The greatest joy of being a collaborative and creative musician is, hands down, meeting extraordinary artists who bring such passion to their craft.

It occurred to me today to take a moment to list the names of all the artists I will be sharing a stage with in June and July alone, to take stock of where this artistic path has led me. Some of these folks I've known for thirty years, and others I'll be meeting for the first time, but all will leave a mark in some way or another.

And speaking of inspiration and legacy, I recently went to Carnegie Hall to see my daughter give a recital alongside 300 other young Suzuki-method string players. Shinichi Suzuki, who was born in 1898 and died in 1998, created a method in Japan for teaching young people Western Classical music that eventually became a worldwide standard. This is a man who lived through the horrors of World War II, including one of his brothers being killed when his family's violin-making business was bombed, and evacuating to the countryside. According to the program notes, Suzuki was an idealist who "felt that through music education, he could turn children toward greater self-realization, and into better human beings". He transformed death and destruction into melody and harmony.

And adding one more personal layer to this narrative, my daughter's grandfather, my dad, studied with the great Eto Toshiya, who was Suzuki Shinichi's very first pupil.

JUNE
Cyro Baptista
Yuniya Edi Kwon
Shanir Blumenkranz
Yuka Yamamoto
Sunny Jain
Pedrito Martinez
Suphala
Adam Rudolph
Glen Velez
Batalá
Tamangoh
Jay Rodriguez
Rhiannon Giddens
Mazz Swift
Mehdi Nassouli
Francesco Turrisi
Niwel Tsumbu
Sandeep Das
Maeve Gilchrist
Shawn Conley
Alicia Hall Moran
Kweku Sumbry
Chris Dingman

JULY
Nasheet Waits
Fay Victor
Jen Shyu
Layale Chaker
LA Philharmonic
Beck
Jackson Brown
Ami Dang
Britt Daniel
Karen Elson
China Forbes
Jim James
Jenny Lewis
Mark Mothersbaugh
Bill Murray
Karen O
Rogê
Jean-Yves Thibaudet
Dana Lyn
La Folia Global