Customer Reviews

Awakening

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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Ahmad Jamal's 1970 release of The Awakening is perhaps one of the most innovative West Coast jazz albums ever made by this man. Jamal is one of the most influential jazz pianists of the second half of the twentieth century, and has made his mark on both young and old people alike. He is, in many ways, like Keith Jarrett in his use of the entire range of the keyboard, which is clearly heard in all of the songs in this album. Featuring Jamil Nasser on bass and Frank Gant on drums, the trio really does work as a trio, each part being treat equally as opposed to a piano with a bass-drums accompaniment. The pieces on this album all have the Jamal feel, and yet, in a magical way, still retain the original style from Jobim's bossa nova tune, "Wave" or Hancock's standard, "Dolphin Dance". All the tracks on this album are beautifully written, and are a very thorough and accurate representation of Ahmad Jamal as we know him.

THE AWAKENING - The title track is a very upbeat, moderately-paced tune with a modern feel, written by Jamal himself. It is built off of a four-note phrase that changes constantly throughout the piece with wonderful blues type interludes. There are several times when Jamal uses some very clever scales and arpeggios that cover the entire keyboard within a second, and this piece left me astounded.

I LOVE MUSIC - This, in my opinion, is the best track no this CD, simply for its utter harmonic beauty. It has brought a tear to my eye more than once, and is very reminiscent of some of Ellington's later works. This song is basically a piano solo with a small interlude featuring the bass and drums, and has some of the most heart-wrenching chord changes I've ever heard. It is a sad, yet powerful song that can completely change one's mood, and is am excellent example of Jamal's ability to play with such commanding grace.

PATTERNS - A faster paced tune, this is a true Jamal song, and is very typical of Jamal's unique style. The bass and drums in this piece are particularly commendable, and keep the vibrant beat of the song moving throughout the entire piece.

DOLPHIN DANCE - One of Herbie Hancock's more romantically lyrical pieces, Jamal plays a sped up version as compared to the original. This is one of the better tracks on the album, and, once again, Jamal combines his own technique with that of Hancock's.

YOU'RE MY EVERYTHING - As the liner notes state, "The only old standard of the set, a 1931 ballad, introduced in a long forgotten revue called `The Laugh Parade', this became the title song for a 1949 movie in which Dan Dailey sang it. Jamal moves straight into the Harry Warren melody, playing it in a long meter. Despite the many ingenious melodic and rhythmic shifts with which he invests it, the original theme is never too far out of earshot" (Feather 8).

STOLEN MOMENTS - Oliver Nelson's classic is once again brought to life in a faster-paced version of this 1960's tune. Jamal grabs the essence of the spirit of the piece, drawing in the listener to listen even more carefully, as he uses dramatic chromatic chord changes, and once again coming back to the lovely primary theme at the end of the track.

WAVE - One of Antonio Carlos Jobim's more obscure works, Jamal, brings this piece out into the open with the definitive bossa nova feel "without any of the obvious Brazilian clichés" (Feather 8). The beckoning and delightful mood of this piece is rather catchy and is well appreciated by Latin and jazz fan alike.

Cannonball Adderley once said, "Ahmad's not like the average jazz musician who uses the pop tune as a vehicle. He approaches each number as a composition in itself, and tries to work out something particular for each tune that will fit it." This is a very true statement, and is obviously exemplified by the stunning work Jamal has created with these sole seven songs. I would highly recommend this music to all jazz fans of all kinds. His voluntary and authoritative use of combining the bass and drums (Nasser and Gant, I might add, are two musicians that are highly worthy of praise for their skills) provide the listener with a different feel to the music after listening. This album represents a specific feel and approach towards jazz, and is some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard. Ahmad Jamal is one of the greatest pianists of all time, and his unique approach should be exposed to the world to grasp a better understanding of what it means to be a great jazz musician.

A masterful recording. A trio of the highest caliber. Each piece is jazz in it's highest form. They stay within the framework but with great dedication and subtlety, they improvise wonderfully, like a prism they turn each piece this way and that, to reveal a different shade or color. "Stolen Moments" alone is worth the price of this recording. The soloing is first rate, the trio interplay sensitive. This is a lost treasure and a must for jazz collectors as well as fans of jazz trio recordings. Sophisticated, soulful, rhythmic and very very inventive!!!

I was nearing home late one night 35 years ago, driving my father's big Oldsmobile and listening to Bill Ardis' great jazz program (Ardis Against The Night)on WHAM from Rochester,NY. The station's 50,000 watts carried well to my hometown near the Pennsylvania border. I was 20 yrs. old and had been listening to jazz for less than two years. I was also somewhat stoned. As I drove down my parent's street, Ardis said he had something special for his listeners -- Ahmad Jamal's just released new album "The Awakening", which he would play without interuption. It was some of the most incredible, subtle, and interesting music I had ever heard! I sat in the car in the driveway and listened, totally captivated, until it finished. It took a few weeks to finally locate a copy to buy, but I had to own that record. To this day it remains one of my top ten albums from all genres. The music is timeless. If you haven't heard it, buy it without delay.It will bring joy to your ears.

How do you write a review for something that's beyond words? This is the music I listen to to leave the world. I live in Suriname where it is pretty hard to find CDs such as these and when I once asked a friend who went to Miami to bring me one, he laughed and said: that's garbage. I thought: 'gee, poor soul'. Especially the track 'I Love Music' takes me to higher spheres. I sometimes venture out to 'educate' others about the divinity of Ahmad's work, but there are no words for this. Oh yes, maybe one: divine. The purpose of life is to live it. The purpose of Ahmad's music is to live it, to breathe it, to feel it, to be it.

A must have. I've been listening to this album for 15 years and it never loses its vitality. Inventive and aggressive playing from Jahmal, full of colour and improvisation, punched left hand chords and his trademark right hand runs, and all the while driven relentlessly along by superb drum and bass. Standout tracks include the title track, Patterns, Stolen Moments and Wave.

Ahmad Jamal's "The Awakening" is one of my favorite jazz albums.

This is a very beautiful piano-based trio jazz album. It features delicate playing by Ahmad on the piano.

The whole vibe of the music is very cool and laidback; a very mellow record with a very intimate feeling.

This is one of the most unknown, un-hyped greatest albums. Pick it up!

This is one of the best examples of "elegance" in the jazz piano trio genre. Jamal is lyrical and inspiring, always innovative. Great support on bass and drums, the CD is simply understated artistry on piano. The only thing that keeps this from 5 stars is the lack of clarity in some of the mid to high range of the re-mastering. Not at all bad, however, for an old recording. If you like to listen to sophisticated piano, this one's for you

I got into Jamal backwards, starting from his recent discs with the James Cammack/Idris Muhammad trio & working backwords. This one's from 1970, & already shows Jamal moving towards the maximalist style of his recent work. He's a "thematic" improvisor in a way that's not really in the mainstream of jazz, where improvisation tends to focus on developing new melodies out of the basic chords of a tune. Jamal's in the company of Thelonious Monk & Art Tatum in that he often simply plays the tune over & over, with the interest coming in the differences of decoration, emphasis, harmony, mood & tempo. These can be quite striking: witness for example the way that he stretches out "You're My Everything" here, & then when he launches into the solo he gives it a sour twist with some altered, minor-key chords. He's an underrated composer (here, two tunes, both of them the liveliest, funkiest moments on the album: "The Awakening" and "Patterns"); & he always picks interesting repertoire: Oliver Nelson's "Stolen Moments" is given one of the few readings worthy of the original recording (I love Jamal's opening chorus, which is all dark bar-long chords), Herbie Hancock's "Dolphin Dance", Emil Boyd's "I Love Music" (which is virtually a solo piece, with the bassist & drummer coming in just at the end; this is the only version of the tune I've heard outside of Joe Lovano's several recordings of it, & I think Jamal does a better job); Jobim's "Wave", not an obscure tune by any means but not one of the Jobim tunes that's been done to death either: Jamal gives it a dark 1970s funk intro with a little Baroque twist at one point. Above all, I like how Jamal (one of the first players to explore modal jazz) responds to the music of younger, modally-inclined musicians like Hancock & Tyner, & works it all back into his own idiosyncratic style. An excellent disc, one of my favourite of recent Impulse reissues. -- Now I just wish the other record companies would get around to reissuing Jamal's early stuff properly, rather than truncating the original releases of his 1950s work to squeeze it to CD-length......

style from the fifties to 1970, the date of this recording.While still maintaining the Jamal "sound", his music has become denser and more adventurous.

There are two originals, another I had never heard, and four more familiar tunes. The title tune is built around a four note phrase that has a blues tinge with extensive changes in tempo and mood. The one I hadn't heard before, "I Love Music", is a beautiful composition showcasing Jamal's almost classical solo skills, using the rhythm section only for a change in tempo. The other original, "Patterns", moves along brightly and displays the talents of the trio as a group and in particular the bass work of Jamil Nasser.

The remaining four are very familiar to me with my favorite being Oliver Nelson's "Stolen Moments". The old standard, "You're My Everything", is done beautifully, probably more so because it certainly hasn't been recorded in recent years. Jobim's "Wave" and Herbie Hancock's "Dolphin Dance" round out a varied program.

This will appeal to Ahmad Jamal fans or anyone who appreciates jazz piano, especially the trios.

If you only want one Ahmad Jamal album, look no further. Ahmad is at the height of his powers on this recording.