There is more of the history of jazz and 20thcentury music in this record than in any educational anthology. In Milan, where he recorded the album with two old friends, Reid and Heath, Flanagan recounts his journey through jazz with joy and melancholy. And between a tribute to Thad Jones and one to Cole Porter, he seems to ask his muses (Tatum, Monk, Jones): is there a place for me? We say yes.

This music, a re-reading and rethinking of postbop language, is perhaps his last testimony away from the United States: a concert deliberately conceived and realized, a single date outside any tour, which stands as a remembrance of an artist capable of distilling precious and deeply human poetry to the very end. Unforgettable, indeed.