Jazz in the 1950s and 1960s often went hand in hand with smoking, and cigarettes make for an intriguing subplot to "Jim Marshall/Jazz." There's a 1966 photo of someone lighting a cigarette for Louis Armstrong, with the flame from the man's lighter resembling a small light bulb. Another shot has Harry James lighting a cigarette for Davis as they stood backstage at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1963. The two best of all are a close-up featuring Monk's left hand (clearly distinguished by a ring with diamonds that spell his last name) holding a burning cigarette over a piano's keys and a wonderfully framed image of Ray Charles sideman Marcus Belgrave, the long ash of his cigarette dangling inches above his trumpet as he plays.

Hancock: If you listen to each tune, it doesn't sound like what you're used to hearing from these artists. Christina sounds much freer than I've heard her on her other albums. I knew she could sing. I felt she had never been given the opportunity to deliver the way she delivers on this record. And Paul Simon, you ever heard him do a track like (``I Do It For Your Love'')? And that's his own song. And you have John Mayer with a different twist. When Joss Stone and Jonny Lang sing (U2's) `When Love Comes to Town,' it starts off country blues, goes blues rock, and then this funky layer happens before I play a jazz solo on the end of it. Every track has a different twist.

[...]

Herald: You know some people will accuse you of being a sellout for making a CD like this, right?

Hancock: It's not my problem. People who have narrow tastes, they can like what they like. But I have this opportunity to be broad. The strongest I can be is to be honest to myself.

Herald: ``Possibilities'' is being sold in Starbucks as well as retail stores. Does this mean you play Starbucks music?

Hancock: (Laughs) I was delighted to be involved with Starbucks. Everybody goes to Starbucks. Even people my age.

Creators at Carnegie
Brad Mehldau with Renee Fleming

In Concert at Zankel Hall

"Lithium" (Cobain)

"Things Behind the Sun" (Drake)

"River Man" (Drake)

WORLD PREMIERE: Songs from The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God (Mehldau/Words by Rainer Maria Rilke)

Excerpts:

III. "I Love the Dark Hours of My Being" (Mehldau/Words by Rilke)

IV. "I Love You, Gentlest of Ways" (Mehldau/Words by Rilke)

VII. "Extinguish My Eyes, I'll Go on Seeing You" (Mehldau/Words by Rilke)


Break: Intro (Mehldau) from the album Live in Tokyo


In Concert at Zankel Hall

"How Long Has This Been Going On?" (Gershwin)

"But Beautiful" (Burke/Van Heusen)