Ahmad Jamal Priceless Jazz Collection CD

This disc offers a very fine, if brief (10 tracks) sampler of pianist Ahmad Jamal's work from the mid-1950s to the mid-'60s. On the most superficial listen, the music here seems to fall in line with the standard cool and post-bop modes of the era, but further attention reveals Jamal's exquisite sensibility as an architect of sound in the small-ensemble context. On "Concern" and the well-known "Poinciana," Jamal's penchant for a chamber-like conception of jazz is evident.

As a player and arranger, Jamal utilizes space and subtlety to create tension within his own spare melody lines and between the players in his trio. These techniques abound in his interpretations of tunes by Irving Berlin, Billy Strayhorn, McCoy Tyner, and Errol Garner, and on his own excellent compositions (note the carefully calibrated pizzicato guitar lines by Ray Crawford on "New Rhumba"). Through all of this delicacy and formal innovation, Jamal's group manages to swing like nobody's business, giving the listener a double dose of pleasure on this budget compilation.

This is part of GRP Records' Priceless Jazz series.

Personnel: Ahmad Jamal (piano); Ray Crawford (guitar); Frank Gant, Vernell Fournier, Walter Perkins (drums).

Liner Note Author: James Isaacs.

Photographers: Alan Nahigian; Chuck Stewart.