Die beiden neuen Mosaic Sets sind jetzt online (pre-order möglich):
The Complete Ahmad Jamal Trio Argo Sessions (MD9-246)
Argo LP-610 Count ‘Em 88
Argo LP-628 But Not For Me
Argo LP-636 Ahmad Jamal Trio – Volume IV
Argo LP-2638 Portfolio of Ahmad Jamal
Argo LP-646 Jamal At The Penthouse
Argo LP-662 Happy Moods
Argo LP-667 At The Pershing
Argo LP-673 Listen To The Ahmad Jamal Quintet
Argo LP-685 Ahmad Jamal’s Alhambra
Argo LP-691 All Of You
Argo LP-703 Ahmad Jamal At The Blackhawk
Miles once said, “All my inspiration today comes from Ahmad Jamal.”
These recordings are the reason why.Tracing back the influence of pianist Ahmad Jamal through his more than 50 years of performing and recording is like trying to repack the explosive components of a fireworks display after it ignites, flares, expands – and flashes again from every cascading branch. His original concepts about melody, rhythm and dynamics were important precursors to the work of such pianists as Red Garland, McCoy Tyner, and Herbie Hancock. His use of extended vamps, his light touch, and his economy – with a strong devotion to playing the „spaces“ – cleared a path for further innovations by Cedar Walton, Gil Evans, McCoy Tyner and many modalists who were listening to what Jamal was doing. Could modern performer Jacky Terrasson re-imagine a familiar song as brilliantly as he does if Ahmad Jamal had not done it so influentially?
And that’s just the piano players. When you factor in such artists as John Coltrane, „Cannonball“ Adderley, and Miles Davis – whose fifties bands frequently recorded lesser known standards Jamal played in strikingly similar arrangements – and add up all the generations of musicians exposed to their work, you start to see how the sky fills with flaming, colored light.
His recording as a piano trio leader on Argo, owned by Chicago’s Chess recording label, began in 1956. And that’s where our new retrospective begins on The Complete Ahmad Jamal Trio Argo Sessions 1956-62. The first definitive collection of his work from this seminal era of his career, it includes all the tunes for which Jamal became renowned, such as „Ahmad’s Blues,“ „Poinciana,“ „But Not For Me,“ and „Billy Boy,“ a song so often re-done in Jamal’s style that his version has almost become the new standard.
Plus, there is a delightful bonus of 23 tracks that have never appeared before on record, all approved for release by Ahmad himself and each a revelation. Our jam-packed nine-CD package, covering material originally released on 12 LPs, is also a textbook on how to use all the elements of a musical composition not just to entertain, but to invent, beguile, challenge yourself as a musician, and challenge the audience to listen.
Both Modern and Classic
Rehearing these records today is no passive experience. His performances have a quality that forces you to hang on every note. Nothing is ever predictable, and a listener can go from disc to disc with no danger of fatigue setting in. Even songs you are certain you know inside and out are transformed by his tempos, his rhythmic transfusions, or his playful avoidance of familiarity; he will take his time working into the melody, and just as that glow of comfortable recognition surrounds you, he’ll break off unexpectedly, often before the line is complete. It has a tantalizing effect that is Jamal’s alone. Always teasing, always defying expectations, and always playing what no one else has ever played, including himself. They are timeless recordings, as modern and classic today as when „Poinciana,“ in an era before separate jazz charts were tabulated, climbed to #3 on the Billboard 100 and remained on the top-sellers list for over two straight years.
Like all Mosaic box sets, the collection comes with our deluxe, full-size booklet. It includes discographical information, an extensive interview with Jamal by Kenny Washington, an essay on the sessions by Washington and many rare contemporary photographs. As for the music, all of Jamal’s studio and live recordings on Argo from those years are here. In addition to the previously mentioned 23 bonus recordings – many from live dates – there are 113 other tracks to enjoy. The earliest feature Walter Perkins on drums before Fournier took over; there’s a 1959 recording date that adds a 15-piece string section under the direction of Joe Kennedy; and a set one year later featuring Kennedy on violin and Ray Crawford on guitar. But the bulk of these sessions were Jamal, Crosby and Fournier on all those great standards, made even more exceptional by Jamal’s knowing treatment of them.
When Crosby died in 1962, it put an end to any further adventures from this remarkable group, and at the same time made the music they created immortal. It’s no wonder that critic Stanley Crouch put Jamal alongside an Olympus of keyboard gods when he compared his influence on musicians of his day to Jelly Roll Morton, Fletcher Henderson, Ellington, Tatum, Basie, Monk, Horace Silver, and John Lewis in their respective eras. And no great surprise that Miles Davis once told no less an artist that Red Garland where to get his inspiration: „play like Jamal.“
Mosaic Select: John Carter & Bobby Bradford (MS-036)
Das Select enthält die Alben „Seeking“ und „Secrets“ (beide Revelation) sowie drei zuvor unveröffentlichte Sessions (im Duo, Quartett und Quintett).
Saxophonist/clarinetist John Carter was associated with Ornette Coleman in the ’40s in their shared hometown of Fort Worth. Coleman moved to Los Angeles in the early ’50s as did Dallas trumpeter Bobby Bradford who would work with Ornette sporadically for the next 20 years. Carter moved to LA in 1961 and eventually found in Bobby Bradford an ideal collaborator.
Initially calling their quartet The New Art Jazz Ensemble, they made their debut album Seeking in 1969 for the small Revelation Records. Their music was very much in the same orbit as Ornette’s with darting linear compositions and freedom from chordal structures blended into a marvelous fresh sense of swing and blues roots.
Carter’s virtuosity on clarinet, flute and saxophone sets the benchmark for the music that this group strives for and achieves. Distinctive for their rich vibrant tones and articulation, Carter and Bradford bring a variety of colors, moods and rhythms to their vibrant brand of modern jazz. They manage to achieve an air of precision with a music that thrives on interplay and looseness. Every performance resonates with beauty and adventure.
This set includes both Carter/Bradford albums on Revelation (the other is Secrets as well as two unissued sessions from 1971 and a 1979 duet studio session which label co-founder Jonathan Horwich taped at Westlake Studios in LA. These new discoveries (almost two hours of unissued music) greatly expand the Carter/Bradford output, which was heretofore known to be only two albums each on Revelation and Flying Dutchman.
Producer’s Note:
Bill Hardy and I began Revelation Records in the mid1960s in an effort to provide unrecognized and deserving jazz musicians an opportunity to record in a relaxed setting, under their own direction and choice of instrumentation. That’s exactly what we have here with Revelation’s Carter/Bradford material.
To give an overview, we first recorded John and Bobby on 16 January 1969 at Occidental college (where I attended and Bill taught) in California. The result was our first album of the group, Seeking, which comprises most of Disc One of this compilation. Later Bill recorded the group on 4 April 1972 at Occidental. This resulted in our second and last album of them, Secrets, which comprises most of Disc Two of this compilation. Then, on 7 July 1979, I recorded John and Bobby in a duet after visiting Westlake Studios in Los Angeles and seeing the very room where Stevie Wonder recorded Innervisions. I wanted to record the best West Coast, avant-garde group in that very same room-as a sort of contrast. And although this was clearly a formal studio, we kept it relaxed and laid back, per Revelation style, by using my own portable analog gear (just two microphones and one small but excellent tape recorder), and provided an atmosphere conducive to spontaneous creation. That session comprises all of Disc Three of this compilation. It has never been released until now. And the intimacy and communication between these two stellar musicians comes across loud and clear.
But there is more. From early 1969, the same time period during which Seeking was completed, Bill recorded further performances of the group. As you’ll hear, they have the same flavor, instrumentation and wonderful improvisation as the material found on that first vinyl. These previously unpublished performances are included at the end of Disc One and as the first song on Disc Two.
In late 1971 Bill gathered John and Bobby’s group together and recorded more performances at Occidental College. The date was 9 Nov 71 and this time the instrumentation included piano, giving a whole new feel to the group’s work. These late 1971 performances also were never published except for one song, „Circle,“ which was issued on Secrets. These unpublished performances have been included at the end of Disc Two. One should not consider these as bonus tracks to the original vinyl. They are actually their own performances in their own time period. They are not outtakes. And more to the point, they stand on their own musically as you will hear.
I won’t further comment on specific tracks, except to say that this music stands as some of the greatest improvised music ever created in jazz. John and Bobby were superb musicians, and when they formed a group together, great things happened. We’re all very lucky to have that preserved here.
Jonathan Horwich
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"Don't play what the public want. You play what you want and let the public pick up on what you doin' -- even if it take them fifteen, twenty years." (Thelonious Monk) | Meine Sendungen auf Radio StoneFM: gypsy goes jazz, #151: Neuheiten aus dem Archiv – 09.04., 22:00 | Slow Drive to South Africa, #8: tba | No Problem Saloon, #30: tba