One of my favorite things in jazz is the humor.

This new piece starts with Seinfeld and ends with Jim Hall, but at its heart is Jimmy Rowles — and the delightfully strange, deeply human way humor lives not just around the music, but inside it.

Along the way: Lester Young’s secret language, George Shearing, Billie Holiday, James Moody, Les McCann making a legal case for one particular word, one very seductive lion, and some of my favorite lines I’ve ever heard from musicians.