| Chris Amberger
23 Jun Gerald Beckett 01 Sep Buzz Brooks 28 Apr Jarrett Cherner 16 Jun Kev Choice 30 Jun Anat Cohen 28 Jul Natalie Cressman 10 Feb Matt Eakle 15 Dec Hershey Felder 07 Apr Mitchell Feldman 18 Aug | Mike Galisatus
03 Nov Aaron Germain 06 Jan Robin Gregory 17 Feb Tamir Hendelman 13 Oct Kasey Knudsen 17 Mar Matthew Montfort 26 May Dan Montgomery 06 Oct Andrea Motis 21 Jul Ray Obiedo 10 Mar Jayn Pettingill 17 Nov | John Pizzarelli
25 Aug Sandi Poindexter 24 Mar Don Randi 20 Oct David Rogers 24 Feb Eric Whittington 29 Sep George Winston 04 Aug Lizz Wright 09 Jun Jason Yeager 02 Jun |
| 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! | |||