| Melissa Aldana
11 Mar Ron E. Beck 29 Apr Pascal Bokar 07 Oct Shanna Carlson 18 Mar Sara Caswell 25 Mar Carlos D'l Puerto 22 Jul Kellye Gray 15 Jul David Hart 04 Nov Bruce Jenkins 09 Dec Ellen Johnson 17 Jun Steffen Kuehn 02 Dec | Paul McCandless
08 Jul Allison Miller 15 Apr Melissa Morgan 29 Jul Linda Oh 05 Aug Dafnis Prieto 24 Jun Jim Pugh 30 Sep Fred Randolph 05 Feb Harvie S 03 Jun Jake Shapiro 10 Jun Marcus Shelby 15 Jan Bria Skonberg 04 Mar | Paul Smith
16 Dec Mark Soskin 20 May Leslie Stoval 19 Aug John Stowell 08 Apr Toots Thielemans 02 Sep Roseanna Vitro 26 Feb Paul VornHagen 14 Oct Don Was 12 Aug Danielle Wertz 27 May Howard Wiley 28 Oct |
| Roberto Fonseca (2020) | |
|---|---|
| Pianist-composer Roberto Fonseca was born in Havana, Cuba, where he still lives.
From birth, he was surrounded by music: his father, also Roberto, is a drummer; his mother, Mercedes, is a professional singer; and his two older half-brothers from his mother's marriage to Chucho Valdéz are drummer Emilio pianist Chiquito Valdéz. Roberto earned his master's degree in composition at Cuba’s Instituto Superior de Arte. In 1999 his first album “En el Comienzo” was awarded Cuba's “Best Jazz Album of the Year”. Roberto toured the world with the Buena Vista Social Club in 2001, cementing friendship and mentorships with the likes of Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo. Roberto loves fusing Afro-Cuban music and rhythms, jazz and classical music. With him, it's really about collaboration—family on the bandstand: that seems to be the source of his truest inspiration. |
| Pick | Artist | Album | Song | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| # 1 | Salif Keita | Soro | Wamba | Mango |
| # 2 | Elis Regina and Antonio Carlos Jobim | Elis and Tom | Waters of March | Verve |
| # 3 | Stevie Wonder | Talking Book | Superstition | Motown |
| # 4 | Arsenio Rodriguez | El Sentimiento de Arsenio Rodriguez | No Me Llores | RCA |
| # 5 | Cannoball Adderley | Presenting Cannonball | Autumn Leaves | Blue Note |
| # 6 | Led Zeppelin | Led Zeppelin IV | Stairway to Heaven | Atlantic |
| # 7 | Roberto Fonseca | Yesun | Mambo pa la Niña | Wagram |
| Book | Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "El Principito" | |||
| Luxury Item | "Rice and beans, Cuban-style, with fried bananas." | |||