| Robben Ford
17 Dec Alfredo Rodriguez 12 Nov Cleo Laine and Jacqui Dankworth 22 Oct George Wein 15 Oct Lee Brenkman 08 Oct Mark Winkler 03 Sep Doug Beavers 27 Aug Fred Frith 13 Aug Larry Grenadier 06 Aug | Victor Lin
30 Jul Charles McPherson 23 Jul Erik Jekabson 16 Jul Houston Person 02 Jul Chuck Bennett 25 Jun Rebecca Coupe Franks 28 May Loren Schoenberg 30 Apr Mike Vax 23 Apr Eddie Henderson 09 Apr | Babatunde Lea
19 Mar Dave Tidball 12 Mar Adam Shulman 05 Mar Laura Klein 26 Feb Frank Sumares 19 Feb Barbara Dane 15 Jan Lee Charlton 08 Jan |
| Omar Sosa (2019) | |
|---|---|
| Pianist, composer and bandleader Omar Sosa studied marimba and then piano at the Escuela National de Musica in his native Cuba. In 1993, he moved to Quito, Ecuador, in order to study the Afro-Ecuadoran marimba tradition of Esmeraldas.
Two years later, Omar moved here to San Francisco, where he became totally immersed in our Latin Jazz scene, thereby developing a long-standing friendship with John Santos. While here, he made a series of excellent recordings with producer Greg Landau, and also worked on some film scores. But in 1999 he was off again, this time to Barcelona, Spain. Along the way, Omar has received four Grammy and three Latin Grammy nominations. Omar's limitless musical curiosity has led to a nearly world-wide reach of collaborators: North-African percussionists, spoken-word and Hip-Hop artists, classical projects, and collaborations with Peruvian singer Susana Baca, Italian trumpeter Paolo Fresu, and Brazilian conductor and cellist Jacques Morelenbaum. Omar is both political and spiritual, and describes his music as an expression of humanism and Santería. |
| Pick | Artist | Album | Song | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| # 1 | Herbie Hancock | Inventions and Dimensions | Jack Rabbit | Blue Note |
| # 2 | Weather Report | Heavy Weather | Birdland | Columbia |
| # 3 | Thelonious Monk and Milt Jackson | Milt Jackson: Wizard of the Vibes | Evidence | Blue Note |
| # 4 | Omar Sosa | Badzimo | Nubia | not commercially available |
| # 5 | Pat Metheny | First Circle | The First Circle | ECM |
| # 6 | Andrew Hill | Black Fire | Black Fire | Blue Note |
| # 7 | Joe Zawinul and the Zawinul Syndicate | 75 | Café Andalusia | Heads Up |
| Book | "A [blank] book with no words. If you go to a desert island, your experience is a book by itself—you'd better write this book, because what you're going to live is already a book, so take advantage … and maybe other people will read your experience." | |||
| Luxury Item | Water! | |||