Black History Month: Extensions by Ahmad Jamal
Jazz pianist influenced Miles Davis over a long and successful career
Extensions
Ahmad Jamal
Argo DJLP-758
Ahmad Jamal was born Frederick Jones in 1930 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At three years old, he began playing piano and began formal training at age seven. He toured with George Hudson’s Orchestra after graduating from high school. By age 20, he had moved to Chicago, converted to Islam, and changed his name to Ahmad Jamal. He released his first album on Okeh records in 1951 as a member of The Three Strings that later became the Ahmad Jamal Trio. When drummer Vernel Fournier joined the trio in 1957 the trio’s popularity rose. After this early success, Jamal took a short hiatus before returning with Fournier and bassist Jamil S. Nasser and this combo appears on Extensions. The album is an excellent example of post-bop jazz. The album opens with an original composition titled “Extensions.” The song begins with a bass solo, then a drum solo, and finally Jamal plucking the piano strings, in a series of exchanges. Then the trio settles into a swinging up-tempo that features a variety of rhythms. It’s a stunning 13+ minute composition that Jamal describes as “thinking music.” Jamal toured North Africa early in his career and that experience informs “This Terrible Planet” written for Jamal by Bob Williams. Jamal said it’s “a most interesting composition and the words are equally interesting” although the piece is performed as an instrumental. Fournier describes its “beautiful African sound” while Jamal points out that the trio is “sinking into the rhythm like an anchor. I call this ‘anchoring.’” Jamal continued touring and recording into his 80s. He died of prostate cancer on April 16, 2023. Jamal has been dismissed by some jazz critics, but most praise his innovations over his long career. Miles Davis has expressed his admiration for Jamal’s style and sometimes sent his band to Jamal’s performances. Jamal has received many jazz honors, including an American Jazz Masters award from the National Endowment of the Arts, named a Living Jazz Legend by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French government, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.