Jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal dies aged 92. He played with, was an inspiration, and a lifetime friend of Miles Davis.
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Hugely respected by jazz musicians for decades, from at least the 1950s until today. Continued recording until well into his twilight years. A great user of ‘space’ in his playing, where so many of his early contemporaries felt obliged to fill every moment with as many notes as possible.
I first came across him when I got this CD out of the local library in the very early 90s:
It suffers a little from the use of electric rather than acoustic bass, and the sound is a bit ‘mid-80s digital’, but I’ll try to listen to it tonight.
A sad day.
Mark
Sad day but a good innings and a great legacy. RIP.
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Sad news. RIP Maestro.
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Anyone who is intrigued and would like to dip an audiophile toe into the huge waters of his output could do worse than to sample either of his two albums for Telarc in the 1990s:
Mark
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Well, I’m listening to it now and, my goodness, it sounds great. I take back those criticisms above!
Very sad. I saw him twice in concerts. He played piano like Miles the trumpet. The silence is the integral part of the music
My favourites albums are the Essence part 1 and 2, from the nineties.
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Very sad.
I have lots of Ahmad’s albums but not these two. Will be doing some searching.
Also for Essence Part 1 and 2 suggested by @frenchrooster
All on Qobuz.
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Great loss indeed… I cannot say to know all of his works through such a long career, nevertheless one of his “lesser” 
… albums is an album I often like to listen and listen again… Yesterday evening I liked to remind him with a dedicated listening session to this Little gem…
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Ahmad’s Blues - classic live 1958 recording displaying youthful virtuosity, title track arguably his most famous. Still available on vinyl 1973 rerelease. If you want visual with surprisingly good sound try Poinciana on Syncopia. Superb bassman with drummer and percussionist with Jamal orchestrating. On Tidal try “The complete Ahmad Jamal”. What a body of work over such a productive lifetime!! He preferred to call his style American classical music!!
One of my favourite Ahmad albums.
Interesting analysis of ‘At The Pershing’ which makes you want to listen to it again.
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BBC Radio 3’s excellent Jazz Record Requests dedicated today’s programme with Alyn Shipton to Remembering Ahmad Jamal. Some great tracks, some less well known. Well worth a listen.
Mark
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