Legacy of Ahmad Jamal, Inventive Jazz Icon (1930–2023)
The pianist who inspired Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and other greats.
Ahmad Jamal was a pianist, composer, and arranger whose innovative, chamber jazz style influenced his contemporaries as he gained popularity via his bestselling interpretation of “Poinciana.” During the 1950s and 1960s, he created deeply swinging arrangements that had a long-term effect on the piano trio format and the individual work of other pianists, composers, arrangers, and horn players. Jamal’s arrangements/style brought a fresh form to jazz and can be heard in Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett, John Coltrane, Randy Weston, and many of today’s pop singers and rappers.
The now-classic 1958 live performance LP, “At the Pershing: But Not for Me” was Jamal’s most successful recording. This was the first jazz album to sell more than a million copies of a bestselling recording not made in a studio. It was one of the top 10 on the national sales charts for a staggering 108 consecutive weeks. This arrangement was included in another’s arrangement, “Poinciana” which continued its fame into the 21st century. Also, it was part of the soundtrack of the Clint Eastwood film “The Bridges of Madison County.”
By 2010, Jamal’s work topped Jazz Week’s annual survey of American radio stations as he was one of the top 100 most frequently played…
