with CBS in the United States, and made his worldwide debut with the album OZONE. Since then, he has been active at the forefront of jazz, performing with world-class top players such as Gary Burton, Branford Marsalis, and Paquito D'Rivera, as well as touring with his own big band "No Name Horses."

He has also been engaged in classical music in earnest and has performed concertos with major orchestras in Japan and abroad, including concertos by Bernstein, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, and Prokofiev, and has received high praise.