Remembering Ahmad Jamal

Ahmad Jamal, the American jazz pianist, composer, and band leader, passed away on April 16. He was 92.

Known for a taut, minimalist style, Jamal broke new ground in modern jazz. Miles Davis once said, “All my inspiration comes from Ahmad Jamal…[He] knocked me out with his concept of space, his lightness of touch, and the way he phrases notes and chords and passages.”

Born Frederick Russell Jones in Pittsburgh, Jamal began playing the piano at the age of 3, was composing by 10, and started his professional career at 14. In a 2001 interview with the New York Times, he described his music education, which was influenced by both classical music and jazz:

We didn’t separate the two schools. We studied Bach and Ellington, Mozart and Art Tatum. When you start at 3, what you hear you play. I heard all these things.

Recorded in a Chicago nightclub in 1958, Poinciana remains one of Ahmad Jamal’s most iconic tracks. The original song, written by Nat Simon and Buddy Bernier in 1936, is based on La Canción del Árbol, a Cuban folk song, “inspired by the exotic royal Poinciana tree.” (Matt Fripp)

The dreamy improvisation develops over a hypnotic rhythmic groove, created by drummer Vernel Fournier. In a recent story for Jazzfuel, Matt Fripp details the “previously unheard sound” Fournier created “with a mallet in his right hand alternating between the ‘off’ snare drum and floor tom, coupled with a stick in his left playing off-beats on the bell.” The distinct sonority was the result of an accidental quirk of fate, as Fournier recounted in an interview:

I had just joined the band and we were playing the London House in Chicago. We were the house band, so I was playing intermission and I was re-adjusting the drums. And Ahmad started playing “Poinciana,” so I just sat down and figured something out, you know, and it evolved.

All it is, is New Orleans beats. You’ve seen the drummer in New Orleans with the bass drum and the cymbal on top, that’s all it is. I found that out twenty years later. That’s where it came from.

In Poinciana, we hear the power of Jamal’s spare, refined style. Every note has meaning. In the words of Keith Jarrett, “This is swinging more than anything I’ve been listening to, but they’re doing less. What’s the secret here?”

Equally magical is Ahmad Jamal’s cool, laid-back improvisation on George Gershwin’s But Not for Me, written for the 1930 musical, Girl Crazy. As with the selection above, this was recorded in 1958 at the Lounge of Chicago’s Pershing Hotel:

Recordings

  • Ahmad Jamal: At the Pershing: But Not for Me Amazon

Featured Image: photograph by Gerald Herbert

About Timothy Judd

A native of Upstate New York, Timothy Judd has been a member of the Richmond Symphony violin section since 2001. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where he earned the degrees Bachelor of Music and Master of Music, studying with world renowned Ukrainian-American violinist Oleh Krysa.

The son of public school music educators, Timothy Judd began violin lessons at the age of four through Eastman’s Community Education Division. He was a student of Anastasia Jempelis, one of the earliest champions of the Suzuki method in the United States.

A passionate teacher, Mr. Judd has maintained a private violin studio in the Richmond area since 2002 and has been active coaching chamber music and numerous youth orchestra sectionals.

In his free time, Timothy Judd enjoys working out with Richmond’s popular SEAL Team Physical Training program.

2 thoughts on “Remembering Ahmad Jamal”

  1. RIP brother Ahmad… his Impulse compilation double LP I bought in the mid-70s knocked me out with its musicality, innovation, and groove. Two favorites are his renditions of Jobim’s “Wave” and Oliver Nelson’s “Stolen Moments.” Miles heard it too as did generations of jazz fans.

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