{"title":"Ahmad Jamal","description":"\u003cp\u003eBorn Frederick Russell Jones on 2 July 1930 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jamal began playing piano at age three. At age 14 he was already playing piano professionally and was recognised by Art Tatum as a coming great. He discovered Islam in his early 20s while touring Detroit in the 1940s and 1950s. He converted to Islam and changed his name to Ahmad Jamal in 1950. In 1949 he joined swing violinist Joe Kennedy's group Four Strings as pianist. This led to formation of his trio The Three Strings in 1950, which debuted at Chicago's Blue Note club and later became the Ahmad Jamal Trio. The trio initially consisted of piano, guitar, and bass. Guitarist Ray Crawford was replaced with drummer Vernel Fournier in 1957, significantly changing the group's sound.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe trio worked as the house trio at Chicago's Pershing Hotel. In 1958 they recorded \u003cem\u003eAt the Pershing: But Not for Me\u003c\/em\u003e at the Pershing Hotel in Chicago. The album stayed on the Billboard charts for 107 weeks and remains one of the best-selling jazz records of all time. Miles Davis credited Jamal many times for influencing his own approach to music, saying in the late 1950s that all of his inspiration came from pianist Ahmad Jamal. Cultural critic Stanley Crouch called Jamal second in importance only to Charlie Parker in the development of jazz after 1945. Jamal emphasised the use of space and dynamics and worked closely with his bassist and drummer to achieve a tight and highly individual group sound. His style was airy, pared down, and tasteful, different from the bebop approach of Bud Powell. His playing revolutionised the use of time and space in jazz, and his extraordinary use of space, allowing the music to breathe, became a hallmark of his career. He recorded nearly 70 albums. Awards include NEA Jazz Masters (1994), Kennedy Center Living Jazz Legend (2007), Down Beat Readers Poll Hall of Fame (2011), and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2017). He died 16 April 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"ahmad-jamal-trio-the-awakening-2023-impulse-gatefold-lp-third-man-pressing","title":"Ahmad Jamal Trio - The Awakening (2023 Impulse! Gatefold LP, Third Man Pressing)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAhmad Jamal Trio - \u003cem\u003eThe Awakening\u003c\/em\u003e | Vinyl LP - 2023 Verve By Request 180g Gatefold (B0036678-01, East Iris Studios mastering, Third Man Pressing)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAhmad Jamal had been recording since the early 1950s, but by 1970 his approach had shifted — denser, more rhythmically varied, still centred on space and contrast but now more willing to push into harder territory. \u003cem\u003eThe Awakening\u003c\/em\u003e was his first album for Impulse! and the record that brought him to a new generation of listeners, particularly through the title track's percussive vamp, which has been one of the most sampled pieces in jazz. Ed Michel produced; George Sawtelle engineered. Jamil Nasser on bass and Frank Gant on drums had been Jamal's working partners for years, and the ease between them is the record's foundation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeven tracks, recorded across two sessions. Two are Jamal originals — \"The Awakening\" and \"Patterns.\" \"I Love Music\" comes from Emil Boyd and Hale Smith. Side B covers four compositions: Herbie Hancock's \"Dolphin Dance\" from \u003cem\u003eMaiden Voyage\u003c\/em\u003e (1965), the 1931 Harry Warren standard \"You're My Everything,\" Oliver Nelson's \"Stolen Moments\" from \u003cem\u003eBlues and the Abstract Truth\u003c\/em\u003e (1961), and Jobim's \"Wave\" (1967). Leonard Feather wrote the liner notes; Chuck Stewart photographed the cover.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eConsidered essential in both jazz and hip-hop collector circles — the title track and other tracks have been sampled extensively, \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003ethis is the first proper reissue of the album in over twenty-five years. Mastered at East Iris Studios in Nashville, pressed on 180g vinyl at Third Man Pressing in Detroit, and packaged in a gatefold. It was released on April 14, 2023. Jamal died on April 16, 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Impulse!","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43431390707771,"sku":null,"price":80.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/3203\/3339\/files\/602448476111.jpg?v=1776492785"},{"product_id":"ahmad-jamal-trio-ahmad-jamal-at-the-pershing-1975-japanese-cadet-vinyl-lp-mono","title":"Ahmad Jamal Trio - Ahmad Jamal At The Pershing (1975 Japanese Cadet Vinyl LP Mono)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eVinyl\u003c\/b\u003e:\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eVG+\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSleeve\u003c\/b\u003e:\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eVG+\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eObi:\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNone\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur grading system explained \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/dpbg4u-d1.myshopify.com\/pages\/secondhand-grading-guide\"\u003e\u003cb\u003ehere\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003cbr\u003ePhoto is of the actual item.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAhmad Jamal Trio - \u003cem\u003eAhmad Jamal At The Pershing\u003c\/em\u003e | Vinyl LP Mono - 1975 Japanese Cadet Reissue (MJ-1006M, Victor Musical Industries)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen \u003cem\u003eDown Beat\u003c\/em\u003e reviewed this album in 1958 they dismissively called it \"cocktail music.\" Within months it was the number one jazz bestseller in America. The gap between the critical response and the public reaction tells you something about what Jamal was doing. He was not playing bebop. He was not filling every bar with notes. He was leaving space, sometimes long stretches of it, where Crosby's bass and Fournier's drums carried the rhythm alone before Jamal re-entered with a phrase placed so precisely it changed the weight of everything around it. Miles Davis heard it immediately. He wrote later that Jamal \"knocked me out with his concept of space, his lightness of touch, his understatement, and the way he phrases notes and chords and passages.\" Davis had Red Garland adopt Jamal-influenced voicings. The influence runs through Wynton Kelly, Herbie Hancock and Bill Evans and forward to Jason Moran and Robert Glasper. Stanley Crouch called Jamal second in importance only to Charlie Parker in the development of jazz after 1945. None of the eight tracks here are Jamal originals. They're all standards and show tunes: Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Dizzy Gillespie's \"Woody'n You.\" What matters is what the trio does with them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJamal approached Leonard Chess at his office on South Michigan Avenue and told him he wanted to record on location at the Pershing. He had been the trio's artist in residence at the lounge for weeks and had developed arrangements that he didn't want to lose. \"I'm not going to play it anymore, perform it anymore until we record it, because I'm afraid someone's going to take the idea and run with it,\" Jamal later said of \"Poinciana\" specifically. Fournier, a New Orleans drummer whose brush work and rhythmic instincts were as important to the album's sound as Jamal's piano, locks into a Latin groove on the piece that gives it a physical pull the other tracks don't attempt. Israel Crosby's bass anchors the session with a dark, firm tone that complements Jamal's lightness. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the 1975 Japanese mono reissue on Cadet MJ-1006M, number 6 in the Cadet Jazz 20 series, manufactured by Victor Musical Industries.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cadet","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43697477156923,"sku":null,"price":65.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/3203\/3339\/files\/IMG_7467.jpg?v=1782185140"}],"url":"https:\/\/lushliferecords.com.au\/collections\/ahmad-jamal.oembed","provider":"Lush Life Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}