Off night?

Tonight was a strange gig.
I've got a new bass, an Ibanez ATK 5-string, and it's a bad ass axe. However, I'm not used to it, and all my chops don't work so well on it yet. I'm working on it, but I felt awkward on it tonight.
The usual jazz heads were out en force at Grappolo's tonight, and they all brought their friends. There was no one in the house who was not digging! By the end everyone was dancing hard like a dead show or something.
I got the mad props from the jazz heads even though I felt like I was playing sub-par. It was an interesting thing to feel lame yet be complemented on my playing at the same time.
It might have to do with my recent reading of "Effortless Mastery", a book about the mindset that it takes to master jazz on any particular instrument. I've been trying to let go of my ego as much as possible.
But still, I just felt like I was going through the motions tonight, very uninspired. And yet there it is, the positive feedback.
One of these days I'll understand exactly what it is I'm trying to do. But right now I'm a bit confused....