I can't honestly say that my week, from a jazz fan's point of view at least, got off to a good start. Not all great musicians' deaths are widely reported, and I hadn't heard of the passing of the great Jimmy Smith, on February 10, until Charles Martin announced it on his Sunday evening programme on RTHK.
I'll get back to that in a minute, but in Hong Kong the other bad news of the week was the cancellation for 'personal reasons' of Regina Carter's two Arts Festival appearances.
That news came late - and unexpectedly, as well. I read about it in a flyer left on my seat at the second Blind Boys of Alabama concert. She has scrubbed the entire tour, and, apparently, snubbed all her audiences in the process.
The Arts Festival organisers, I'm told, know and understand more than they're prepared to disclose and I respect their discretion. But 'personal reasons' as an excuse for not honouring concert commitments isn't really good enough.
It's a small cavil, but there was one little disappointment in The Blind Boys performance, too. Leader and principal songwriter Clarence Fountain wasn't there, and no explanation was offered for that, either.
His absence certainly didn't prevent Jimmy Carter and the rest of the ensemble - who announced plans for an extra performance filling in for the first of Carter's last Thursday - from putting on a rousing show.