The Ultimate Ahmad Jamal Playlist

Introducing Ahmad Jamal

0:00Amma Jamal, a master of taste, time, and touch. A hero to Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Nas, and Jay Dilla. This is the ultimate Amma Jamal playlist.

0:15I'm Adam Anis. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear It podcast. Music Explored. Explored, brought to you today by the You'll Hear It Players Club, Peter. This is a brand new set of lessons that I began this season of the podcast where I'm going to do a selection of songs that we're going to do throughout the season. And I'm going to teach you how to play them from a very basic level. So if you have been thinking, I wish I could dust off my instrument and learn how to play, I don't know, Led Zeppelin's The Ocean or Radiohead's Weird Fishes or Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely? Well, that one I know already, but yeah.

0:45Well, you do. But, Ned, lock in. Plug in because we're going to... Let's plug into the Players Club. Plug into the Players Club. You can click the link in the description to learn more about the Players Club. You'll Hear It Players Club. Yeah, go to youllhearit.com. Sorry, I had to throw that in there. That's right. One more bit of housekeeping before we get going on this incredible lesson. While you're at youllhearit.com, leave us a voicemail because we are going to do a mailbag episode coming up and we want to hear from you. Right. And you might be scared because you're like, oh, my voice is going to be on the... If I leave you a speak pipe or a message that your voice is going to be on the podcast.

1:17And you would be right to be scared. It will be. But think about us. Our voice is all over this for an hour every week. So, join the party. Yeah, join the party. Plug in. No, but you get a chance. Don't be nervous. You get a chance to submit it first. A lot of people think, oh, I'm talking and it's being recorded. You have a chance to approve it or not. Yeah, you can edit it. You can approve it. You can redo it. Yeah. Well, I don't know about editing. Don't get excited, buddy. No, you can literally plug in, Peter. Plug in.

Celebrating a jazz legend

1:43Okay.

Celebrating a jazz legend

1:44Today's an exciting day. Oh, my gosh. I'm so excited. I know. I know you're about to say that, but it really is. I mean, we're talking about not only a legend, a gentleman. Goat. A goat, for sure. A steward of jazz piano for multiple generations, an OG, but really one of the most influential musicians that we're ever going to talk about on this pod in several different ways beyond just what we're going to celebrate, which is mostly going to be this incredible pianism. Is that a word? We don't know. We say the word. Do you know what I mean by it? Yes. So it becomes a word.

2:14You're talking about the vegetable, the pea? The snow pea? Pianism. Pianistic abilities. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And we're talking about none other than... Ahmad Jamal. The great. The great one. The great man. Ahmad Jamal. I mean, he is a hero to both of us. He's a hero to most modern jazz musicians and a lot of modern musicians because of his incredible sensibilities. Like, one of the greatest masters of time, touch, feel, melody, improvisation, voicings, taste. Yeah.

2:44He ran an amazing band for years. I love this. One of the stats that we have here on our worksheet for this episode, Peter, is that Ahmad Jamal was active playing and recording music from 1948 to 2020. Yes. That's 72 years. That's longer than Queen Elizabeth's reign in the 20th century, which is astounding. That's right. And he earned his. He wasn't just born into it. No, he really did earn it. And if you're not familiar with Ahmad Jamal, first of all, where you've been? But second of all, I'm envious of you today because you get to experience some of the great music of the 20th century for the first time.

3:20Yeah, and I think there's actually probably a lot of people don't feel shameful if you're not familiar. I think there's a lot of people that know the name. Yeah. And haven't really heard... Well, actually, they have heard. And I think that that's going to... How quickly does... Oh, it's going to happen pretty quick? But, yeah, I think he's one of those artists that really has name recognition, but a lot of people haven't dug in. So, like you say, envious for sure. It's going to be... This is a great time because I think we have an incredible... What do we have, 10 or 11 tracks here? We've got 10 tracks here. Five each. Are we really naming this the ultimate Ahmad Jamal? Now I'm nervous.

3:51That was your idea, buddy. Was it? The ultimate Ahmad Jamal playlist. Well, when we have the pre-production meetings, I'm so excited. I'm so cocky. But then we get in here and I'm like, I want to do Mr. Jamal right.

Excerpts from the Blues

4:02Well, this is truly a playlist because of your first pick, Peter. It's not anything on an album. Yes. So, this was from 1960 CBS Studios. The legendary CBS Studios. And this was from a television broadcast that brought together a lot of famous jazz musicians. I remember watching... Oh, the album was incredible. Yeah, I remember... Did you have the VHS? I have the VHS. They used to show the VHS at music school, like in classes all the time. Lazy teachers. They've shown footage of this. Ken Burns used some of this footage for his jazz documentary. Lazy documentary. No, it's actually incredible. But there's just because there's so many...

4:33Yeah, Lester Young, Ben Webster. Legendary artists. Billie Holiday. Yeah, everybody was there. Billie Holiday, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's beautifully filmed. I mean, dare I say, like for the technology they had for video and for audio and how it was broadcast, it's incredible how good it was. I mean, really holds up against a lot of the camera work today and I don't know. It's good. It's really good. We'll have links to it. So, of course, it's on YouTube and we'll watch a little bit of it. So, this is the trio. Ahmad Jamal on piano and some names that we're going to hear pretty much the entire day.

5:07Yeah. Israel Crosby on the bass and Vernel Fournier on the drums. Yeah. And this is... The title that we got from this is just called Excerpts from the Blues. Yeah, Excerpts from the Blues. Yeah.

5:20Second part of Jazz from 61, the Ahmad Jamal trio. Jazz from 61. Excerpts from the Blues by Ahmad Jamal. All those other musicians hanging out in the background, chilling. I think that's Joe Jones right there. Oh.

5:51Oh. Oh. Woo. Okay.

5:57Woo. Woo. Come on.

6:08Touch the dynamics. Oh, that left hand too Tasty AF Man, the arrangements The arrangements make it The arrangements are what makes this trio so special

6:32Who's 30 years old at this time?

6:39Woo! A little How do you like your blues? Major? Major 7? Why not?

6:50Man, look at that shot If you're on audio Make sure to go check this out on YouTube Bernal Fournier there Brush master Workshop technique Ben Webster For our listeners They keep cutting to like Just jazz legends Yeah, he's Ben Webster's cigarette Hanging out of his mouth Some hipster guy in the background Man, just

7:22Come on One of the most orchestral pianists that we've had Space too So much space Okay, we started it out right, didn't we?

7:54Yeah, I mean, for your first pull Oh yeah, by the way, this is my Yeah, pretty darn good Is this a competitive situation? It's not a competitive It's not like the draft Because we've No, because I've already won It's not competitive Boom Well, you picked five And then I picked five So I had to kind of deal with your five picks Oh, I'm looking at this list Somehow you managed Oh, I'm doing okay So it's not technically a draft We're just kind of pulling our top five picks Yeah And trying to make the ultimate playlist, right? So I am, though, coming at you Okay I'm going to come after you Because that was a great pull Okay And the only thing I could think of To counter would have been this

But Not for Me

8:25But not for me Live at the Pershing The sound of the drums Perfection, except for the tuning of the piano

8:57Even that, I'll take Oh, I love this line Man, why is this such a This is such an iconic arrangement and track It's so simple Can I tell you why? Maybe that's what makes it so cool And why Ahmad Jamal is the greatest Why? He's never ten seconds away from the melody Yeah Whether he's playing the melody Right Or during his solos Or even when he's not playing anything You can tell Listen to his solo He's never ten seconds away from That's true From He might not be five seconds

9:28Letting you know where the melody is It's such a lesson for any musician And when he commits to a melody He commits He doesn't pull back And then that counter melody That The bass line is Does it really come out? Almost no calming in the left hand Melody Ah Right Quoting the melody Yeah Oh I love this block chorus here Chromatic

10:02Imminently Imminently Oh Yeah The grass Oh no Hey do you miss the melody? Cause there it is There it is It rears its beautiful head Oh Man there's such a dramatic presence To like To when he's playing

10:33And when he's reading space Oh yeah Oh Oh Oh that's what For another Gang Hey do you miss the melody?

11:06I think this is the most finely crafted Jazz piano trio playing ever 100% This is what we were saying On our trio showdown The other week Not King Cole Chick Core I already planted my flag In a Machimaal's trio Certainly for craft Arrangement Of this The ending Ah This is one of the Simplest Most beautiful Endings Take it Ah

11:47Okay You know You don't have to have An out chorus of the melody No Playing the melody The whole time You know what I'm saying It's just It's crazy That this is a live This is live The Pershing of course 1958 Yep Chicago Illinois Yep What's really incredible About this is We always have a great Opportunity with live recordings You hear people Like you're in the club It's you know 19 It's the 50s Yeah Chicago Al Capone's coming in With the top No That's stereotyping Right Oh he did

12:17Be at the Green Mill a lot That's true Yeah We typically associate The greatest Live recordings As being Really free spirited You know Extended solos You know what's gonna happen The crowds roaring And this crowd Is very present Like it's It's a sort of Chattery You can hear them talking Yeah There's like There's stuff Going on Like there's a constant It's not like This silent thing But the way That they're playing And look I gotta We can talk about Because I heard Ahmad Play numerous times Obviously later on His career

12:48Live But the way They're playing on this Is like Everything has been Predetermined Yeah And I don't mean In a stale way But like They're doing a live gig Where people are hyped up You can feel the energy It's palpable Yeah But they're playing With a precision And craft That shouldn't work In a live situation To be like Oh that's boring But it's just like I mean And it wasn't written out He's A lot of the stuff That Ahmad And the whole band There were certain Cues and triggers And like things They were always done But like A lot of the stuff That sounds like Oh that must have been composed Because it's so perfect

13:19Wasn't That was actually improvised You can hear the different versions Of the tunes But he had that combination Between improv Planned Spontaneous arrangements And cues that he would have But this is a tight I mean how long is that thing Like 3 3 3.30 3.30 On a live trio Yeah You know in Chicago Yeah They're not stretching No Yeah he's not just Blowing a bunch of lines But there's so much music In that Like I keep saying The melody is always so close Yeah And then the rhythm section Of Israel Crosby And Vernel Fournier Are Cueing off of things

13:49That Ahmad's doing And creating these arrangements That are just stunning Yeah And they are in such A great pocket What I think about When I think about this trio Is quiet swagger They have this quiet confidence Quagger That sounds bad But Squagger Squalor That's better No But it is this It is this confidence That they exude You can hear it Through the speakers Confidence and no cockiness No cockiness There's like very little ego Going on I totally agree

14:19I mean you feel that It's like a It's a visceral feeling The way they're all playing And then the way they play It's such an ensemble Yeah But there's like this Restraint Yeah There's so much restraint Which takes confidence It takes confidence And typically in live situations It can be a little bit like Did they really bring it But damn did they bring it Yeah And then when you look The arc I mean I've listened to this track So many times I know You know And I think jazz pianists This might be the most You know Revered Sort of just trio crafted It's not like Ahmaud's

14:50Like greatest solo Or anything I mean it's certainly very good It's not I mean what we heard On the live thing In a way Was like more ripping and running Yeah Kind of Ahmaud But I mean just as As a trio craft It's perfect Yeah It is perfect It's like if you went to You know Wherever You know Greek architecture And you want to see Ionian Pillars Why are you looking at me like that Oh you didn't have those In high range We had those No but like Marvel columns Do you want to go see that And say Let's go to Athens Let's go Like this is the The Majbal trio

15:21Boom Let's go We're on our way Hey everyone Taking a break real quick We throw around A lot of music theory terms Here in the show If you're googling things Like what is a triad Hold on I'm googling What is a triad What is a Lydian chord How do you spell Lydian You know how to play that bro Good news We have all the answers for you In the liner notes You'll find the liner notes Companion guide With clear simple explanations Of the concepts we explore In this episode In the episode description Download the liner notes

15:51For this episode For free today Okay So you're saying I won that round I know this is not competitive No I don't think you did I think we tied I would say so far Well your next cut This is good So this is from

Old Devil Moon

16:04The album called Portfolio Of Ahmad Jamal And this is recorded live Live in the spotlight I think it was the original At the spotlight club Same year Released in 19 Recorded in 58 Released in 1959 Same band This is Old Devilman This is incredible DC Spotlight Club A little sophisticated swing

16:44They're always swinging A little swagger swing Always swagger Swingy swag Quagger Quagger Quiet swagger When we try to play like this We get a clog mire Swag it Swag it Oh Oh He gets obsessed With that E flat there What do you think

17:14Oh he's abandoned the melody He's never more than A few moments away You're right Always around the corner Oh space And bow Hey Man their breaks Their breaks are so great Melody Yeah

17:45They're so great because of Everything they do to lead up to it It was never just like break It's like the drama of it Is percolating Oh my god Hey Diminished Hey Diminished Hey. Diminished.

18:19Diminished. And you know, by, I'm not using space in the way that he does, using the melody in the way that he does, it's not a traditional, I solo, then the bass player solos, then we trade force with the drummer every time. Love it. It's like, there doesn't need to be that. You know what I mean? Like, everybody is involved the whole time.

18:50Group, collective, improvisation. It really is. It really is. It's, it's, it's, it's a, it's a template that, you know, so back in the day, we're talking 58? No, 90s, early 90s, 91, 92. I had a trio called the, I don't even know why I'm talking. We're, we're, we're, we're doing the Imajimal. Oh, you play? The Imajimal playlist. Let me talk about my trio. Yeah, I was going to say, can I hear your version of Old Devil Moon, please? We used to play this arrangement. Oh, really? Yeah, Brian Blade on drums, Christopher Thomas on bass. That's a hell of a band there. And we had like a regular gig at a place called Charlie B's in the Warehouse District in New

19:24Orleans. The gig started at 1 a.m. See, I'm, I'm not about that lifestyle anymore, man. It finished at 5 a.m. It was an after hours joint. So you were a young man. Yes. Yeah. Um, but it was, uh, it was such a great time because Brian, Chris, and myself were, we were all obsessed. Like you, I'm sure you were at that age as well. Um, or whatever. Like they're like, if you're a jazz pianist, all roads lead to Imajimal. Yeah. You know, I mean, I think you could say the same about Herbie and McCoy, whatever, but in a different way, I think with Imajimal.

19:56Yeah. But we were so obsessed with this. We had this gig of which oftentimes there was nobody there. It was this big, beautiful club, but it took a while. So we would just play, like each week we'd try to learn as many Imajimal trio, um, arrangements. And this is the one of the ones we really liked. And, you know, sometimes like some, some drunken, like, you know, bros would come in there in New Orleans for like a weekend and be like, play some Mardi Gras, uh, Indian music. What are you doing? And we're like up there. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Yeah. I'm trying to do my imitation of Imajimal. And you're probably like dead arrogant with those cats too.

20:27The bros coming in and you're just like, yeah, I'm not doing that for you. Yeah. That's amazing. That's a great poll. It's a great poll. My next poll is from the album, All of You from 1962. This is actually one of the first albums I ever bought on vinyl when I started collecting vinyl. And I found this at the Record Exchange down in South City, which actually you and me and the great Christian McBride were at several weeks ago. We almost lost Christian McBride in there. I know. He didn't want to leave. Yeah, that was, it's a, it's a cavernous record store. And I bought this album, uh, Amajimal Trio, All of You.

21:00Yep. This is, is this, this is from the live of the Alhambra though. It is. Yeah. He had a lot of repackaging.

Star Eyes Live at the Alhambra

21:05A lot of repackaging. And this is Star Eyes from that live gig 1961 at the Alhambra. Oh yeah. Hey.

21:43A little military band vibe. Oh, Errol Garner. Influence, perhaps? Yeah, definitely. There's a lot of Errol Garner here, isn't there? Was Errol Garner from Pittsburgh as well?

22:13I think that's right.

22:20Oh.

22:32Yeah.

22:40That clava he's playing on the hi-hat? Oh, Grinnell. That's that New Orleans stick. Isn't that sick?

22:49What do you switch it to the sticks? Yes. Oh.

22:55It's an unexpected use of that somehow. Like, it doesn't... It fits so well, but... But they're not, like, going all the way into a New Orleans vibe. No, it's not, like... But there's a lot of it. It's so crappy. That's Grinnell, right? Yeah. Like, he's bringing that at all times. Yeah. Yeah.

23:11Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. It's amazing.

23:17Yeah, you can't, like, name that groove. You don't need to name it. But we do have a track coming up next that we're going to be naming the groove.

23:25That's great. I haven't listened to that in a long time. Thank you for... Oh, the Alhambra. Did you know that was Ahmad's club? Yeah. He owned that club. He owned a club. Yeah, that's right. In the late 50s or early 60s. Early 60s, yeah. Ahmad Jamal famously from Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh punching above its weight. We like to say the same thing with St. Louis. Kind of a Rust Belt, overlooked Midwestern city. Pittsburgh's got some heavy waves. Yeah, for sure. Okay, now's where Peter takes the lead. Cardwell School of Music in Pittsburgh. Oh, because of that? Yeah. That's where he went to school. No, no, no, with your next pick. Oh, okay. Yeah. No, Ahmad Jamal started playing at three years old.

23:56I know, I know. If we're going back. Musical family, all that good stuff. And I never knew this. He was discovered by the famous, infamous Columbia executive John Hammond, who I believe... Am I going to speak out of turn here? You know what? I don't care. Do it. Because I'm not a journalist. Go. Didn't he discover Aretha Franklin as well? And some others? You're looking like just total blank. Like, could be yes, could be no, but you're not jumping on that bandwagon, are you? I'm not. You're not jumping off it. I'm not co-signing on it, though. I'm not. I don't know. John Hammond was like a fantastic exec for Columbia.

24:27Anyway. Okay, but the next track that we have, I don't know how I was able to grab this. Well, it was inevitable that one of us was going to do this. This is probably... This is definitely his most famous track. He played it all throughout. I mean, when I got a chance to hear him still in, you know, the 2010... I actually think... I guess, no, I'd never heard him after the pandemic, but... And... I think Me Too was around that time. Yeah. He was touring very late into his career. Yeah, yeah. All the time. And he didn't tour like crazy. Like, he did it when he wanted and would, like, just do, like, really good gigs.

24:59He'd do clubs. He'd do clubs. Yeah, he was here at Jazz St. Louis all the time. He was in Jazz St. Louis. He'd do festivals in Europe. He, you know, the first time I met him, which was, like, mid-90s, I'll never forget, I was getting in a van. It was, like, a shuttle van at, like, I think it was the Nice Jazz Festival. You know, it's, like, you're going from the hotel over, and I'm getting in, and, you know, people kind of move around. Somebody said, oh, let me, like, move to the backseat so I could get in there. And I was, like, oh, my God, this is a Majumal who's, like, physically in the same vicinity that I am. I mean, I almost was, like, ah!

25:30I just wanted to, like, crawl up and get in his lap and be, like, thank you. But I just, you know, I said, oh, Mr. Jamal, it's so great to meet you. I mean, he was, oh, my God, what we're listening to here, this is exactly the way he was. Did you ever get a chance to meet him? I never talked to him. Never talked to him. You know, he had a, there was a certain amount of presence. I think I shook his hand, but I never really, like, spoke with him. Yeah, he probably, I think because of the level of his playing, I mean, there's the fear factor as pianist, you know, whatever. But he was so warm and just, like, hey, you know, and then was, like, oh, who are you playing?

26:00Oh, I'll try to come. I was, like, oh, my God. And this was during the period where I'm, like, learning all his arrangements and we're playing them, you know. Cool, so cool. So it was like it was yesterday. I remember getting in that band. Yes, this is his biggest hit.

Poinciana

26:11I mean, he played it forever. Point Sienna, of course. And this is, I guess, the original recording? It's not. It's not. He recorded it very early on. I was testing you. You are correct. Yeah, but this is by far the most famous version, the live from the Pershing, right? Yes. And this is so iconic that literally the groove that's played here by Vernell Fournier on the drums is now a standard groove where you say, hey, give me a Point Sienna groove. Yeah. And every drummer knows exactly what you mean. Even beyond jazz, kind of. Yeah, of course. You know, it's kind of like a thing, you know. And it's rare that it would be named after, you know, like a song that's really from an arrangement.

26:45It's not even, I guess you could say, give me that Vernell Fournier groove, but even, I mean, like this is about how he plays it, but how the whole trio plays it. So here we go. Point Sienna.

26:56Oh.

27:00Oh.

27:09Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. This is also a masterpiece. You hear that forehand? Is that low tom? This is forehand. Yeah. Or is that bass drum? I believe it's a tom. It sounds like a timpani. I believe it's a floor tom. Yeah.

27:41Huh. That's that New Orleans on it. Huh. Woo. Two, two, three, four. I mean, it's subtle, too, isn't it?

27:51Doom. And the bass line, the way it interlays.

28:04And Amantz is playing so beautifully, sparsely, straight down. Like, there's not even sycopation. Yeah. He's just like. Yeah. Because everything's there. He knows he doesn't have to. Oh. Exactly. Exactly. There's no, like, anticipation. Right. Because everything, they set up the whole thing. Oh, that here. Oh, when it goes to the bridge.

28:32Yeah. Everything's super straight.

28:37And then let's. Let's.

28:41Oh.

28:44We know that's coming back. A little solo. Oh, no.

28:51Yeah. We're building up right now, Peter, effectively to what's one of the greatest moments in the history of jazz. What happens in a few seconds. Yeah.

29:04Right there. Oh, yeah. Instant. But there's a connection with the groove before, right?

29:12Oh.

29:19Then, not far from the melody, huh? Oh, man. That pride cymbal.

29:34Splashy.

29:44Huh. Huh. Huh. Huh. Huh. Huh. Huh. Huh. Huh. Huh. Huh. Huh. Huh. Huh. Huh.

29:55Like, I don't know how Brunel Sonja gets that snare drum without the snares to sound like that. I know. He's got those little pops. Those little rim shot pops.

30:05This is some of the small amount of soloing he does on this track.

30:11Oh.

30:13Back to the melody. And we're just hanging out here, too. Oh, man. All right. That's great. All right. Hold on. We got to hear the moment one more time. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I want to hear the moment one more time. It's a break. I mean, it's such a great break.

30:29And the build.

30:32One of the greatest, like, rim shots that happens right before. Good. Go.

30:39And this part is very... It's still got the groove, but it's still got the groove, but it's very, like, kind of square, the way Ahmad was playing before that, right? It's another time.

30:53Boom. Boom.

30:55Boom. Boom. Boom.

31:03So right here. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. You like that part? Magical. I mean, it is magical. It really is magical. All right. My next pick... And again, a live recording, which is... Yeah. It's insane. I think... Has everything we've done... Everything has been live. Or live on television. Well, this next one is the first one that's not live, and it's also the first one that doesn't have Israel Crosby or Vernell Fournier.

31:33Yep. This is from the 1970 album The Awakening on the Impulse record label. Heavily Sampled. Heavily Sampled. Heavily Sampled. Yeah. This is... I Love Music. This features Jamil Nasir on the bass and Frank Gant on the drums. And I Love Music. Sampled by Nas on The World Is Yours, famously. But the whole track is pretty killing. Dilla used to love this record. It's really this...

32:06Just hear Amon for like five minutes run through these changes like this. And... Hmm. Mm. Hmm.

32:31Hmm. Thank you.

33:041970. Yeah, so he's kind of a different player at this point. Yeah, he's on impulse now. Yeah, the sound is different. His approach is slightly different. I mean, he's maturing and he's exploring things more. And this, I mean, I heard him many times live. This is really, this is the way he was playing, like live. Agreed, agreed. He sounded, when I heard him live, he sounded more like this than he did on the live version. No, he was always moving. He was always moving forward. All right, next up. You got it. Okay. Ooh, I got another banger, but we're going back in time.

It Could Happen to You

33:32Back to 1958. This is, it could happen to you from the live at the spotlight again. Oh, okay. This is so good. We got to start. That is so good. This is another, this is another. Bring it. This is another one of those, like, you know, do we slap our way in? Do we, but this is just, this is just like, they ease their way directly into the swing.

33:53Ah, there we are. Party's gone. It's like you walk into the party. Hey, hey, I'm here.

34:09Go, pal.

34:11Ah.

34:18Hey. It's like getting slapped in the face.

34:48And no pickups on those. Just straight.

34:53I do like that melody. Yeah. Brian Blade, very influenced by Ferdinand Fournier.

35:04Bust his brushwork.

35:10There just aren't too many bands that sound like this. Yeah, and their two feel was very unique. Because it's like... Go, go, go. It's got a little bit of a lop. There's a lilt. Lilt, lop, lilt. A lulv. A lulv. A lulv. A lulv. Oh!

35:28And because the way Vernel, he's not like just... He's like... It's not like... It's not that straight kind of swing.

35:38Oh. Tick-a-dick-a-dick-a-dick-a-dick-a. And no like pickups on this. I love that. It's not like... But don't be... But don't be... None of that. It's just... And the resonance of Israel Crosby.

35:53But... There's so much joy. There's so much playfulness in all of these recordings. I mean, any of this stuff to turn it down is sacrilege. All right. Can we talk about the elephant in the room, please? Okay. No. Literally, there's an elephant sitting right over there. One of us is going to make a dad joke. You beat me to it. All right. What do you got? Influence on Miles Davis. Yeah. I guess this isn't a huge elephant.

36:24Yeah. Miles talked about it. Yeah. Openly. Oh, yeah. He spoke about it in his book. It's on record. Okay, yeah. The thing what I'm noticing here, like there's very direct ways in terms of repertoire and approaches and even like some of the arrangements on like the Miles at Carnegie Hall, I believe it was, and some of the kind of mini big band stuff that he really took the trio versions or at least the approaches that the Imajimal trio, and he talked about this, Miles Davis, and used that for these arrangements, you know, as a template, you know, as a model for a

36:55lot of that stuff. But what I'm hearing on this, and I never really thought about it like this, I think Ahmaud had a huge influence on Miles in terms of how Miles played melodies. I couldn't agree more. Okay. Yeah. Yes, you could. Come on. Keep agreeing. I agree so much. Let's go next level with it. No, no. You're absolutely right. You know, it's like, because solo-wise, Miles, I mean, and it's not like Miles was derivative in terms of it, but it was more like the way, it's like you could just feel this resonance of how Imajimal used space, you know, honored the melody on these great standards, but also

37:29was fine to like let it go, almost like where the listener's imagination is going, and then to come back in, and as you said, never more than 10 seconds away from the melody. I mean, that's all Miles and the space, you know, and the elegance. But Peter, your theory here holds up with evidence, because like when you listen to young Miles playing with Bird, he's got some of his Miles sensibilities. He's not Dizzy Gillespie. He's not trying to be this like superhero trumpet player playing all this Flash, right? I think he was. But he was doing more of it than he would do after Amad Jamal's influence on him.

38:00So you can hear him playing less and less and less. And he talked about Jamal's influence on him, so much so that, I don't know if you remember, we did that episode on the four prestige records, the Relax and Work and Cook and Steaman. And the pianist on those albums was Red Garland. And Miles told Red specifically, do that Amad Jamal thing way up high on the piano, play less, try to sound like that. He wanted that sound. And you can hear it in Miles' own playing, and you can hear it in the direction the bands went, especially around this time. Now, obviously, Miles went in his own direction even more eventually, away from this.

38:33Yeah. He was definitely trying, you know, it was a competitive landscape for trumpet players in the bebop era when he came right into the thick of it, when he came to New York, when Miles did, obviously, Dizzy Gillespie was the over, you know, towering giant. But then you had Fast Navarro, Clifford Brown, not that long. Like, these were players that maybe fit into that classic bebop trumpet player mold better than Miles, you know, in a way. For sure. Because Miles hadn't, he had a sound, though. Like, you hear his sound on that, but he didn't have the dexterity. He was really good. I mean, for sure.

39:04But, like, once, you know, maybe Ahmad kind of unlocked, because we always think of Miles, you know, the tastemaker, the original, the OG, like, influenced by nobody influences everybody else. That was later, right? It almost feels like Ahmad gave him license to be like, okay, I'm not going to imitate trumpet players. And maybe there's a little bit, because I can't, because I'm picking the greatest ones that ever lived in the bebop era, happened to be around. But I'm going to pick something that's a little bit off the grid in terms of, it's a different instrument, but there's a resonance to that approach that's deep inside of me, so let me try some of that piano stuff over here.

39:36And it worked. Good. Or not. It's a great take, Peter, and I think you're spot on. I really think you're right. And I think the evidence backs you up. Okay. My next poll here, this is interesting. I don't know if you know this existed, but you know that there's a Live at the Pershing Volume 2. I do, and I don't know it that well. It's so good. Yeah. It's from the same dates. It's from the same dates, right? Same band, same style of ranging. Yeah, yeah. So this is Cherokee from, and this was released, like, so it was recorded the same day as the same weekend as the Live at the Pershing, but not for me, but released like three years

Cherokee

40:07later.

Cherokee

40:08This is Cherokee.

40:26This is like a halftime three-four thing. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

41:13Yeah, Israel Crosby doing some heavy lifting here.

41:25Ah.

41:29Man. Ahmaud Nguyen's not playing. Oh, my God. And that's the thing. If it's not so clearly delineated, like, this is my solo, this is your solo. Right. You can come and go as you please. Yes. That was their thing. That was their thing. So great. Let's bring it back.

41:48Yeah, I remember this now.

41:57Oh. Get the drummer sound. I know. Really one of the only times you hear this. Yeah. What a brush master. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

42:22Yeah. Now I'm remembering, man. What an influence he had on Blade. Oh, yeah. You can hear it.

42:31Greg Hutchinson, too.

42:34Yeah. Brushed up. Yeah. That's a good one, man. It's incredible. I remember. There's a funny part at the end. Sorry. Sorry. There's only. No, no, please. A little bit left.

42:49Again, these little arrangements, these little cues. Hey.

43:01Isn't that sick? Man, that'd be a run-on sentence in the lesser hands. But a good thing he, like, peaced out for 90 seconds. I know. You know? He built up the street cred to do that throughout the whole thing. Oh, he loves that rhythm.

43:40Check it out. Check it out. I like that. I like that. You hear a guy in the corner just say, like, I like that. I like that. Give it another. That's so funny. That's so good. Good. Yeah. I listened to that way back in the day. We actually played that arrangement. I'm remembering now. Chris McBride trio. Hey. A couple times. He likes doing that one. Man, I just made a note here. Israel Crosby. I mean, I knew this. I just, I guess it was out of sight, out of mind kind of situation. But we look at this sort of late 50s, even from the mid 50s, all the way up through the

44:1260s. The bass player that I think dominates, you know, piano trios, quintets, like the great, you know, prestige and blue note and, you know, impulse records. I mean, there's a bunch of great bass players, but I think Paul Chambers of the young bass players is the one that always comes to mind. I mean, he was just so great and really dominated in a way. But I got to put Israel Crosby up there. Maybe not in the volume of recordings that he was on and certainly was, you know, very heavily during that whole period playing with Ahmed, Ahmed Jamal.

44:46But I got to, like, in terms of, like, technique and swing and sound, I don't know. I got to, is that a controversial hot take? I don't think it's controversial. I think he sounds great. I think he sounds great in this band. He's a little bit older than everybody, too. He's, like, 10 years older than Ahmed Jamal. And he's, he's, he just, he just feels so solid back there. So solid. You just feel like there's nothing that, that Ahmed could do to throw him or that, that Vernel Fournier could do to knock him off that beat. You know what I mean? Like, it's just, like, so, so big.

45:16All right, what's your next pick? Okay, we got Willow Weep for Me, Willow Weep for Me, back from the Alhambra 1961. That's great, great call. Ah, ease your way in.

45:35Yeah. So you get some of that Oscar Peterson, maybe a little Tatum influence, right? And the way he was stretching, pulling, pushing a melody.

46:01And then his blues chops. Like, we don't think about that as his go-to, but it's so good. When needed. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available.

46:31Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. Available. man so many of these live recordings and we didn't cherry pick i mean i there's a bunch of

47:05stuff on these records i could have this is a hard set list to make i mean it was like very hard and very easy at the same time but the precision like it's it's very rare i'm great on great live recordings that like everything's perfect you know what i mean yeah even with like oscar peterson or something and like it's just uncanny like his because he's very exposed you know i mean he's this is a lot of playing for him in a way a lot of brushes so that you can hear every detail he hits any cacks you're gonna hear it exactly yeah very precision oriented all right that's a

47:38great pull man are we on the last track i'm shad pd shad yeah pd said pd do baby talk i'm actually going to call an audible so as we were listening to these tracks from live at the pershing like i had something picked from earlier in his career yeah and i'm kind of realizing like i didn't want to do too much from live at the pershing but then i was like yeah but i can't do an ultimate playlist without including this uh-oh this is s tier not for piano tuning but

What's New and final thoughts

48:10this is what's new this is the the last track on that iconic album and there's just some moments in here that are my favorite moments in music yeah and have been more influential on me than anything else yeah maybe i've ever heard man this is such a unique and template template templateable version way of playing a ballad oh so

48:42so Thank you.

49:14Everything, the chord changes, the sort of walking ballad feel, then this. Wow.

49:52That's not a ballad group. That feels like one of the Wu-Tang about to jump in, you know? It is, man. Nobody was playing like this then. Like, he's kind of not in a piano trio. You know what I was influenced by this a lot is Ray Brown and the Ray Brown trio later on. He did a lot of, incorporated a lot of these things really well, like in the 90s and up until he was no longer with us.

50:25It's just pretty, it's just phenomenal. Yeah. Staggeringly good. And thank you, Ahmad Jamal, for the incredible music and the amazing career and the wonderful light and energy that you gave off. Every time I saw him live, I left feeling elevated and like light on my feet. Let's do some categories, Peter. He did the thing. He did the thing. Desert Island Tracks, what you got? I got Benat for me. Oh, it's a good one. For me, it was a close call between Poinciana and Benat for me, but there's something about that. Yeah. That'll always get me off my seat, get me moving. What about you? Well, we're good because I got Poinciana.

50:56Oh, perfect. You got me covered. You got me covered. And normally I'd be like, oh, I'm not going to go with that, but I'm like, man. You got it. You got to have it. You got it. Yeah. Apex moment. I have, speaking of Poinciana, that snap on Poinciana right before the. Right. I just, even just. When Vernell goes to the ride for the first time. But even just the snap right before that. Oh, I got you. Just that one moment.

51:19Right there. It doesn't matter if it was the first. I mean, the first time I heard it, I thought I couldn't walk. Yeah. Like I lost feeling in my legs and knees. And I still feel that way. Every time I hear it, it just still causes like immense stank face and joy. Man, I'm so torn here. I put down like from the live video from 60, the excerpt from the blues when they go into the swing. It's just such a deep thing. But I'm also thinking about on Old Devil Moon, the way it ends to me is like, because, and I think this is true on, like he had these slick endings that are so easy to learn, actually.

51:56This is the thing. Ahmad played so much stuff. Not all of it. He played some stuff that you're like, oh my God, I could never play that. But most of his stuff compared to an Oscar Peterson or a Herbie Hancock or a Chick Corea or a McCoy Tyner, it's very accessible because there's space, there's clarity to it. Now, to do it well and like him, it's very hard because it's very stylized. And like there's these bigger picture things that are part of it beyond just the notes he's playing. Well, he's also making things seem easier than they are. There's a certain amount like of connection, I'd say, with Bill Evans.

52:26And I wonder how much Bill Evans, he certainly was influenced by Ahmad. He would have to be. You know. But anyway, the way that that ends, and we didn't get to the end, but I'll just say everybody go and listen to the way that ends because it's just another one of his little cute tag endings with a little bit of a variation. But it's so, it's such a lift and he had this ability because of everything that came before it. You know, it's not just like, okay, now we're done and bam, then we go to the next tune. It's like you're elevated, you're elevated, and then you end on this high, you know.

52:57So I'm going to go with that. Snobometer. Two. Seven. Opposite ends. You think it's snobby? I think the ultimate Ahmad Jamal playlist that we've put together is snobby. Yeah. Why? What do you? I think it's very listenable music. That I could put on for someone who. I'm sorry. Does the snobometer measure listenability? Yeah. It measures how snobby it is, like how accessible it is, how, would a general audience like it? And I think if you put on, but not for me, or really any of these tracks, someone who doesn't know anything about jazz, there's no context for it, would still be like, well, that feels great.

53:30So it's just accessibility is what you're changing it into. The snobometer. Changing it. No, I take it to be like, okay, you're at a party and you're like, hey, Rob. You always come up with these elaborate scenarios for the snobometer. Snobbiness. How do you measure snobby? You get a guy with like a corduroy jacket with a strap on the back. Oh, you don't come up with elaborate scenarios? Think about this. A guy named Rob with two Bs. Two Bs. Rob. He reads the Rob report. It's short for Robbie, which is short for Robert, which added a B. And then I kept the extra B. So you come up to him and you're like, hey, Rob, how are you?

54:04What have you been listening to lately? And he says, he has a pipe, but it's not lit. It's just kind of there. He says, oh, I've been listening to the ultimate Ahmad Jamal playlist recently. Would you be like snob? Snob. I'd be like nerd. I don't know if I would be like snob. Okay. Anyway. Okay. Seven. I mean, I feel like the snobometer is only working if we're completely polar opposites. It's how it's always worked. You know what it is? I just feel like Ahmad in general does have a little bit of snobby. He's totally accessible. I agree. But like Bill Evans, I think most of his stuff is a two because it's like people know him.

54:37People like him. Can we spend a couple minutes? People do know and like Ahmad, but they haven't heard him quite as much. I don't know. Can we spend a couple minutes on the name? Because you and I have been saying it differently this whole time. I think it's Ahmad Jamal. I believe it's Ahmad. Yeah. I used to say Ahmad all the time. Right. Someone corrected me. Yeah. Okay.

54:54Okay. Agree to agree. Is this better than KLB? Now, by is this, we mean this ultimate Ahmad Jamal playlist. Yes.

55:05No, he didn't. What? Yes, he did. Are you serious? You don't agree? I have maybe, so I'm close. I think it is. I mean, for me, I like it. I like this. It's a little bit of a, that's apples and oranges. Like we're cherry picking. Yeah. I mean, if you were to do like the ultimate Miles Davis playlist versus this, then that would be a real argument. I think this might be that. We should do that. We should do a draft at some point. Well, this is awesome, man. We very rarely get into KLB territory tying or exceeding, so that's exciting. I mean, this is the apex for me. This is a pinnacle. This is as good as art can get. I think it's just up there. You've been to the mountaintop.

55:36We've been to the mountaintop. Thank you, buddy. Yeah, cool. Well, this was fun, man. Yeah. Until next time. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. You'll hear it.

56:06You'll hear it. You'll hear it.