| Paul Anastasio
25 Sep Macy Blackman 19 Jun George Cole 21 Aug Alex Condé 06 Mar Kit Eakle 04 Sep Phillip Greenlief 13 Feb Noah Griffin 06 Nov Tammy Hall 27 Feb Alan Hall 22 May | Christian Howes
27 Mar Kymberly Jackson 03 Apr Julie Kelly 20 Feb Maya Kronfeld and Valerie Troutt 29 May Jennifer Lee 17 Apr Steven Lugerner 24 Jul Steve McQuarry 05 Jun Jacqui Naylor 13 Nov Dave Newhouse 14 Aug | Zack Rogow
24 Apr Holli Ross 17 Jul Ellen Seeling 02 Oct Richard Seidel 09 Oct Edward Simon 31 Jul Tessa Souter 23 Oct Steve Turré 07 Aug Donna Viscuso 20 Nov Patrick Wolff 16 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! | |||