One of the prerogatives of the Mike Drop is it can be whatever strikes me that day.  Today, I want to feature a beautiful bit of music from a friend of mine. So Jason Lewis is a wonderful drummer and a criminally under-acclaimed musician, even though he is beloved in the Bay.  Under-acclaimed due to his genuine lack of interest in being involved in any part of the hype game, even to the point of having no Facebook, Instagram or even a dusty old Myspace as far as I know.  Truly humble and also funny and insightful. Anyway, Jason sent me this lovely and heartfelt piece he wrote many years ago, and has gotten around to recording this past few months, a piece entitled Gone – but not forgotten, an elegy for some of our cherished friends and colleagues in jazz, including I am sure, the redoubtable and much missed bassist John Shifflett, Jason’s partner in crime on so many projects, including 3 CDs co-led by John Stowell and me., as well as my Billy Collins Project, among a number of other excellent playing situations, stretching back 25 years  Jason is the essence of musicality, always playing the right thing for the right situation… and on this video, he plays drums, bass and piano, a video that also has his brother  on flugelhorn and his son on cello – almost like it runs in the family.  And he is also a mensch and fellow Warriors fanatic, so there is that.   I asked Jason if I could Mike Drop his piece, and he agreed.  Please enjoy Gone, written and performed by Jason and his family.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWUObHIOVUw&feature=youtu.be