Ahmad Jamal

All Music Guide:

A sorely underexposed figure and a major influence on Miles Davis, pianist Ahmad Jamal isn't generally ranked among the all-time giants of jazz, but he impressed fellow musicians and record buyers alike with his innovative, minimalist approach. Jamal's manipulations of space and silence, tension and release, and dynamics all broke new ground, and had an impact far beyond Jamal's favored piano trio format. As an arranger, Jamal made the most of his small-group settings by thinking of them in orchestral terms: using his trademark devices to create contrast and dramatic effect, and allowing the rhythm section a great deal of independence in its interplay. Nonetheless, his ensembles were always tightly focused as well, following their leader through sudden changes in tempo or time signature, and often carrying the main riff of a tune.

Jamal's own playing was a model of economy; because he didn't overwhelm listeners with his technique, his flashes of virtuosity had significantly more impact. His lines were spare and light, yet melodically and harmonically inventive, and driven by complex left-hand chord voicings that broke with Bud Powell's right-hand emphasis. A chamber-like sensibility and a classical formality permeated much of his playing, yet he swung like a jazzman without fail. Miles Davis greatly admired him, borrowing liberally from his repertoire and arrangements, and encouraging his pianist Red Garland to imitate Jamal's playing as closely as possible; additionally, Jamal's concepts of space and subtlety greatly affected Davis in his own right, both as a soloist and as a bandleader who (as it's often put) let the music breathe.

Ahmad Jamal was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on July 2, 1930. He first started playing the piano at age three, began his formal training at age seven, and was performing professionally by 11. By his teenage years, he had completed studies equivalent to a master's degree, and he had also taken up jazz, inspired by the likes of Erroll Garner, Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, Count Basie, and Nat King Cole. After graduating from high school, he toured in a supporting role, and caught on with George Hudson's orchestra in 1949. Later that year, he joined swing violinist Joe Kennedy's group the Four Strings, where he served as pianist and arranger.

In 1950, Jamal formed his own group, the Three Strings, which also included bassist Eddie Calhoun and the highly percussive guitarist Ray Crawford. They were discovered by Columbia executive and talent scout John Hammond in 1951, and signed to the label's OKeh subsidiary. Calhoun was later replaced briefly by Richard Davis, and then by Israel Crosby in 1955. Over that period, the group -- eventually renamed the Ahmad Jamal Trio -- recorded two albums, which included the classic original "Ahmad's Blues" and a version of "Pavanne" that likely provided the basis for Miles Davis' legendary "So What," not to mention the note-for-note melody of John Coltrane's "Impressions" (years before either had composed those respective pieces).

Later in 1955, Jamal switched over to the Chess label's Argo subsidiary, where his trio cut the groundbreaking Chamber Music of New Jazz. It was here that he first drew Davis' enthusiastic approval, and over the next few years, arranger Gil Evans would base some of his seminal work for Davis on Jamal's interpretations. In 1956, Jamal elected to replace guitarist Crawford with a drummer, Walter Perkins; he in turn was replaced by Vernell Fournier in 1958, which cemented the classic Jamal Trio lineup. The group took up residency in the lounge of the Pershing Hotel in Chicago, where its gigs were greeted with excitement and frequented by many local jazz musicians. These shows resulted in the classic live album Ahmad Jamal at the Pershing: But Not for Me, which became a left-field smash in 1958, climbing all the way to number three on the pop charts; its hit version of "Poinciana" remains Jamal's signature tune. Some jazz critics never forgave Jamal for this crossover success, though his championing by other musicians has largely muted their derision over time.

In the wake of But Not for Me's success, Jamal opened his own club, the Alhambra, and recorded prolifically for Argo during the '60s. Some of his albums continued to enjoy crossover success, including 1958's Ahmad Jamal Trio, Vol. 4 and 1960's Ahmad Jamal at the Penthouse, the latter of which teamed the trio with a 15-piece string section masterminded by Joe Kennedy. Two live albums, Alhambra and All of You, documented the group's 1961 performances at Jamal's club, though unfortunately it would not exist for much longer. Neither would Jamal's trio, which disbanded in 1962; Crosby joined George Shearing's group, but was felled by a heart attack not long after. With arranger Richard Evans, Jamal recorded another jazz-with-strings session, Macanudo, that year, and subsequently formed a new trio with bassist Jamil Nasser (aka Jamil Sulieman) and drummer Chuck Lampkin. Lampkin departed in 1965 and was briefly replaced by Fournier (on the LP Extensions) before Frank Gant was brought in on a permanent basis the following year.

Jamal experienced a minor resurgence in popularity during the late '60s thanks to albums like 1967's Standard Eyes and 1968's Cry Young, the latter of which returned him to the pop charts for the first time in eight years. Later that year, he moved from Cadet (the renamed Argo) to Impulse!, and recorded five albums over the next four years, including the live Montreux Jazz Festival set Freeflight (1971) and Outertimeinnerspace (1972), both of which found him experimenting with the Fender Rhodes electric piano in addition to his standard sound. Additionally, in 1970, he performed an oft-heard version of the theme from the film M*A*S*H that was included on the soundtrack.

Jamal moved to 20th Century in 1973 for a series of decent-selling albums that kicked off with Ahmad Jamal '73, another session with arranger Richard Evans. Others included 1974's Jamalca, 1975's Jamal Plays Jamal, 1976's Steppin' Out with a Dream, 1979's One, and 1980's Intervals and Genetic Walk; of those, the former two and Intervals all made the R&B charts, while Genetic Walk was Jamal's fifth and final album to reach the pop charts. Nasser left the trio in the mid-'70s and was replaced by John Hurd, and the lineup was also expanded to include guitarist Calvin Keys for the 1976 concert set Live at Oil Can Harry's (a one-off for the short-lived Catalyst label).

Night Song, recorded for Motown and released in 1980, found Jamal working with an atypically large group; elsewhere, he assembled a new trio of bassist Sabu Adeyola and drummer Payton Crossley. In the early '80s, Jamal toured and recorded in tandem with vibraphonist Gary Burton, and returned to a major label when he signed with Atlantic in 1985. Digital Works, Rossiter Road, Crystal, and Pittsburgh all made the jazz album charts over the next five years. He recorded for Telarc in the early '90s, including the well-received Chicago Revisited: Live at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase (1992) and I Remember Duke, Hoagy & Strayhorn (1994). Also in 1994, Jamal was awarded the American Jazz Master Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Jamal subsequently signed with the French Birdology label, signaling the start of a full creative renaissance; his recordings were initially distributed in the U.S. by Verve and Atlantic, and later by the smaller Dreyfus Jazz label. His first effort, The Essence of Ahmad Jamal, Pt. 1, was rapturously received in France, and marked the first time he'd recorded in a small-group format with a saxophonist (tenor man George Coleman). He followed it with Big Byrd: The Essence, Pt. 2 (1997) and Nature: The Essence, Pt. 3 (1998), as well as the acclaimed 70th-birthday concert L'Olympia 2000. The 2003 set In Search of Momentum was also critically well-received. The live trio session After Fair, which combined standards and Jamal originals, was released on Birdology/Dreyfus Jazz in 2005, one year after it was recorded in France. It's Magic and Poinciana - One Night Only both followed in 2008, with A Quiet Time arriving in 2009. Now in his eighties, Jamal continued to record and tour, releasing Blue Moon on the Jazz Village label in 2012.

Wikipedia:

Ahmad Jamal (born July 2, 1930) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. According to American music critic Stanley Crouch, Jamal is second in importance in the development of jazz after 1945 only to Charlie Parker. For five decades, he has been one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).

Contents

Biography[edit]

Early life[edit]

Jamal was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and attended George Westinghouse High School. He began playing piano at the age of three, when his uncle Lawrence challenged him to duplicate what he was doing on the piano. Jamal began formal piano training at the age of seven with Mary Cardwell Dawson, whom he describes as greatly influencing him. His Pittsburgh roots have remained an important part of his identity ("Pittsburgh meant everything to me and it still does," he said in 2001) and it was there that he was immersed in the influence of jazz artists such as Earl Hines, Billy Strayhorn, Mary Lou Williams, and Erroll Garner. Jamal also studied with pianist James Miller and began playing piano professionally at the age of fourteen, at which point he was recognized as a "coming great" by the pianist Art Tatum. When asked about his practice habits by a New York Times critic, Jamal commented that, "I used to practice and practice with the door open, hoping someone would come by and discover me. I was never the practitioner in the sense of twelve hours a day, but I always thought about music. I think about music all the time."

Career[edit]

Jamal began touring with George Hudson's Orchestra after graduating from high school in 1948. He joined another touring group known as The Four Strings, which soon disbanded when the violinist, Joe Kennedy Jr., left. He moved to Chicago in 1950 (where he legally changed his name to Ahmad Jamal), and played on and off with local musicians such as saxophonists Von Freeman and Claude McLin, as well as playing solo at the Palm Tavern, where he was occasionally joined by drummer Ike Day.

He made his first sides in 1951 for the Okeh label with The Three Strings (which would later also be called the Ahmad Jamal Trio, although Jamal himself prefers not to use the term "trio"): the other members were guitarist Ray Crawford and a bassist (at different times, Eddie Calhoun (1950–52), Richard Davis (1953–54), and Israel Crosby (from 1954)). The Three Strings arranged an extended engagement at Chicago’s Blue Note, but leapt to fame after performing at the Embers in New York City where John Hammond saw the band play and signed them to Okeh Records. Hammond, a record producer who discovered the talents and enhanced the fame of musicians like Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, and Count Basie, also helped Jamal’s trio attract critical acclaim. Jamal subsequently recorded for Parrot (1953–55) and Epic (1955) using the piano-guitar-bass lineup. The trio's sound changed significantly when Crawford was replaced with drummer Vernel Fournier in 1957, and the group worked as the "House Trio" at Chicago's Pershing Hotel. The trio released the live album But Not for Me which stayed on the Ten Best-selling charts for 108 weeks. Jamal's well known song "Poinciana" was first released on this album.

Upon returning to the U.S. after a tour of North Africa, the financial success of Live at the Pershing: But Not For Me allowed Jamal to open a restaurant and club called The Alhambra in Chicago. The club lasted for a little less than a year, from 1959 to 1961. In 1962, The Three Strings disbanded and Jamal moved to New York City where, at the age of 32, he took a three-year hiatus from his musical career.

In 1964, Jamal resumed touring and recording, this time with the bassist Jamil Nasser and recorded a new album, Extensions, in 1965. Jamal and Nasser continued to play and record together from 1964 to 1972. He also joined forces with Fournier (again, but only for about a year) and drummer Frank Gant (1966–76), among others. He continued to play throughout the 1970s and 1980s, mostly in trios with piano, bass and drums, but he occasionally expanded the group to include guitar. One of his most long-standing gigs was as the band for the New Year’s Eve celebrations at Blues Alley in Washington, D.C. from 1979 through the 1990s.

In 1985, Jamal agreed to do an interview and recording session with his fellow jazz pianist, Marian McPartland on her NPR show “Piano Jazz.” Jamal, who said he rarely plays "But Not For Me" due to its unrivaled popularity since his 1958 recording, played an improvised version of the tune – though only after noting that he has moved on to making ninety percent of his repertoire his own compositions. He said that when he grew in popularity from the Live at the Pershing album, he was severely criticized afterwards for not playing any of his own compositions.

Now in his eighties, Ahmad Jamal has continued to make numerous tours and recordings. His most recently released album is Saturday Morning, 2013.

Conversion to Islam[edit]

Born to Baptist parents in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jamal did not discover the Islam religion until his early 20s. While touring in Detroit (where there was a sizable Muslim community in the 1940s and 1950s), Jamal became interested in the Islam religion and Islamic culture. He converted to Islam and changed his name to Ahmad Jamal in 1950. In an interview with the New York Times a few years later, Jamal said his decision to change his name stemmed from a desire to “re-establish my original name.”

After the recording of the best-selling album But Not For Me, Jamal’s music grew in popularity throughout the 1950s, and he attracted media coverage for his investment decisions pertaining to his "rising fortune". In 1959, he took a tour of North Africa to explore investment options in Africa. Jamal, who was twenty-nine at the time, said he had a curiosity about the homeland of his ancestors, highly influenced by his conversion to the Muslim faith. He also said his religion had brought him peace of mind about his race, which accounted for his "growth in the field of music that has proved very lucrative for me."

Shortly after his conversion to Islam, Jamal explained to the New York Times that he “says Muslim prayers five times a day and arises in time to say his first prayers at 5 am. He says them in Arabic in keeping with the Muslim tradition.”Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).

Contents

Music[edit]

Style and influence[edit]

Trained in both traditional jazz ("American classical music", as he prefers to call it) and European classical style, Ahmad Jamal has been praised as one of the greatest jazz innovators over his exceptionally long career. Following bebop greats like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Jamal entered the world of jazz at a time when speed and virtuosic improvisation were central to the success of jazz musicians as artists. Jamal, however, took steps in the direction of a new movement, later coined "cool jazz" – an effort to move jazz in the direction of popular music. He emphasized space and time in his musical compositions and interpretations instead of focusing on the blinding speed of bebop.

Because of this style, Jamal was "often dismissed by jazz writers as no more than a cocktail pianist, a player so given to fluff that his work shouldn't be considered seriously in any artistic sense". Stanley Crouch, author of Considering Genius offers a very different reaction to Jamal's music, claiming that, like the highly influential Thelonious Monk, Jamal was a true innovator of the jazz tradition. His unique musical style stemmed from many individual characteristics, including his use of orchestral effects and his ability to control the beat of songs. These stylistic choices resulted in a unique and new sound for the piano trio: "Through the use of space and changes of rhythm and tempo", writes Crouch, "Jamal invented a group sound that had all the surprise and dynamic variation of an imaginatively ordered big band." Jamal explored the texture of riffs, timbres, and phrases rather than the quantity or speed of notes in any given improvisation. Speaking about Jamal, A. B. Spellman of the National Endowment of the Arts said: "Nobody except Thelonious Monk used space better, and nobody ever applied the artistic device of tension and release better." These (at the time) unconventional techniques that Jamal gleaned from both traditional classical and contemporary jazz musicians helped pave the way for later jazz greats like Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, and McCoy Tyner.

Though Jamal is often overlooked by jazz critics and historians, he is frequently credited with having a great influence on Miles Davis. Davis is quoted as saying that he was impressed by Jamal's rhythmic sense and his "concept of space, his lightness of touch, his understatement..." Jamal characterizes what he thought Davis admired about his music as: "my discipline as opposed to my space."

Jamal and Davis became friends in the 1950s, and Davis continued to support Jamal as a fellow musician, often playing versions of Jamal's own songs ("Ahmad's Blues," "New Rhumba") until he died in 1991.

Jamal, speaking about his own work says, "I like doing ballads. They're hard to play. It takes years of living, really, to read them properly." From an early age, Jamal developed an appreciation for the lyrics of the songs he learned: "I once heard Ben Webster playing his heart out on a ballad. All of a sudden he stopped. I asked him, 'Why did you stop, Ben?' He said, 'I forgot the lyrics.'" Jamal attributes the variety in his musical taste to the fact that he grew up in several eras: the big band era, the bebop years, and the electronic age. He says his style evolved from drawing on the techniques and music produced in these three eras.

In more recent years, Jamal has embraced the electronic influences affecting the genre of jazz. He has also occasionally expanded his usual small ensemble of three to include a tenor saxophone (George Coleman) and a violin (Ray Kennedy). A jazz fan interviewed by Downbeat magazine about Jamal in 2010 described his development as "more aggressive and improvisational these days. The word I used to use is avant garde; that might not be right. Whatever you call it, the way he plays is the essence of what jazz is."

Ted Nash, a longtime member of the Lincoln Center Orchestra, had the opportunity to play with Jamal in 2008 for Jazz at Lincoln Center. Nash described his experience with Jamal's style in an interview with Downbeat magazine: "The way he comped wasn't the generic way that lots of pianists play with chords in the middle of the keyboard, just filling things up. He gave lots of single line responses. He'd come back and throw things out at you, directly from what you played. It was really interesting because it made you stop, and allowed him to respond, and then you felt like playing something else – that's something I don't feel with a lot of piano players. It's really quite engaging. I guess that's another reason people focus in on him. He makes them hone in."

Live At the Pershing: But Not For Me[edit]

Perhaps Jamal’s most famous recording and undoubtedly the one that brought him vast popularity in the late 1950s and into the 1960s jazz age, Live at the Pershing was recorded at the Pershing Hotel in Chicago in 1958. Jamal played the set with bassist Israel Crosby and drummer Vernel Fournier. The set list expressed a diverse collection of tunes, including “The Surrey With the Fringe On Top” from the musical Oklahoma! and Jamal’s famous arrangement of the jazz standard “Poinciana.” Jazz musicians and listeners alike found inspiration in the Live at the Pershing recording, and Jamal’s trio was recognized as an integral new building block in the history of jazz. Evident were his unusually minimalist style and his extended vamps, according to reviewer John Morthland. “If you’re looking for an argument that pleasurable mainstream art can assume radical status at the same time, Jamal is your guide,” said New York Times contributor Ben Ratliff in a review of the album.

Bands and personnel[edit]

Jamal typically plays with a bassist and drummer: his current trio is with bassist Reginald Veal and drummer Herlin Riley. He has also performed with percussionist Manolo Badrena. Jamal has recorded with saxophonist George Coleman on the album The Essence; with vibraphonist Gary Burton on In Concert; with the voices of the Howard A. Roberts Chorale on The Bright, the Blue and the Beautiful and Cry Young; with brass, reeds, and strings celebrating his hometown of Pittsburgh; and with The Assai Quartet.

Ahmad Jamal has played with various jazz musicians throughout his extensive career, including: George Hudson, Ray Crawford, Eddie Calhoun, Richard Davis, Israel Crosby, Vernel Fournier, Jamil Nasser, Frank Gant, James Cammack, Dave Bowler, John Heard, Yoron Israel, Belden Bullock, Manolo Badrena, Gary Burton, and Idris Muhammad, among others.

Legacy[edit]

Clint Eastwood featured two recordings from Jamal's But Not For Me album — "Music, Music, Music" and "Poinciana" — in the 1995 movie The Bridges of Madison County.

Nas' 1994 hit song "The World Is Yours," produced by Pete Rock, features a very recognizable sample of Jamal's song "I Love Music" from the album The Awakening.

Common's song "Resurrection," produced by No I.D., features a sample from Ahmad's solo on the song "Dolphin Dance", also from the album The Awakening.

Awards and honors[edit]

The French government has inducted Ahmad Jamal into the prestigious Order of the Arts and Letters by French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, naming him Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres on June 2007.

In 1994, Jamal received the National Endowment for the Arts American Jazz Masters award and was also named a Duke Ellington Fellow at Yale University.

Some of Ahmad Jamal’s more prestigious awards include the following, in chronological order:

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