By: Joe Lang
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| Ahmad Jamal - Photo from www.ahmadjamal.info |
The trio, featuring Idris Muhammad on drums and James Cammack on bass, started out with “The Aftermath,” a furious and melodic swinging romp that set the audience up for what was to follow. The trio then jumped into a samba head that rose to a swinging intensity led by Jamal’s total control of rhythm, dynamics and melodic knowledge. The trio then took it down into a Jamal ballad comprised of pure chromatic and diatonic perfection, made up of Jamal’s trademark triplet phrases and chordal fragments. And the band did not let go. Jamal hit it again, harder, into a modal blues bop free-for-all that sounded like a version of Miles’ “So What,” only deconstructed and pushed completely to the edge of what music can be.
Then we touched down in the land of dark pocket grooves laid down by Muhammad, which should be of no surprise, coming from the land of the pocket, New Orleans. The piece was “Gyroscope,” and Jamal’s contribution could only be described as the touch and taste of a master—droplets of rich melody in a sea of thick groove. And while Jamal usually lays back and lets his touch and melody do the talking, this time he destroyed any and all naysayers when he burned the shit out of his solo with blinding staccato sixteenth-note runs.
Jamal then took us back to ballad town, and showed what dynamics are all about, coaxing any and all type of grace and fire across the entire board. Then the fire was stoked again. Jamal slammed down syncopated chords with an unmatched intensity as he groaned, grunted, smiled and signaled with his left hand. This was a master class. Syncopated perfection. Perfect phrasing. This was direct and un-distilled musical communication. And then Jamal stepped away from the piano and allowed Cammack to take a brief, yet beautifully constructed solo. While away from the piano, Jamal surveyed the crowd with delight, and gave confident smiling nods to the rhythm section and quietly said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” to convey his pride and delight of the performance of his band mates. He then ambled back to the piano and proceeded to finish off the set with one more tune, a moderately paced groove. The audience called for an encore but Lowell Picket, the owner, cut off the applause and the lights came back on. It’s not like anyone could complain. The man put it all on the bandstand, and it wasn’t a short set.
Frank Zappa has said, “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” That couldn’t be more true of an Ahmad Jamal show. Ahmad Jamal is jazz. He is improvisation. His music is life. The man himself puts it best.
“I'm a wordless storyteller, someone who cares about the dynamics of music...Musical dynamics are human dynamics. It's always exciting for me to sit down at the piano, and every time I do, something new happens, something surprises me, or I surprise myself. I played Poinciana last night and it was like a new song. That's the reason there's no such thing as old music. The wonderful thing about music is that it's ageless. I believe in improvisation. All musicians improvise. Even Bach, Mozart and Beethoven improvised. Improvisation and freedom are synonymous. The goal of every musician is to be free, but freedom is rare."
Freedom may be a rarity, but Jamal is as free as you can get, and he takes all of us along for the ride. My musical journey is the constant pursuit of the musical freedom and joy Ahmad Jamal possesses.
Location Info:
Dakota Jazz Club
Artist Info: Ahmad Jamal
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