Israel Crosby

The Complete Ahmad Jamal Trio Argo Sessions 1956-62

by David Rickert
September 10, 2010

Ahmad JamalThe Complete Ahmad Jamal Trio Argo Sessions 1956-62Mosaic Records2010 If you're familiar with pianist Ahmad Jamal, it's more likely through his reputation and not through his music. Trumpeter Miles Davis famously remarked that Jamal taught him to be more economical in his playing: that the notes that aren't played are just as important as the ones that are. He was an enormously influential pianist in the 1950s who, despite a hit ...

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Extended Analysis

The Complete Ahmad Jamal Trio Argo Sessions 1956-62

by Eugene Holley, Jr.
August 20, 2010

"When I listen to these records now... when I listen to the Pershing, it's phenomenal, I must say. What they were doing, phenomenal, the lines and the purity. It's so pure ... It was sheer joy working with these two individuals. Master musicians," writes pianist/bandleader Ahmad Jamal in the liner notes to this collection. If there ever was a subject worthy of a Mosaic box set, Jamal is it. For six decades, he has been, for several reasons, ...