Jimmy Giuffre died last month, at the age of 86 -- I just heard about it. Giuffre was a jazz clarinetist with a cool, mellow style, influenced by Lester Young. He was a fixture of the laid-back West Coast jazz scene in the 50s and 60s and I was lucky enough to hear him play once in the 60s at my boarding school in New England where he and his small group (a trio, I think it was) were hired for one of our rare entertainment treats. I can't imagine how that happened -- I never identified anybody on our faculty who had a passion for jazz -- but I'm sure glad I got to hear the cat blow in person.