Ahmad Jamal, 1930-2023

The jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal, 1930-2023.

My dad's signed Ahmad Jamal LP. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

A closeup of Jamal's signature. 

The jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal died on April 16th at age 92. Jamal’s piano work was influential on generations of jazz musicians. Jamal made his first recordings in the early 1950’s, often in the jazz trio format, and he broke through to the mainstream in a big way with his 1958 live album At the Pershing: But Not for Me. The album stayed on the pop charts for a year. Jamal’s version of “Poinciana” became his signature song. “Poinciana” had been around for a while—Jamal had recorded it earlier in the 1950’s, but his 1958 recording turned the song inside out. Vernel Fournier laid down an easy groove on the drums, allowing Jamal to solo on “Poinciana” for eight minutes, spinning out an endless supply of riffs and catchy hooks. By the end of the song, the trio had created a jazz masterpiece.  

Ahmad Jamal’s playing was a big influence on an important jazz musician who wasn’t a piano player: Miles Davis. Davis famously said, “All my inspiration comes from Ahmad Jamal. I live until he makes another record.” Davis recorded Jamal’s song “New Rhumba” on his 1957 album Miles Ahead, his first collaboration with the arranger Gil Evans. Davis also recorded “Ahmad’s Blues” in 1956 for Prestige Records, even though Davis doesn’t even play on the song—it’s a trio performance by Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. (The song can be found on the album Workin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet.) On Davis’s 1958 album Milestones the trio of Garland, Chambers, and Jones again covered a song popularized by Jamal, “Billy Boy.” The fact that Miles Davis included two songs that he doesn’t even play on written by or associated with Jamal on his albums tells us that Davis held Jamal in high regard.  

My father introduced me to a lot of the jazz music that I absorbed as a teenager. He was my introduction to artists like Dave Brubeck, Oscar Peterson, Ramsey Lewis, and Ahmad Jamal. My dad and I went to see Ahmad Jamal at the Dakota Jazz Club in 1997 or 1998. At that time, I didn’t know Ahmad Jamal’s music. Driving to the concert, we listened to the CD of At the Pershing: But Not for Me. When we pulled into the parking lot, “Poinciana” was playing, and we stayed in the car to finish listening to the song before going in. I remember the hypnotic spell the song cast on me during that first listen. The concert was great, and from then on, I was an Ahmad Jamal fan. Back in those days of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, not a lot of Ahmad Jamal’s albums from the 1950’s and 1960’s had been reissued on CD, so trips to Cheapo or Electric Fetus invariably involved searching the used bins to see if any Jamal CDs had turned up.  

I saw Ahmad Jamal in concert three or maybe four times over the years, all at the Dakota Jazz Club. I reviewed Jamal’s 2010 show at the Dakota here. I never really met him, but in 2002 Lowell Pickett, the owner of the Dakota, took my CD and my friend’s CD to Jamal for him to sign. Jamal was eating in a private room, and we stood in the doorway while he signed our CD’s. I think we just said, “Thank you” or something to him, and he replied, “You’re welcome.” It was brief, but a nice interaction. The CD I had Jamal sign was Priceless Jazz, a 1998 compilation CD. Looking back, it seems kind of cheesy to have him sign a compilation instead of an actual album, but as I said, there weren’t a lot of his original albums on CD back then. As I was listening to the Priceless Jazz compilation a few months ago, I realized that I knew every note of that CD, so it certainly made a deep impression on me, and maybe it wasn’t such a cheesy choice after all.  

One of my favorite recordings on the Priceless Jazz CD is Jamal’s version of Errol Garner’s “Misty.” Garner and Jamal both hailed from Pittsburgh, and so Jamal’s version might be a tip of his cap from one Steel City resident to another. Jamal’s version of “Misty” was recorded in 1966 for his album Heat Wave, and even by that time “Misty” had reached the status of an iconic classic. (Heat Wave is one of the many Ahmad Jamal albums that still has not been reissued on CD.) Jamal starts his version off with a low riff that gives no hint of what song is about to emerge. Finally, at almost 30 seconds in, he starts playing the song’s melody. In the middle of the song, Jamal starts a musical quote from the Drifters’ hit “On Broadway.” Jamal plays, “They say the neon lights are bright on,” but doesn’t finish the phrase. It’s a witty touch. Jamal’s version of “Misty” is less than three minutes long, but it provides us with a glimpse of the special touch that he brought to songs. 

As I was listening to more of Ahmad Jamal’s music a few months ago, I Googled him and read a couple of recent articles/interviews with him. There was something comforting about knowing that Ahmad Jamal was still alive, even if he might not be performing anymore. His energy was still out there in this world, whereas now it’s only transmitted through his recordings. Fortunately, there are many wonderful Ahmad Jamal recordings for his fans to treasure.