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Extended Analysis

Ahmad Jamal Trio: The Legendary 1958 Pershing Lounge & Spotlite Club Recordings

by Chris May
January 25, 2012

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 ...

126

From Far and Wide

Ahmad Jamal's Identity Crisis

by Fradley Garner
August 6, 2011

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 ...

Album Review

Ahmad Jamal: Legendary 1958 Pershing Lounge & Spotlite Club Performances

by AAJ Italy Staff
May 10, 2011

Districarsi in queste tre ore e mezza abbondanti di musica non è cosa agevole, per il discografo. Le due sessions del titolo (che sono poi quattro, in quanto a performance) risalgono al 16 e 17 gennaio 1958 (al Pershing Lounge di Chicago: tutto il primo CD, ultimo brano escluso) e al 5 e 6 settembre dello stesso anno (allo Spotlite di Washington: l'intero secondo CD e i primi nove titoli del terzo). Ci sono poi brani sparsi, incisi fra l'ottobre ...

478

Extended Analysis

The Complete Ahmad Jamal Trio Argo Sessions 1956-62

by David Rickert
September 10, 2010

Ahmad JamalThe Complete Ahmad Jamal Trio Argo Sessions 1956-62Mosaic Records2010 If you're familiar with pianist Ahmad Jamal, it's more likely through his reputation and not through his music. Trumpeter Miles Davis famously remarked that Jamal taught him to be more economical in his playing: that the notes that aren't played are just as important as the ones that are. He was an enormously influential pianist in the 1950s who, despite a hit ...

959

Extended Analysis

The Complete Ahmad Jamal Trio Argo Sessions 1956-62

by Eugene Holley, Jr.
August 20, 2010

"When I listen to these records now... when I listen to the Pershing, it's phenomenal, I must say. What they were doing, phenomenal, the lines and the purity. It's so pure ... It was sheer joy working with these two individuals. Master musicians," writes pianist/bandleader Ahmad Jamal in the liner notes to this collection. If there ever was a subject worthy of a Mosaic box set, Jamal is it. For six decades, he has been, for several reasons, ...

679

Extended Analysis

Ahmad Jamal: A Quiet Time

by Ian Patterson
July 23, 2010

Ahmad JamalA Quiet TimeDreyfus Records2010 Always reluctant to go into the studio unless he has material he is thoroughly satisfied with, pianist Ahmad Jamal's A Quiet Time could be considered as a follow-up to It's Magic (Dreyfus Records, 2008), given the relatively short period between the two releases. Stylistically, it is similar, with Jamal leading a habitual trio augmented with percussion through a set of (mostly) originals, a couple of which have ...

400

Album Review

Ahmad Jamal: A Quiet Time

Read "A Quiet Time" reviewed by Graham L. Flanagan

by Graham L. Flanagan
May 12, 2010

As one of the most highly influential jazz musicians on earth, pianist Ahmad Jamal enhances that sparkling reputation with his outstanding new studio effort A Quiet Time. The disc features two of the strong supporting players from his previous release, It's Magic (Dreyfus, 2008): James Cammack (bass) and Manolo Badrena (percussion), with Kenny Washington replacing Idris Muhammad on drums. While the title may imply a relaxed, ballad-heavy session, Jamal takes plenty of opportunities to swing at medium ...