BEGIN:VCALENDAR METHOD:PUBLISH CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:-//EVDB//www.eventful.com//EN VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:AHMAD JAMAL in New York City at Blue Note - Eventful BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20080511T223000 DTSTAMP:20080501T065010Z SUMMARY:AHMAD JAMAL DESCRIPTION: FEATURING: Ahmad Jamal\, piano James Cammack\, bass Idris Muhammad\, drums Manolo Badrena\, percussion Critic Stanley Crouch c ites AHMAD JAMAL's impact on the fresh form in jazz as an outstanding conceptionalist. Crouch consider's Mr. Jamal's distinctive style as ha ving had an influence on the same level as "Jelly Roll Morton\, Fletch er Henderson\, Duke Ellington\, Art Tatum\, Count Basie\, Theolonius M onk\, Horace Silver and John Lewis\, all thinkers whose wrestling with form and content influenced the shape and texture of the music\, and whose ensembles were models of their music visions." Considering his t rio "an orchestra"\, Mr. Jamal not only achieves a unified sound\, but subtly inserts independent roles for the bass and drums. The hallmark s of Mr. Jamal's style are rhythmic innovations\, colorful harmonic pe rceptions\, especially left hand harmonic and melodic figures\, plus p arallel and contrary motion lines in and out of chordal substitutions and alterations and pedalpoint ostinato interludes in tasteful dynamic s. He also incorporates a unique sense of space in his music\, and his musical concepts are exciting without being loud in volume. Augmented by a selection of unusual standards and his own compositions\, Mr. Ja mal impressed and influenced\, among others\, trumpeter Miles Davis. L ike Louis Armstrong\, Mr. Jamal is an exemplary ensemble player -- lis tening while playing and responding\, thus inspiring his musicians to surpass themselves. Audiences delight in Mr. Jamal's total command of the keyboard\, his charasmatic swing and daringly inventive solos that always tell a story. In 1951\, Mr. Jamal first recorded Ahmad's Blues on Okeh Records. His arrangement of the folk tune Billy Boy\, and Poi nciana (not his original composition)\, also stem from this period. In 1955\, he recorded his first Argo (Chess) Records album that included New Rhumba\, Excerpts From The Blues\, Medley (actually I Don't Want To Be Kissed)\, and It Ain't Necessarily So -- all later utilized by M iles Davis and Gil Evans on the albums "Miles Ahead" and "Porgy and Be ss." In his autobiography\, Mr. Davis praises Mr. Jamal's special arti stic qualities and cites his influence. In fact\, the mid-to-late 1950 's Miles Davis Quintet recordings notably feature material previously recorded by Mr. Jamal: Squeeze Me\, It Could Happen To You\, But Not F or Me\, Surrey With The Fringe On Top\, Ahmad's Blues\, On Green Dolph in Street and Billy Boy. In 1956\, Mr. Jamal\, who had already been jo ined by bassist Israel Crosby in 1955\, replaced guitarist Ray Crawfor d with a drummer. Working as the "house trio" at Chicago's Pershing Ho tel drummer Vernell Fournier joined this trio in 1958 and Mr. Jamal ma de a live album for Argo Records entitled But Not For Me. The resultin g hit single and album\, that also included Poinciana -- his rendition could be considered his "signature". This album remained on the Ten B est-selling charts for 108 weeks -- unprecedented then for a jazz albu m. This financial success enabled Mr. Jamal to realize a dream\, and h e opened a restaurant/club\, The Alhambra\, in Chicago. Here the Trio was able to perform while limiting their touring schedule and Mr. Jama l was able to do record production and community work. Mr. Jamal was b orn on July 2\, 1930\, in Pittsburgh\, Pennsylvania. A child prodigy w ho began to play the piano at the age of 3\, he began formal studies a t age 7. While in high school\, he completed the equivalent of college master classes under the noted African-American concert singer and te acher Mary Caldwell Dawson and pianist James Miller. He joined the mus icians union at the age of 14\, and he began touring upon graduation f rom Westinghouse High School at the age of 17\, drawing critical accla im for his solos. In 1950\, he formed his first trio\, The Three Strin gs. Performing at New York's The Embers club\, Record Producer John Ha mmond "discovered" The Three Strings and signed them to Okeh Records ( a division of Columbia\, now Sony\, Records). Mr. Jamal has continued to record his outstanding original arrangements of such standards as I Love Your\, A Time For Love\, On Green Dolphin Street (well before Mi les Davis!)\, End of a Love Affair\, to cite a few. Mr. Jamal's own cl assic compositions begin with Ahmad's Blues (first recorded on October 25\, 1951!)\, New Rhumba\, Manhattan Reflections\, Tranquility\, Exte nsions\, The Awakening\, Night Mist Blues and most recently If I Find You Again\, among many others.. In 1994\, Mr. Jamal received the Ameri can Jazz Masters award from the National Endowment for the Arts. The s ame year he was named a Duke Ellington Fellow at Yale University\, whe re he performed commissioned works the Assai String Quartet. A CD is a vailable of these works. In 1970\, Mr. Jamal performed the title tune by Johnny Mandel for the soundtrack of the film Mash!\; and in 1995\, two tracks from his hit album But Not For Me -- Music\, Music\, Music\ , and Poinciana -- were featured in the Clint Eastwood film The Bridge s of Madison County. Mr. Jamal's CD entitled The Essence features teno r saxophonist George Coleman -- Mr. Jamal's first recording made with a horn! Critical acclaim and outstanding sales resulted in two prestig ious awards: D'jango D'or"(critics) and Cloch (pronounced "shock" -- f or sales) in France. Its success generated a concert at Salle Pleyel ( equivalent to Carnegie Hall)\, and a CD has been released Ahmad Jamal a Paris (1992) and a second "live" concert by Mr. Jamal in l996 under the same title\, unissued except in France and available on the Dreyfu s Records on the Internet\, Mr. Jamal rightly considers one of his bes t recordings. Ahmad Jamal's 70th Birthday "live" concert recording Oly mpia 2000\, is known as The Essence Part III. The Essence\, Part II\, featured Donald Byrd on the title track\, and on his CD entitled Natur e\, Stanley Turrentine is featured on The Devil's In My Den\, and stee l drummer Othello Molineaux augments the trio format. Continuing his r ecording career\, Mr. Jamal released In Search of on CD\, and his firs t DVD Live In Baalbeck. LOCATION:Blue Note @ New York, United States SEQUENCE:1209624610 UID:E0-001-008319896-3 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-008319896-3 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR