Ahmad Jamal Trio is AhmadJamal on piano, Jamil Nasser on bass and the monster Frank Gant on drums. On what is perhaps the finest post-bop, pre-fusion jazzrecord of all time, the trio tear through standards by Herbie Hancock (“Dolphin Dance”) and Antonio Carlos Jobim (“Wave”), a few of Jamals own compositions (“The Awakening”, “Patterns”), and a roaring rendition of Emil Boyd and Hale Smiths “I Love Music”. The Awakening is equally revered in hip-hop and jazz circles,having been sampled on certified classics by Nas, Common, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, Gang Starr and Jeru The Damaja, and more recently on Steven Julien a.k.a. Funkinevens “XL”. Original copies (even reissues) are outrageously impossible to find;I like to imagine all thegolden era producers in the 90s conspiring to buythem all up, lock them in a secret bunker buried 2,000 feet below Queensbridge and throw away the key. 180 gram reissue cut at Third Man Pressing in Detroit from a newly remastered transfer. Recommended.

• 180g black vinyl pressing
• Verve By Request editionpressed at Third Man Pressing in Detroit
• newly remastered
• housed in gatefold sleeve w/ liner notes
• featuring Ahmad Jamal(p), Jamil Nasser(b),Frank Gant (d)
• original release year:1970
• music label: Impulse! 2023

reviewed by nick nightingale 03/2017

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