The playlist for tonight:

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1) Joe Pass, from his masterwork Virtuoso, absolutely shredding the standard tune Have You Met Miss Jones. One of the most amazing solo guitar performances ever recorded. Swing to the nth power.

2) A magnificent, pristine recording of the classic hymn Panis Angelicus, from Beth Nielsen Chapman’s Hymns.

3) Acoustic guitar master Don Ross, with the title track from his album Robot Monster.

4) From The Dirty South, Drive-By Truckers with a great example of their new breed of southern rock, Sands of Iwo Jima. “He believed in God and country, things was just that way…”

5) Tom Waits’ Mule Variations (in my opinion, one of the all-time jungle island discs) contains this tale of a … different sort of cookout, Filipino Box Spring Hog.

6) MC 900 Ft. Jesus (aka Mark Griffen): another overlooked genius, sort of rap, sort of hiphop, sort of jazz, but really something else, with his own musical intelligence and very dark sense of humor. From the album One Step Ahead of the Spider, But If You Go.

7) The title track from Crowded House’s best album, Together Alone.

8) The late, great giant with the angel’s voice, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, from Facing Future: Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World.