*2024 stock* 180-GRAM SOLID BLUE VINYL " Ahmad Jamal’s sometimes reputation – now mercifully long since put to bed – as a cocktail pianist suggests only the most superficial listening to his work. Take the effective title track of this album “But Not For Me”. Jamal and drummer Vernel Fournier give the theme considerably more rhythmic dynamism than the original score suggests and with the implicit hint of a Latin beat already running through the music, Jamal sets up a propulsive series of musical motifs – hooks or riffs, if you prefer – that seem to come around again and again, but constantly varied." Penguin Guide to Jazz

"Ahmad Jamal laid down the fundamentals of a new style at the end of the 1950s with his light and luminous touch, and his cleverly minimalist phrasing. He utilized the dynamics of emptiness to create new spaces that allowed his music to breathe in a perfectly innovative way. The paradoxical modernity underneath his classic elegance (seemingly without intention) would contribute in a decisive way to revolutionizing the aesthetics of the trio. A striking example of that is Jamal’s album At the Pershing, recorded live at the Pershing Hotel in Chicago, on January 16, 1958. It features the pianist leading his most famous line-up, consisting of bassist Israel Crosby and drummer Vernel Fournier. With a repertoire of magnificently revisited and deconstructed standards, the three musicians develop an organic and “orchestral” conception of their formula, favouring with elegance and restraint a collective discourse which breaks with any attempt at virtuosity, instead relying on economy, understatement, and a permanent sense of swing. Acclaimed by the public, and revered by Bill Evans and Miles Davis, this recording remains a milestone in the history of jazz." Jazz Magazine