Sonny Rollins - "St. Thomas"

Rest in peace to the Saxophone Colossus.

Us3 (featuring Rahsaan, Gerard Presencer) - "Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)"

Dig that Herbie Hancock sample, everybody.

Mulatu Astatke - "Tezeta (Nostalgia)"

Been playing this a lot lately.

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass - "A Taste of Honey"

I forget which one, but some radio station used this song when it was doing its "community calendar" segment. So now when I hear "A Taste of Honey," I always mentally prepare to hear what's going on at the arts and crafts fair this weekend.

Ramsey Lewis - "Wade in the Water"

Happy Friday, everybody.

Toronto 2022: 'Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues' Review

Can you encapsulate the magnitude of Louis Armstrong's life and career in a 100-minute documentary? Probably not. But I appreciated Black & Blues nonetheless. Here's my review.

Donald Byrd - "Flight Time"

I dunno, how about some jazz?

Vince Guaraldi Trio - "Cast Your Fate to the Wind"

Good luck getting all your work done before the holidays, everybody. Remember to stay chill.

I Love "Christmas Time Is Here"

Every Christmas, this Peanuts tune pops up. But I realized I didn't know much about it, so I did a deep dive into the song and its creator, Vince Guaraldi. My appreciation is here.

Norman Connors - "The Creator Has a Master Plan"

Everybody, just chill out.

Branford Marsalis Quartet - "Mo' Better Blues"

All these years, and I never knew what the signature song from the Mo' Better Blues soundtrack was called. Duh, it's "Mo' Better Blues."

Wynton Marsalis - "Where or When"

For reasons I can now no longer remember, the 1990 Wynton Marsalis album Standard Time, Vol. 3: The Resolution of Romance came into my possession freshman year of college. Ladies and gentlemen, I listened to that album so much. Played into my melancholy, romantic view of myself back then. Glad I outgrew that time in my life. But the songs are still pretty.

Duke Ellington & John Coltrane - "In a Sentimental Mood"

There's a paucity of jazz on this site. Let's fix that.

Miles Davis - "Générique"

Reminder: Burning comes to Netflix on April 29.

Kamasi Washington - "The Rhythm Changes"

As someone who's always appreciated jazz but never had the expertise to dissect it with any sort of confidence, I can only report that Kamasi Washington's acclaimed The Epic from last year radiates a kind of mastery that even my unsophisticated ears can pick up on. Mostly instrumental, and stretching out to encompass 17 tracks over almost three hours, The Epic works great in the background. And in the case of "The Rhythm Changes," which features vocals from Patrice Quinn, it can lift your mood exponentially.