Jamal at The

Recorded at the Pershing Club in Chicago, IL, Jamal's third album (including the hit "Poinciana") was the turning point in his career. His liberal use of silence influenced many jazz musicians, including Miles Davis.

Ahmad Jamal - Jamal At The Penthouse (1959) {Argo Japan UCCC-9131, Mini LP rel 2005}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 165 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 68 Mb
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© 1959, 2005 Argo / Verve / Universal Japan | UCCC-9131 | 24-bit/96kHz remaster
Jazz / Cool / Post Bop / Piano

24bit/96kHz digitally remastered with original LP replica cardboard sleeve. A compelling title – as the record was recorded at Nola Penthouse Studios in New York, one of the hippest places to lay down tracks at the time – but the cover shows an image of the Playboy building in Chicago, famous from the TV show Playboy's Penthouse, Hugh Hefner's first foray into television! The actual music is equally compelling too – as the record is one of Ahmad's first non-trio sessions, and features some great larger arrangements from Joe Kennedy – backing the trio of Jamal, Vernel Fournier, and Israel Crosby with some light strings that create a wonderfully dreamy feel! Ahmad's piano glides along wonderfully in such a setting – set free a bit more than usual, and really sounding great on tracks that include "Ivy", "Comme Ci, Comme Ca", "Tangerine", "Never Never Land", "Ahmad's Blues", and "Seleritus".

Ahmad Jamal Trio - The Classic 1958-1962 Recordings (2013) {5CD Set Jazz Dynamics 24-bit Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.94 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 972 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 129 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1958-62, 2013 Jazz Dynamics | Jazz Dynamics 006
Jazz / Cool / Post Bop / Piano

This release compiles all of the originally issued recordings made by the classic Ahmad Jamal Trio with Israel Crosby and Vernel Fournier between 1958 and 1962 (Crosby died on August 11, 1962 at the age of 43). Included here are the legendary club performances taped in 1958 at the Pershing Lounge, in Chicago, as well as the subsequent sets recorded at the Spotlight, the Alhambra and the Blackhawk, plus various other sessions. This was the music that made Jamal famous. As a bonus, nine earlier versions of tunes from our set recorded by different formations of the Jamal trio.

Emerald City Nights: Live at the Penthouse (1965-1966) brings forth a collection of previously unreleased recordings of the iconic pianist Ahmad Jamal captured live at the hallowed Seattle jazz club. Featuring trios with bassist Jamil Nasser, and drummers Chuck Lampkin, Vernel Fournier and Frank Gant.

With a beautifully economical piano style full of grace, depth, tone, and plenty of swing, Ahmad Jamal is simply one of the greatest pianists in the history of jazz, but he has been woefully underexposed, even as he has been a giant influence in the genre, on Miles Davis, for one, and Gil Evans, who flirted with Jamal's chamber jazz style. This set collects eight of Jamal's seminal albums, 1955's Chamber Music of the New Jazz, 1956's Count 'Em 88, 1958's Ahmad Jamal Trio at the Spotlight Café and Ahmad Jamal at the Pershing: But Not for Me, 1959's Jamal at the Penthouse, 1960's Happy Moods, and 1961's All of You and Standard Eyes, all in one package. Together they form perhaps Jamal's richest creative stretch, making this set a welcome delight.

Both albums presented here, Ahmad Jamal at the Top: Poinciana Revisited and Freeflight, offer excellent portraits of the great pianist in transition at the end of the '60s and beginning of the '70s. Both feature Jamal's great rhythm section of bassist Jamil Sulieman Nasser and drummer Frank Grant. The first date was recorded in in 1969 at the Top of the Village Gate in New York City. Its reveals Jamal playing in a more driving, percussive style, though he keeps his utterly elegant chord voicings intact. Check the opening reading of Rodgers & Hart's "Have You Met Miss Jones," played as a slippery, complex, hard bop tune with some modal and Latin elements added. The version of "Poinciana" here is quicker, deeper in the rhythmic cut…