Customer Reviews

I Remember Duke Hoagy & Strayhorn

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Miles Davis always lavished Jamal with praise for his minimal playing of notes saying that Jamal did'nt "throw his style around" and the economy of notes can be heard prevalently in most of the Dark Prince's post-Kind of Blue records. This album from '95 perfectly embodies Jamal's economic style on a collection of Ellington classics. He does Skylark and a great original, too effectively showing his patient and technically mind-blowing style. Telarc is a really cool label that always releases quality jazz by the top veterans and I recommend most releases from them, even though their album art is cheap and could use improvement, but image is nothing, music is the message.

Certainly there are groups that put a premium on swing, others runs through changes, others like melodies and freedom. Ahmad Jamal certainly swings and swings hard too, but he loves space, vamps, ostinato, abrupt tempo changes, dynamics, flourishes, reconstructing tunes. Ephraim (bass) is the anchor to hold you down and Arti colours the space as Ahmad takes off and swirls, playing quiet as a mouse and suddenly exploding.

The most frustrating thing to me about this CD is that you don't know what volume to set your music system at, they play beautiful melodies and you are tempted to crank it up to hear Jamal and the next thing squirrels and birds are scattering as you run for the remote to turn it down. (Hint: The bass should be your volume guide too).

All in all a recording that you mine for melodic nuggets for a very long time.

I have listened to Ahmad Jamal for some period of time now and I find this recording stands out.
The introductory composition by Mr. Jamal is skillfully crafted, subtle, moving and sets the stage as he executes his unique approach to the standards comprising the balance of the CD.
The rhythm section is restrained and his piano sings in full complexity of his individual "voice".

Currently being "cut out" of the Telarc catalogue; buy this recording before it disappears.

This is essentially a solo piano performance, as the drummer lays out most of the time or plays whisper-quiet on brushes. The bass is a more regular presence, but that's all it is, a sort of infrequent pulse or tonal presence. This album, in short, is all Ahmad Jamal's show all the way, and, while it's an impressive display of pianistic virtuosity, it also lacks that one key ingredient of great jazz: swing. Swing may be optional among some more avant-garde strains of the music, but if you are purporting to interpret the likes of Ellington, Strayhorn and Hoagy Carmichael, its absence is puzzling. This album is mostly a large, almost continuous suite of vamps on Ellington themes. Familiar snatches recur and then re-submerge under the swells and flows of Jamal's abstruse sound sculptures. The whole thing is like a slightly funkier Keith Jarrett. A single tune each by Strayhorn and Carmichael -- an interpretation of his "Skylark" may be the best track on the album -- complete the overall theme expressed by the title of the record, and while "I Remember Duke, Hoagy & Strayhorn" is not altogether unpleasant or uninteresting, it is also a highly frustrating listening experience. And what's with the atrocious cover art? I could have come up with something better in about 20 minutes.

I Remember Duke, Hoagy & Strayhorn~ Ahmad Jamal is a really nice recording from the great jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal. On this recording he is playing the likes of Ellington, Strayhorn and Hoagy. I am not a jazz expert but this is definetely likeable music and great music to relax after a hard work day. Grab a cold beer out of the fridge, take the cd and relax and enjoy the tunes. Highly recommended and it gets 4 well deserved stars.