The marvelous, and often overlooked, Hank Jones closes out nine years here at Mark of Jazz.com … after nearly a decade of weekly posts, this will be our last. Both videos were recorded live at the Blue Note in Tokyo in 2009 and feature Hank at the piano, David Wong on bass, and Billy Kilson playing drums. At the top is Blue Minor, written in 1958 by Sonny Clark and covered by more than 21 other major artists since. Below that, Thelonious Monk’s timeless 1943 composition ‘Round Midnight, which became a jazz standard even more quickly than I can say thanks for listening all these years … and for more than 500 of you who shared my website with friends and other enthusiasts, who also understand that jazz is truly “America’s Classical Music!”

–– Fred Masey