US jazz pianist and composer Ahmad Jamal has died aged 92 after an award-winning career spanning more than seven decades. He won a myriad of awards over his career, including France’s prestigious Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2007 and a Grammy lifetime achievement award in 2017.
Jamal’s playing style was described as lean, with New York Post citing his “less-is-more dynamics”, often using a silence between notes with great effect, luring many a pop audience to enjoy jazz. He released some 70 albums. Miles Davis said of Jamal: “He knocked me out with his concept of space, his lightness of touch, his understatement, and the way he phrased notes and chords and passages.”
Listen back to Friday Jazz Session with Alex Siegers for a celebration of his musical performances and his compositions, from Billy Strayhorn’s Raincheck, Ellington’s In A Sentimental Mood, and Dominguez’s Perfida, to Paris After Dark, New Rhumba, and Ahmad’s Blues.