Download music!: Ahmad Jamal-Poinciana; Ahmad Jamal-Seleritus; Ahmad Jamal-Jamaica
Ahmad Jamal, born Frederick Russell Jones on July 2, 1930, is a noted American jazz pianist. Jamal was one of Miles Davis's favorite pianists and was a key influence on the trumpeter's "First Great Quintet" (featuring John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums). Davis had long admired Jamal's use of space and dynamics, and had asked Wynton Kelly to "sound more like Ahmad Jamal" on the track "Freddie Freeloader" on the landmark album Kind of Blue. Since the 1980s Jamal has been regularly touring the major clubs of the United States and the large European jazz festivals. He is generally accompanied by bassist James Cammack and drummer Idris Muhammad. He has also performed regularly with saxophonist George Coleman.
Biography
Ahmad Jamal is an acclaimed virtuoso jazz piano and keyboard master, composer, and innovative trio leader. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.. Jamal 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 playing on the piano. Jamal began formal piano training at the age of seven with Mary Cardwell Dawson, who he describes as greatly influencing him.
Jamal began touring with George Hudson's Orchestra. His first album Ahmad's Blues was recorded in 1951 on the Okeh label. He soon began touring with another group known as The Four Strings, which was soon disbanded. Following this, Jamal created The Three Strings in 1951, with bassist Israel Crosby and guitarist Ray Crawford. Crawford was replaced with drummer Vernel Fournier in 1958, 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. The financial success of the album allowed Jamal to open a restaurant and club called The Alhambra.
Jamal typically plays with a bassist and drummer; his current trio is with bassist James Cammack and drummer Idris Muhammad. At the Toronto Jazz Festival (June 2008) and perhaps elsewhere, Jamal's group included innovative percussionist Manolo Badrena. Jamal has also recorded with saxophonist George Coleman on the album The Essence; with vibraphonist Gary Burton on the recording "In Concert"; with the voices of the Howard A. Roberts Chorale on the recordings "Bright, Blue and Beautiful" and "Cry Young"; with brass, reeds, and strings celebrating his hometown of "Pittsburgh"; and with "The Assai Quartet", among other non-trio achievements.
In 1994, Jamal received the National Endowment of the Arts American Jazz Masters award and also named a Duke Ellington Fellow at Yale University.
Ahmad Jamal is also known to be a Steinway artist since 1960. It is rumored that his pianos sometimes needed to be tuned between sets due to the percussive nature of some of his playing. He also became a premier player of the Fender Rhodes piano in the 1980's as on the recordings "Digital Works" and on "Jamaica". Mr Jamal is also noted for his flowing lyrical lines, thundering crescendos, ability to run arpeggios from end to end of the 88 keys, and lush, beautiful ballad and latin jazz playing. Of special note is the influence of Ahmad Jamal on innovative musician and trumpeter Miles Davis who at one point said that all of his inspiration came from Ahmad Jamal: not only on his trumpet playing, song selection, and pianists, but in the area of "modes". Mr Jamal was an early exponent of extended 'vamps' allowing him to solo at great length adding fresh colorations and percussive effects, which Davis was keen to imitate, setting Miles Davis up perfectly for the entrance of true modal music into his groups with the recording "Kind of Blue".
Acclaim
Miles Davis, Randy Weston, Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette, and Gary Peacock all cite Jamal as a major influence in use of rhythm and space as well as his innovative use of multi-tonal melodic lines and his unique extended 'vamps'. The element of surprise is an important part of Jamal's improvisations to them all.
At the Pershing: But Not for Me (1958) is considered a jazz classic. The Ahmad Jamal trio played on it and featured Jamal on piano, Israel Crosby on bass, and Vernel Fournier on drums.
Jamal's style has changed steadily over time - from the lighter, breezy style heard on his 1950s recordings to the Caribbean stylings of the 1970s and onto the large open voicings and bravura-laden playing of the nineties. Jamal has always been distinctive however for his use of space, his dramatic crescendos, and for a very staccato orientation with chords.
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.
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. Mr Jamal continues to tour extensively with his trio.
Critic Stanley Crouch cites AHMAD JAMAL's impact on the fresh form in jazz as an outstanding conceptionalist. Crouch consider's Mr. Jamal's distinctive style as having had an influence on the same level as "Jelly Roll Morton, Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, Count Basie, Theolonius Monk, Horace Silver and John Lewis, all thinkers whose wrestling with form and content influenced the shape and texture of the music, and whose ensembles were models of their music visions."
In 1951, Mr. Jamal first recorded Ahmad's Blues on Okeh Records. His arrangement of the folk tune Billy Boy, and Poinciana (not his original composition), also stem from this period. In 1955, he recorded his first Argo (Chess) Records album that included New Rhumba, Excerpts From The Blues, Medley (actually I Don't Want To Be Kissed), and It Ain't Necessarily So -- all later utilized by Miles Davis and Gil Evans on the albums "Miles Ahead" and "Porgy and Bess." In his autobiography, Mr. Davis praises Mr. Jamal's special artistic qualities and cites his influence. In fact, the mid-to-late 1950's Miles Davis Quintet recordings notably feature material previously recorded by Mr. Jamal: Squeeze Me, It Could Happen To You, But Not For Me, Surrey With The Fringe On Top, Ahmad's Blues, On Green Dolphin Street and Billy Boy.
In 1956, Mr. Jamal, who had already been joined by bassist Israel Crosby in 1955, replaced guitarist Ray Crawford with a drummer. Working as the "house trio" at Chicago's Pershing Hotel drummer Vernell Fournier joined this trio in 1958 and Mr. Jamal made a live album for Argo Records entitled But Not For Me. The resulting hit single and album, that also included Poinciana -- his rendition could be considered his "signature". This album remained on the Ten Best-selling charts for 108 weeks -- unprecedented then for a jazz album. This financial success enabled Mr. Jamal to realize a dream, and he opened a restaurant/club, The Alhambra, in Chicago. Here the Trio was able to perform while limiting their touring schedule and Mr. Jamal was able to do record production and community work.
Mr. Jamal was born on July 2, 1930, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A child prodigy who began to play the piano at the age of 3, he began formal studies at age 7. While in high school, he completed the equivalent of college master classes under the noted African-American concert singer and teacher Mary Caldwell Dawson and pianist James Miller. He joined the musicians union at the age of 14, and he began touring upon graduation from Westinghouse High School at the age of 17, drawing critical acclaim for his solos. In 1950, he formed his first trio, The Three Strings. Performing at New York's The Embers club, Record Producer John Hammond "discovered" The Three Strings and signed them to Okeh Records (a division of Columbia, now Sony, Records).
Mr. Jamal has continued to record his outstanding original arrangements of such standards as I Love Your, A Time For Love, On Green Dolphin Street (well before Miles Davis!), End of a Love Affair, to cite a few. Mr. Jamal's own classic compositions begin with Ahmad's Blues (first recorded on October 25, 1951!), New Rhumba, Manhattan Reflections, Tranquility, Extensions, The Awakening, Night Mist Blues and most recently If I Find You Again, among many others..
In 1994, Mr. Jamal received the American Jazz Masters award from the National Endowment for the Arts. The same year he was named a Duke Ellington Fellow at Yale University, where he performed commissioned works the Assai String Quartet. A CD is available of these works.
In 1970, Mr. Jamal performed the title tune by Johnny Mandel for the soundtrack of the film Mash!; and in 1995, two tracks from his hit album But Not For Me -- Music, Music, Music, and Poinciana -- were featured in the Clint Eastwood film The Bridges of Madison County.
Mr. Jamal's CD entitled The Essence features tenor saxophonist George Coleman -- Mr. Jamal's first recording made with a horn! Critical acclaim and outstanding sales resulted in two prestigious awards: D'jango D'or"(critics) and Cloch (pronounced "shock" -- for sales) in France. Its success generated a concert at Salle Pleyel (equivalent to Carnegie Hall), and a CD has been released Ahmad Jamal a Paris (1992) and a second "live" concert by Mr. Jamal in l996 under the same title, unissued except in France and available on the Dreyfus Records on the Internet, Mr. Jamal rightly considers one of his best recordings. Ahmad Jamal's 70th Birthday "live" concert recording Olympia 2000, is known as The Essence Part III. The Essence, Part II, featured Donald Byrd on the title track, and on his CD entitled Nature, Stanley Turrentine is featured on The Devil's In My Den, and steel drummer Othello Molineaux augments the trio format. Continuing his recording career, Mr. Jamal released In Search of on CD, and his first DVD Live In Baalbeck.
For students of the piano, Hal Leonard Publications has published The Ahmad Jamal Collection of a collection of piano transcriptions. Mr. Jamal continues to record exclusively for the French Birdology label, and his albums are released on Verve and Atlantic in the Unided States.
Mr. Jamal is an exclusive Steinway piano artist.
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Born Frederick Russell Jones on July 2, 1930, in Pittsburgh, PA. Education: Studied music with concert singer Mary Caldwell and pianist James Miller. Addresses: Record company--Atlantic Records, 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York City, NY 10104,; Publicist--Sue Cassidy Clark, 1040 Chesnut St., San Francisco, CA 94109-1230; 470 West End Ave., No. 10E, New York City, NY 10024 Phone: (212) 707-2533 Fax: (212) 405-5665 E-mail: Ahmad Jamal: ajamal@cybernex.net.
Regarded as an outstanding conceptionalist with a distinctive style, pianist and composer Ahmad Jamal has made a significant impact on the jazz idiom. His lean style, complex use of space, and simple embellishments have served as a model for many other artists, most notably Miles Davis. "I live until he makes another record," the legendary trumpeter once said of Jamal, as quoted by Down Beat's Owen Cordle. But despite his impact on jazz, Jamal feels uncomfortable with the label "jazz musician." Instead, he prefers to call himself an "American classical" musician. "I started the phrase 'American classical music,'" he said to American Visions contributor Eugene Holley. "The term 'jazz' is certainly not sufficient; it was used to try and downgrade the music, but the music was so viable and it was so potent, nothing could keep it down."
Over the course of his professional career, Jamal, who converted to Islam in 1950, led several trios and made some 50 recordings, including the 1958 landmark album Ahmad Jamal at the Pershing. His ensemble peaked in popularity during the 1950s and 1960s, when he performed mostly jazz standards. Since the 1980s, Jamal has focused his attention on his own compositions. While less accepted later in his career by the mainstream, Jamal continued to draw critical accolades. In recognition of his achievements, he received a $20,000 Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1994. That same year, Yale University named Jamal a Duke Ellington Fellow. In 1996, for his album The Essence Part 1, Jamal won the prestigious Django d'Or award in France. His follow-up projects, The Essence Part 2 and The Essence Part 3, released in 1997 and 1998, respectively, further illustrated Jamal's ever-evolving musicianship.
Jamal was born Frederick Russell Jones on July 2, 1930, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a city that also produced such jazz talent as Kenny Clarke, Mary Lou Williams, Erroll Garner, and Art Blakey. A child prodigy, Jamal immersed himself in European classical music early in life. At the age of three, he started playing the piano, and at age seven, Jamal's mother arranged for her son to take formal lessons. A domestic, she walked to work in order to save enough money to pay for Jamal's training. By the age of eleven, the pianist was already skilled enough to begin playing professionally at a local club. "I can't remember the place," he said in an interview with Boston Globe staff writer Marian Christy. "I only remember that people threw loads of money on the bandstand. Maybe it was only a few dollars total. But it sure seemed like a lot of money then."
In high school, Jamal further pursued classical studies with noted concert singer Mary Caldwell and pianist James Miller, completing with his instructors the equivalent of college graduate classes. To this day, Jamal's classical background remains influential. "There are very few people playing European classical music that also know Art Tatum and Duke Ellington," said Jamal to Holley. "However, it's not the same position with the so-called jazz musician, who has to be twice as good as the so-called classical musician and know both worlds in order to get work."
During his teen years, Jamal also explored his growing interest in jazz and was greatly inspired by Art Tatum, Teddy Williams, and, especially, a local bebop pianist named Erroll Garner. "Erroll was my major inspiration, not one, my major inspiration," he said, as quoted by Greg Fitzgerald for Nation Public Radio's Jazz Profiles. In fact, critics would later compare Jamal's technique to that of Garner, though many cite Jamal as a more intricate player. Because he used the full range of the keyboard in a more simple manner, Jamal was later able to present his trio as a scaled down orchestra of sorts.
At age 14, Jamal joined the musicians union. Upon graduating from Westinghouse High School in Pittsburgh in 1948, he joined the George Hudson Orchestra in Atlantic City and embarked on a national tour. Winning significant critical acclaim for his solos, Jamal nonetheless learned a certain truth about playing before an audience. As he commented to Christy, "Performing is like being the matador in the bullring. You have to be constantly concerned about what you're doing or you get gored."
In 1949, Jamal started playing with violinist Joe Kennedy, Jr., and his group, the Four Strings. Kennedy, who grew up with Jamal, had always regarded the pianist as immensely talented. "When he was 13 or 14, his harmonic sense even way back then was beyond his years," Kennedy recalled to Holley. "One night we heard Art Tatum, and Ahmad played a tune for him, and Tatum said that that boy is a coming great." Led by Jamal's tight arrangements and minimalist approach, the quartet brought the "chamber jazz" sound into being. Jamal, by taking the popular standards of the day and adding to them Latin and blues rhythms and orchestral voicings, captured the attention of many within the jazz community.
Miles Davis, in particular, greatly admired Jamal's style. "Miles really listened and what he heard from Ahmad was the orchestra that Ahmad had under his fingers," bassist Jamil Nasser told Fitzgerald. "Miles was one of those sharp people who wasn't too hip to say 'this is the way I want to go.'" Later in his autobiography, Davis said of Jamal, "He knocked me out with his concept of space, his lightness of touch, his understatement, and the way he phrased notes and chords and passages." Throughout his own career, Davis recorded many of the same standards that Jamal played, including "A Gal in Calico," "My Funny Valentine," and "Surrey With the Fringe on Top." And on his 1959 Miles Ahead recording with Gil Evans, Miles transcribed "New Rumba," an original composed by Jamal, note for note. In addition to borrowing from Jamal's repertoire, he further insisted that his accompanying pianist, Red Garland, to try to sound like Jamal.
In 1950, Jamal worked as accompanist for the Caldwells, a popular song and dance team. Also that year, he formed his first trio, the Three Strings, with guitarist Ray Crawford (from the Four Strings) and bassist Eddie Calhoun. The group won extended engagements at such venues as the Blue Note in Chicago and the Embers club in New York City. While performing at the Embers, producer John Hammond "discovered" the Three Strings and signed them to Columbia's Okeh Records soon thereafter.
In 1956, Jamal constructed a new trio--consisting of bassist Israel Crosby, who replaced Calhoun in 1955, and a drummer instead of a guitarist--and took up residence as the house group at Chicago's Pershing Hotel. In 1958, drummer Vernell Fournier joined Jamal and Crosby, and the trio made a live recording. The resulting album, Ahmad Jamal at the Pershing, featuring his famous version of "Poinciana," earned recognition as a milestone in jazz recordings. Winning praise from jazz music listeners as well as critics, Ahmad Jamal at the Pershing rose to the top of the Billboard charts, where it remained for an astounding 108 weeks.
Spurred by the success of his trio's recording, Jamal recorded and toured non-stop in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He also opened his own non-alcoholic club, the Alhambra, in Chicago, which closed in 1962. Some years later, Jamal moved to New York and formed another trio with bassist Jamil Nasser and drummer Frank Gant. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, several other noted jazz players received their start from Jamal. Bassist Richard Davis, composer/arranger Richard Evans, and drummer Walter Perkins, among others, all "graduated" from Jamal's trio.
Following the release of Digital Worksin 1981, featuring new versions of "But Not for Me" and "Poinciana," Jamal concentrated increasingly on original compositions. "I believe that we've done enough adaptation of popular songs," he said to Holley. "Now is the time for the musician to write his own repertoire rather than to keep resurrecting the things that are in somebody else's head." Although less accessible than his reworkings of popular standards, Jamal's own songs were decidedly more complex and evolved.
Jamal has continued to record and perform. In 2000, the Chess label re-issued Ahmad Jamal at the Pershing as a two-CD set under the title Cross Country Tour. Now in his seventies, he still plays with the same enthusiasm and brilliancy of a young man. "I've been described as intense," he told Christy. "Maybe it's true. You can't separate the man and the music. There are always tunes floating in my head. I'm always planning for the next performance.... If it's possible, I'm drawn to my music more deeply than ever before. When I pass a piano anywhere, I have to touch it or play it."
Ahmad Jamal's Career
Began playing piano at age three and taking classical music lessons at age seven; toured with the George Hudson Orchestra touring, 1948; joined Joe Kennedy, Jr.'s the Four Strings, 1949; worked as accompanist for the Caldwells, formed his first trio, the Three Strings, 1950; released Ahmad Jamal at the Pershing, 1958; released Digital Works, 1981; released The Essence: Part 1, 1996. Awards: National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Master of Jazz Award, 1994; Yale University, Duke Ellington Fellow, 1994.
Source: www.jazzine.com/ artists/ahmad_jamal.phtml
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Felix Lamouroux interviewed Ahmad Jamal about his work, life and future at the Philharmony of Cologne, Germany.
Hello Mr. Ahmad Jamal
Hello Felix
Do you listen to your own music?
It’s about all I listen to. I don’t listen to a lot of music, I’m very particular about what I listen to. I listen to my own music more now than any other because I’m busy with writing now. I’m in a very productive phase of my life – I’m writing all the time now. I’ve started two compositions since I’ve been in Cologne. I started writing as soon as I got to the hotel – I started hearing some things. So I’m listening a lot to my own thing, cause I’m writing a lot, and when you write you have to listen.
And what other music do you listen to?
I listen to many many things, I may listen to Ravel, I may listen to Flamenco guitars from Spain – I listen to many things, but I don’t listen to much, cause I’m too busy and a lot of the stuff out there I don’t like. There are many things I don’t wanna listen to at all. They’re not musical to me. I only listen to things that are musical.
And what fascinates you most about Jazz?
What fascinates me most about Jazz is the confusion about the world itself – that’s what fascinates me. The confusion – because to me there is no such thing as Jazz! Duke Ellington never called himself a Jazz musician. Count Basie never called himself a Jazz musician. And that’s what fascinates me – the way we have sophisticated such an unsophisticated term. We have made it very sophisticated but the term itself was unsophisticated and never intended to become this sophisticated. They call this music Jazz – It is not Jazz, it’s American Classical Music – that’s what it is, or whatever you want to call it. I call it American Classical Music – I started this term!
What is the challenge in playing American Classical music?
To me it’s the greatest music challenge in the world. Because in order to play so called Jazz you have to know Debusy, you have to know Duke Ellington you have to know Ravel you have to know Liszt you have to know Count Basie you have to know Art Tatum you have to know all these forms. You have to know the best of both worlds. The musician whose playing first violin in a symphony is one dimensional, he only has to know one thing. We have to be multi-dimensional, we have to know all these forms in order to be successful. You have to know Mozart... A classical example is Marcelus. You will never find this type of person in the so called classical community. You can only find such people in the Jazz community, because we are multi-dimensional. So in the sense we are the superior musicians – people don’t like me to say that but it’s the truth, cause we have to know all forms. That’s why Art Tatum was so fascinating to many so called classical players because he was so technically proficient beyond comprehension. Fats Wallum – beyond comprehension. And it goes on and on – Benny Goodman he also was multi-dimensional, and he preferred to do so called Jazz – he preferred to be with Teddy Willson, Lionel Hampton, Gene Cooper etc.
Looking in the dictionary under Jazz you will find: Improvised music – What is the difficulty about improvising ?
Every musician improvises – Mozart improvised. So that’s another misconception. They think improvisation is just for Jazz – that’s crazy. All musicians improvise what makes it a permanent record is when they write it on manuscript – otherwise it’s improvisation. It comes out of their mind. Bach was improvising Liszt was improvising. There is much of Mozart’s work you never gonna find cause he never wrote it down. There is no musician who is able to write down everything what comes out of his mind! Now there are sections within the written form where you become a solist. That’s another aspect of improvisation. But you are a solist at that point, and you do your improvising as a solist and you don’t have time to write down everything you are playing as a solist – So this is the fascinating thing about Jazz. You have Improvisation within Improvisation!
Are you religious? And does it influence your music in any way?
Isn’t anyone religious?
Does it influence you and your music?
Of course it is influencing me. Any philosophy invades the whole body, mind, spirit. That’s first! What I think philosophically it’s nummero uno – it’s the most important thing. Without that is nothing. I don’t want a doctor performing an examination on me that doesn’t believe in anything. That’s an inferior doctor. I don’t want to be anybody that has no believe, that believes that there’s nothing but him or her!
He believes in himself!
It’s impossible to have confidence without some believe. You can not be confident if you have not established a believe in the creative – you have to have believe in something that’s controlling the universe – a power that controls the universe. And it’s not you it’s not me it’s not Bill Clinton or Jelzin.
How strong do you think is your influence in other musicians?
What do you think how strong it is? You should know more about that than me! I’m too busy with myself to think of my influence on other musicians. I don’t know if I’m influencing. I want to influence me – but if I am influencing somebody out there – good!
What was the best album you’ve ever recorded?
One of my best recordings "Jamal in Paris" – these are the two best. It’s a wonderful recording! I love it! It has the energy that you don’t hear nowadays on recordings. As the same energy that was captured on jealous at the philharmonic with Norman G. He used to record everybody on location. He recorded Art Tatum, Ray Brown, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald etc.
You can’t get that energy in the studio! You can only get it on location!
Where are you living now?
I’m living in the country upstate in New York! Living there is very quiet and tranquil – that’s good for working! I love it!
In what way have you been influenced by African and oriental music?
I think inharitly – I don’t concentrate on thinking in terms. I started playing when I was three years old. That’s very young - so everything I heard goes in my brain. Music universal – I played Cuban, I played Brazilian, I played American, European, Chinese, middle Eastern – all concepts. All these tonalities are in my head anyway, so inharitly I play like that!
The album ‘Nature’ was a great success! Are you already working on a new album after this Paris album?
Not consciously. No. I do not go in the studio often. It’s difficult to think in terms like going in a studio. I only go in a studio when I feel like it! I don’t say: I make this right now! I don’t believe in going to a studio to make a record – that’s stupid. You go to a studio when you have something to say that means something! You have nothing to say – don’t go to the studio!
Don’t you have something to say?
I always have something to say. But it has to be strong enough for me to say: OK this is it! You have to have something strong enough to go to the studio! If I have something that’s not strong enough – I don’t write it!
I have a thousand melodies in my head, but I don’t write them all down. I write down the jewels. So when I have a jewel I go to studio! Jewels are hard to find – you have to dig!
What’s your philosophy for live and music?
Try to increase your knowledge every day! Everything depends on the knowledge that one possesses. You have to increase it. And you have to have correct knowledge. Not negative knowledge, just positive knowledge. That’s the way you gonna make it in this world. An example is a doctor: he wants to save people – so he has to study! A teacher: if you want to teach kids you have to study, because if you don’t teach a kid proper you may make a monster out of him!
Do you think that music has got a message?
Always! Music shapes the philosophy of the population – What would the world be without music? Could you imagine a world without music? But look at the stuff they write now! To call this stuff music is horrible! It’s creating a Frankenstein monster. You put two infants in a room, who never heard anything! One of them you feed with Rock, Punk, Acid all these forms that has nothing to do with music. The other one you feed with Duke Ellington, Ravel, Debussy, Count Basie, Art Tatum, Billy Holiday, Ahmad Jamal, Oscar Peterson etc. Which is gonna come out as a Frankenstein monster and which as a little angel?
So music can shape the philosophy of the people. That’s why it’s so important that we start becoming serious because there is to much stuff which is not good for the spirit, for the heart and it’s not good for the ears.
For what are they recording this? Because it’s making money? Crack is making money too! Crack was sold more than Madonna or the Rolling Stones, but that doesn’t make it right!
Why do you think people are listening so much to this stuff?
Because that’s what is given to them! If people only know the neck of a chicken they’ll throw away the rest! If they only know the neck, they think it’s the best part of the whole. So people are subject to the power structure – the people at the top. And because they accept this they accept all this bad music and the other junk! It’s crazy!
And why do you think some musicians are making such bad stuff?
Not the musicians are running the record business - The lawyers run the record business! And it’s produced because people don’t care about anything but money. But do you know what make the record business? – People like Louis Armstrong or Nat King Cole. At the beginning of every record company there was a Louis Armstrong or a Dave Brubak and no Rolling Stones or Beatles. But although people like Art Tatum, Duke Ellington or John Coltrane are dead the music is still out there, and it sells without being promoted! And it’ll be also there when all the junk is forgotten. But nowadays some people are sick – we got sick people who want the illusion.
Thank you for this interview Mr. Jamal
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Discography
Ahmad's Blues (1951)
Chamber Music of the New Jazz (1955)
Count 'Em 88-The Ahmad Jamal Trio (1956) Argo
At the Pershing: But Not for Me (1958)
Live at The Pershing & The Spotlight Club (1958)
Happy Moods (1960) Argo
All of You (1961)
Cross Country Tour 1958-1961 (1962)
Poinciana (1963)
Extensions (1965)
Heat Wave (1966)
Standard Eyes (1967)
Tranquility (1968) (Impulse! Records)
The Awakening (1970) (Impulse! Records)
Freeflight (1971)
Outertimeinnerspace (1972) (Impulse! Records)
'73 (1973)
Jamalca (1974)
Steppin Out with a Dream (1976)
One (1978)
Night Song (1980)
Live at Bubba's (1980)
Ahmad Jamal & Gary Burton In Concert (1981)
Digital Works (1985)
Live at The Montreal Jazz Festival (1985)
Rossiter Road (1986)
Crystal (1987)
Pittsburgh 1989 (1989)
Live in Paris 1992 (1993)
Chicago Revisited - Live at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase (1993)
I Remember Duke, Hoagy & Strayhorn (1995)
The Essence Part 1 (1995)
Big Byrd - The Essence Part 2 (1996)
Nature - The Essence Part III (1998)
With The Assai Quartet (1998)
Picture Perfect (2000)
Ahmad Jamal à l'Olympia (2001)
In Search of Momentum (2003)
After Fajr (2005)
Legendary Okeh & Epic Recordings (1951-1955) (2005)
It's Magic (2008)
Poinciana - One Night Only (2008)
Sampled By
Ahmad Jamal's music has also been sampled by many hip-hop artists, including:
J Dilla produced De La Soul's title track on their 1996 Stakes Is High album. The track is primarily based on Ahmad Jamal's Swahililand.
"The World is Yours" by Nas has a sample of "I Love Music" by Ahmad Jamal, while the same song was also sampled by DJ Premier for "Me or the Papes", by Jeru the Damaja
"Soliloquy of Chaos" by Gang Starr has a sample of his cover of "Misdemeanor"
"They Say" by Common (rapper) and John Legend has a sample of "Ghetto Child".
"Resurrection" by Common (rapper) contains a sample of "Dolphin Dance".
Pete Rock produced Deda's track on his album The Original Baby Pa. The name of the track is called "Can't Wait" and it contains a sample from Ahmad Jamal's "Dolphin Dance".
The Jay-Z song "Feelin It" contains a sample from Ahmad Jamal's "Pastures"
"New Hip Hop" by Binary Star features a piano lick sampled from "Poinciana".
The song "Your My Everything" from The Awakening CD was sampled for a song called "Renaissance" by All Natural featuring the Lone Catalysts.
"Be Your Girl" by Teedra Moses has a sample of "The Awakening" by Ahmad Jamal.
By Edan on the song "Key. Bored" from the album Primitive Plus. The song used is "Surrey with a Fringe on Top" from Live at the Pershing.
A portion of "Extensions" from Outtertimeinnerspace was sampled by Madlib for the song "Bluffin"' on Quasimoto The Unseen.
The World Is A Ghetto was sampled by DJ Premier for Fat Joe's "The Sh*t Is Real"
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