When I was asked to compile a topical piece on the best songs about isolation, solitude and quarantine, I took it to the people, and the people responded in spades.

As of today, the most dangerous danger of these extraordinary times is itself born in intimacy and connection, and the thing we are called to sacrifice is the very thing we first turn to in times of crisis: each other, love, communion, hugs, the good free stuff. When I make my list of what groups of people I most feel for during the pandemic, rating a solid third or fourth (below those most susceptible to disease and financial devastation) are those in love.

Friday, Mar. 20: Like Pat Metheny before him, Kurt Rosenwinkel was plucked out of Berklee by the vibraphonist Gary Burton, who, along with Miles, is one of jazz’s most prescient vampires of young talent. A modern jazz guitarist cannot have a more propitious beginning than Burton’s endorsement and imprimatur, and Rosenwinkel, now about to enter the third decade of his prolific and serious career, has borne the tradition and the burden with diligence and dignity.