Ahmad Jamal
Member - NETunes' Integrity Committee
Member - NETunes' Talent Committee
Jazz Legend Ahmad Jamal serves as a Member of NETunes' Talent and Integrity Committees.
The Integrity Committee advises NETunes' Board of Directors on all aspects of NETunes philosophy, vision, direction and execution. The Talent Committee evaluates and approves all new NETunes affiliated artists, labels and releases.
A proud native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Ahmad Jamal began to play the piano at age three and commenced his formal studies at age seven. He joined the musicians union at 14 and began touring upon graduation from Westinghouse High School. In 1950, he formed his first trio, The Three Strings and, while performing at New York's The Embers club, was discovered by producer John Hammond and signed to Okeh Records (a division of Columbia Records).
His first record Ahmad’s Blues has since been recorded by Marlena Shaw, Natalie Cole and Red Garland and is heard in the stage play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? His 1951 composition New Rhumba was subsequently recorded by Miles Davis. Jamal considers his best record to be But Not For Me - a 1958 live recording of him playing with drummer Vernell Fournier and bassist Israel Crosby at Chicago’s Pershing Hotel. His recordings Music, Music, Music and Poinciana from his But Not For Me album appear in the 1995 Clint Eastwood-directed film The Bridges of Madison County.
Jazz critic John King, writing for Melody Maker, says, “Ahmad Jamal is, to me, the most exciting keyboard artist living.”
”After I heard Ahmad’s gig, it really inspired me as to what Jazz is really about. He does a lot of avant-garde things now but never sacrifices the groove,” writes The New York Times’ Ben Waltzer.
Jazz critic Stanley Crouch considers Ahmad Jamal as having an influence on Jazz on the same level as "Jelly Roll Morton, Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, Count Basie, Theolonius Monk, Horace Silver and John Lewis - all thinkers whose wrestling with form and content influenced the shape and texture of the music and whose ensembles were models of their music visions."
In 1994, Jamal received the American Jazz Masters award from the National Endowment for the Arts and that same year was named a Duke Ellington Fellow at Yale University.
