"There is tons of dead time where you're sitting on your ass and the business stinks and you're pissed. The record business is uncertain. Everyone's getting fired, you don't know when your next tour is going to be, you're between labels and a year goes by, there's all that."

When I saw him perform in person, he was in his mid-90s, and his voice was a frail, delicate husk of the booming, powerful instrument it had been in decades past. But the technique, the style, remained virtually unchanged. It was like witnessing a music history lesson in the flesh.

Most of these interpretations do the material proud, though some may leave you wanting to, well, hide under the covers. Making up your own lists and sharing with friends might make for a more soul-satisfying parlor game than, say, Geography.

Come January 31, 2012, Jeff Lorber Fusion's Galaxy album will hit the streets. Here's a taste of the album, a track titled "Horace," that's an exclusive download for readers of The Huffington Post.

Success in the music business requires a certain self-promotional flair. But Don Kirshner, who died at 76 of heart failure on Martin Luther King Day, ...

No, you didn't actually ask, but let me tell you anyway, okay? Personally, I'm officially tired of the outdated double standard that is our military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

Written by the great Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart for the 1937 musical Babes In Arms, "My Funny Valentine" is one of those genuinely timeless standards that put the Great in the Great American Songbook.

Our New Year's edition brings you U2, Oscar Peterson, Polyphonic Spree, Bobby Darin, The Staple Singers, and Zuckerman's Chamber Players.