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Ahmad Jamal: San Francisco, CA, June 18, 2013
by Ken Vermes
Ahmad JamalSymphony HallSan Francisco, CAJune 18, 2013SFJAZZ has accomplished a lot of things as it approaches its first half-year in its new building. Amongst them is revealing dedicated audiences for specific areas of the jazz universe, including piano-led bands. On the face of things, little may appear to connect two masters of this format, Ahmad Jamal, who performed on June 13 at Symphony Hall, and Brad Mehldau, who performed from April 26 to 28 at ...
Continue ReadingAhmad Jamal: Blue Moon
by Ian Patterson
Ahmad Jamal—senior statesman of jazz piano—first recorded 60 years ago. That he's still producing records of great energy, imagination and flair every couple of years is a remarkable testament to his singular talent. Blue Moon broadly follows the formula of It's Magic (Dreyfus Records, 2008) and A Quiet Time (Dreyfus, 2010); a few Jamal originals, a handful of timeless show tunes and popular numbers from bygone years, plus a nod to the jazz cannon. According to the liner notes the ...
Continue ReadingAhmad Jamal: Blue Moon
by Larry Taylor
In 1958 Pianist Ahmad Jamal burst on the scene with At the Pershing: But Not for Me (Argo Records), which contained the runaway hit “Poinciana." The song's impact was such that it remains Jamal's signature tune to this day. As sometimes comes with popular success, some jazz critics pulled back, but his championing by other musicians, such as trumpeter Miles Davis in 1955—citing the pianist as one of his big influences—subdued their effect. Over the decades, Jamal has made many ...
Continue ReadingAhmad Jamal: Blue Moon
by Chris May
Ahmad JamalBlue MoonJazz Village2012 It is tempting to say that, at age 82, Ahmad Jamal carries on getting better and better, but that would be to miss the point. The pianist long ago reached a level of perfection from which it is simply not possible to get better. It is a level, however, to which he habitually returns. In 2010, Jamal released one of the most sublime albums in his long ...
Continue ReadingAhmad Jamal
by Chris May
In February 2010, at the well seasoned age of 80, pianist Ahmad Jamal released A Quiet Time on Dreyfus Records. It is an album many observers regard as up there in the stratosphere along with such landmark Jamal discs as Chicago Revisited (Telarc, 1992) or A L'Olympia (Dreyfus, 1996), to name just two of many--or even Jamal's breakthrough LP, But Not For Me: At The Pershing (Chess, 1958). Sadly, Francis Dreyfus--a revered figure in the European record business, ...
Continue ReadingAhmad Jamal Trio: The Legendary 1958 Pershing Lounge & Spotlite Club Recordings
by Chris May
Ahmad Jamal TrioThe Legendary 1958 Pershing Lounge & Spotlite Club PerformancesSolar Records2011 “Play like Jamal," trumpeter Miles Davis is reputed to have told his pianist Red Garland in the mid 1950s. We can but speculate how Garland reacted to this request, assuming the story is true. It has the ring of truth: Davis was not best known for mincing his words, and he championed Ahmad Jamal at a time when many ...
Continue ReadingAhmad Jamal's Identity Crisis
by Fradley Garner
Ahmad Jamal's Identity CrisisAhmad Jamal aterrorist? Surely not the renowned American pianist who's given hundreds of concerts over the last half century. So it was puzzling why the $10,000 that the Festival da Jazz in Moritz, Switzerland ordered paid to Jamal in advance of his July 16 appearance, was promptly frozen by U.S. authorities. The artist's management insisted it was a case of mistaken identity. Jamal Ahmad Mohammad Al Badawi, a convicted Yemeni on the FBI most-wanted list ...
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