Posts Tagged Ahmad Jamal
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October 1, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Herlin Riley: Perpetual Optimism
Herlin Riley Perpetual Optimism Mack Avenue Herlin Riley has been a mainstay of Wynton Marsalis’ Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra – and many of Wynton’s non-Lincoln solo albums too. He’s also been on recent recordings by Ahmad Jamal, and he carries the heart and soul of New Orleans in his bones and in his playing […]Archive
September 21, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Ahmad Jamal: Ballades
Ahmad Jamal Ballades Jazz Village He’s just turned 89, he’s given us more than enough already – I haven’t even heard every Ahmad Jamal album that is available, and yet a part of me is worried at how I’ll feel when he’s no longer here to make music. Because over the last decade he’s released […]Archive
June 22, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
Ahmad Jamal: Marseille
Ahmad Jamal Marseille Harmonia Mundi Musique S.A.S./JazzVillage/[PIAS] Ahmad Jamal has been considered one of the truly great jazz pianists for some time now – go back through his catalogue and hear how he adapted to electric playing and fusion across the 70s, even dabbling in some soft, chilled funk. And then back out the other […]Archive
March 5, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 742
Ahmad Jamal, Ahmad Jamal at The Top: Poinciana Revisited (1969) Many years ago a customer asked me to order him an Ahmad Jamal CD. It was my first job in a music store, I was 21, I loved a bit of jazz but I didn’t know Ahmad Jamal. The customer returned the CD, unhappy that […]Archive
January 25, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Cyrus Chestnut: A Million Colors In Your Mind
Cyrus Chestnut A Million Colors In Your Mind HighNote Records, Inc. Cyrus Chestnut continues to go from strength to strength as a jazz pianist capable of reinventing pop and rock hits under those blues and gospel hues he finds within and around jazz. He continues, also, to pay respect to the true standards – so […]Archive
November 1, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 798
Ahmad Jamal, Macanudo (1962) I love when this happens – you review the reissue of an album – and you’re hooked. Out of nowhere. So that meant I had to buy this album; the LP that is. The vinyl. The record. Well, I’m enough of an Ahmad Jamal fan anyway – that, probably, I would […]Archive
October 5, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
Aaron Goldberg: The Now
Aaron Goldberg The Now Sunnyside Records The easy, obvious comparison with Goldberg and his trio (bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland, they also work with the great Charles Lloyd) is to Brad Mehldau’s small combo/trio work – tinkering, skittish percussion flirts alongside piano glissando, they so effortlessly, as a group, fall back into the […]Archive
September 27, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
Ahmad Jamal: Live in Marciac, August 5th 2014
Ahmad Jamal Live In Marciac, August 5th 2014 Jazz Village Ahmad Jamal has delivered great albums in recent years – not just good albums, not just great-stuff-to-know-he’s-still-alive-and-playing-capable albums, but kickass records that burst with ideas, that remind of his spirited playing across so many decades; that show he still has it – can’t lose it […]Archive
July 2, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
Ahmad Jamal: Macanudo
Ahmad Jamal Macanudo (reissue) Argo Originally released in 1962 this album – a trim 26 minutes – featured the great jazz pianist backed by the Richard Evans-conducted orchestra. A rare outing of this nature for Jamal – who, to this day, favours the trio format it is here available for the first time on CD, […]Archive
January 27, 2014 by Simon Sweetman
Wayne Shorter Quartet: Without A Net
Wayne Shorter Quartet Without A Net Blue Note Records Here’s the document of Wayne Shorter and Quartet’s recent tour – since this was released the saxophonist turned 80. He plays with the vim and vigour of a man half that age. What’s dazzling here is that it’s not just a group of great players propping […]Archive
November 19, 2013 by Simon Sweetman