|
Ahmad
Jamal
Piano
Ahmad
Jamal
is
a
man
of
contradictions.
A
brilliant
pianist
and
cultivator
of
a
muted
virtuosity,
much
of
the
seduction
of
his
music
lies
in
its
deliberate
understatement;
an
extreme
subtlety
that
lies
just
beneath
its
apparent
simplicity.
Jamal’s
unique
talents
have
been
recognized
as
much
by
the
critics
as
by
the
public,
and
he
has
always
been
extraordinarily
popular
and
admired
by
his
peers,
most
notably
Miles
Davis
(who
dubbed
him
a
“musician’s
musician”).
With
an
apparent
effortlessness,
he
single-handedly
revolutionized
the
history
of
jazz
piano
during
the
1950s,
before
gradually
losing
some
of
his
prominence.
Born
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July
2,
1930,
Ahmad
Jamal
started
playing
the piano
at
the
age
of
three.
After
attending Westinghouse High
School,
he
proved
his
musical
precociousness
in
1947
by
beginning
his
professional
career
in
the
George
Hudson
Orchestra.
Two
years
later,
he
joined
violinist
Joe
Kennedy’s
band,
The
Four
Strings,
and
was
only
20
when
he
formed
his
first
trio.
The
Three
Strings
(with
Eddie
Calhoun
on
bass
and
Ray
Crawford
on
guitar),
based
on
the
outfits
of
Art
Tatum
and
Nat
“King”
Cole,
the
two
pianists
who
influenced
him
the
most
during
this
period.
He
played at
the Blue
Note
club
in Chicago,
in New
York,
and
was
signed
by
the
Okeh
label,
who
recorded
his
first
discs.
In
1952
he
had
a
big
hit
with
his arrangement
of
the
tune
“Billy
Boy”.
Four
years
later
Jamal
formed
a
new
trio,
replacing
the
guitar
with
drums.
In
so
doing,
he
lay
the
foundations
for
a
new,
revolutionary
aesthetic
based
upon
the
democratic
principle
of
according
an
equal
voice
to
all
three
instruments.
With
Israel
Crosby
on
the
bass
and
Vernell
Fournier
on
drums,
Jamal
invented
the
concept
of
the
modern
trio.
In
1958,
at
the
Pershing
in Chicago,
the
three
men
recorded
their
fabled
album,
“But
Not
For
Me”,
which
went
on
to
become
an
enormous
commercial
hit.
It
spent
108
weeks
on
the
top
ten
charts,
making
Jamal
the
first
jazz
musician
to
sell
more
than
a
million
copies
of
one
album.
It
was
a
period
of
intense
activity.
Even
though
the
trio
constantly
toured
and
recorded,
Jamal
still
found
the
time
to
open
a
club-restaurant,
The
Alhambra,
and
even
started
up
his
own
record
label.
It
was
just
one
success
after
another.
Between
the
1960s
and
the
1970s,
the
career
of
Ahmad
Jamal
slowed
down.
But
in
the
1980s
his
recordings
for
Atlantic
proved
once
again
his
exceptional
talent
:
“Digital
Works”,
“Crystal”,
“Pittsburg”,
“Live
at
the
Montreal
Jazz
Festival”
and
above
all,
“Rossiter
Road”.
Ahmad
Jamal’s
latest
blossoming
of
artistic
and
commercial
success
began
only
a
few
years
ago,
with
his
association
with
Birdology.
In
1994,
for
the
first
time
in
his
career,
he
recorded
with
both
a
saxophonist,
George
Coleman,
and
a
trumpeter,
Donald
Byrd,
on
the
two
volumes
of
“The
Essence,”
proving
once
again
both
his
unlimited
capacity
for
renewal
and
the
immense
richness
of
his
musical
universe.
Today,
Ahmad
Jamal is
a
figure
of
the
highest
rank
in
the
history
of
jazz,
a
musician
of
enduring
vitality
and
innovation.
His
new
recording,
“Nature”
extends
Jamal’s
musical
adventure
in
another
new
direction
by
joining
his
trio
(James
Cammarck
on
bass
and
Idriss
Muhammad
on
drums)
with
the
steel
drum
of
Othello
Molineaux.
On
this
album,
recorded
in
the
village
of
Gordes on
the
South
of
France,
Ahmad
Jamal
and
his
group
have
invented
a
magical
universe
based
on
freedom,
improvisation
and
the
art
of
silence.
“Nature” is
a
luminous
recording.
Idriss
Muhamad
Drum
“Idriss
is
originary
of New
Orleans,
like
Vernel
Fournier
with
whom
I
got
along
so
well.
Drummers
such
as
Idriss
enjoy
this
unique
capability
to
endow
rythm
with
mobility
and
make
it
dance.
While
choosing
a
drummer
I must
be
convinced
by
his
sensibility.
I
don't
have
to
set
specific
rules
for
playing.
We
only
discuss
special
arrangements
or
the
structure
of
a
musical
composition.
Never
of
sound
or
sentence.
We
get
along
all
through
the
way”.
Ahmad
Jamal
James
Cammack
Counterbass
“He
is
more
of
a
guitar
player
than
a
counterbassist.
He
certainly
has
started
on
this
acoustic
instrument
years
before
Ray
Brown
or
Buster
Williams.
If
he
is
still
with
me
for
so
long,
it
is
because
he
has
exceptional
ears.
He
is
an
extension
of
my
left
arm.
And
now
he
studies
the
counterbass.
To
keep
up
with
me,
he
has
to
work
like
hell
.
But
this
rhythm
has
its
difficulties
:
muscles
are
different,
and
technicalities
too,
the
reading
of
musical
lines,
the
intonation,
the
arch…
Exceptional
counterbassist
are
rare
to
find.
It
is
easier
for
me
to
find
good
drummers
or
guitar
players
than
to
get
a
counterbassist
that
suits
my
needs”.
Ahmad
Jamal |
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