Newsgroups: rec.music.bluenote

In rec.music.bluenote, gidi@Hilbert.Stanford.EDU (Gidi Avrahami) writes:

> Is this the one on Portrait?  With, uh, Billy Boy, Slaughter On 10th
> Avenue, Girl In Calico, etc?  If it is, then it's completely different
> from the old black and white Chess album, which has no guitar but does
> have a longish Autumn Leaves.

OK, thanks.  I suspected as much.  This is indeed the "Billy Boy" one.  I
bought it, as I may have mentioned, primarily because some guy that comes into
town on business occasionally always comes in to hear me play, and always
requests anything by Ahmad Jamal.  He apparently was not a prolific composer,
so I'm trying to listen to some more of his own recordings so I can at least
try to do a standard in something recognizable as a Jamal-influenced style.
The only Jamal I had up to then ("Ahmad Jamal's Alhambra") was, to me, almost
unlistenably trite.  I had always associated Jamal with "Poinciana", so when I
saw this CD, I picked it up.  Upon reading the liner notes and seeing some of
the recording info, I began to suspect it wasn't the original.  I do like it
somewhat better than "Alhambra", which is a piano-bass-drums trio, but I *know*
there is more adventurous music by Jamal out there - I've heard a couple of
cuts from an Impulse album whose names escapes me ("Awakening", perhaps?).
Then again, this particular customer may be most interested in this style
anyhow.  What is the Chess album like?  Do you recommend it?  Any other
recommendations?  I think I've got enough to go on to make the customer happy,
but if you want *me* to appreciate Jamal more, what should I listen to?

> Funny you should say that, because it seems that Miles really liked
> Ahmad Jamal and was influenced by him
> ...
> [ ed: on and on with some Crouch-ified pro-Jamal tripe :-),
>       including the especially incriminating: ]
> Hey -- I admit -- I really like Jamal.  A couple of years ago I said
> on the net that I'd write him in for the Downbeat hall of fame

Yeah, yeah, I know all about that.  But I have to say, the Jamal-Hancock link
is pretty weak, and I'll guarantee I hear a lot more Hancock influence than
Jamal influence in today's pianists.  Crouch's point was actually that it was
Jamal's style of arrangements that were so influential - the key changes, tempo
changes, vamps, etc.  In which case, I have to disagree - very few people (well
maybe Jarrett) do this to any noticeable level.  Certainly not in the really
pre-planned sort of way that Jamal does.  Oscar Peterson comes to mind, but I
suspect the influence was the other way around in that case.  Not that Jamal's
innovations in this respect weren't noteworthy, but they don't really seem to
have caught on.

> ...  I'd be worried that I am
> on Crouch's side in this debate, but luckily I know that he's just a
> hack who will write pompous liner notes about anyone who pays, whether
> that artist deserves them or not.

Great!  Maybe I'll hire him to do the notes when I get around to recording an
album :-)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marc Sabatella           Winner, 1992 First Annual Bill Evans Lookalike Contest
marc@hpmonk.fc.hp.com