The two are playing separate sets. Lewis will be backed by Larry Gray on bass and Leon Joyce on drums. Jamal will perform with Idris Muhammad on drums and James Cammack on bass.
Pittsburgh-born Ahmad Jamal first touched a piano at age three. He has been recording since 1951, and his use of space, silence and tension as well as improvisation has influenced generations of jazz musicians, including Miles Davis, who once encouraged his pianist, Red Garland, to emulate Jamal. One of his first recordings, “Ahmad's Blues," was recorded by a number of other artists in addition to being heard on stage in “Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" His NJPAC performance comes on the heels of his San Francisco Jazz Festival performance two weeks earlier.
Composer and pianist Ramsey Lewis began piano lessons at the age of four and recorded his first album in 1956. Since then, he has won three Grammy Awards and has recorded jazz and gospel albums in addition to recently composing a suite of pieces for the Joffrey Ballet, inspired by his wife, Jan. He brought jazz back to television as a host of “Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis" and on radio with his nationally syndicated “The Ramsey Lewis Morning Show." He also co-founded the Ramsey Lewis Foundation which gives children the opportunity to learn and play musical instruments and develop skills to enhance self-confidence. Mr. Lewis received the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award in January 2007.
New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), located in the heart of an emerging downtown Newark, New Jersey, is the sixth largest performing arts center in the United States. Home of the Grammy Award-winning New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, NJPAC has been widely cited as a catalyst in the revitalization of New Jersey's largest city, attracting over 5 million visitors (including more than 900,000 children) in its first ten years of operation.
For more information contact Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services.
