Ahmad Jamal

180 GRAM VIRGIN VINYL

INCLUDE 2 BONUS TRACKS

5 STARS ALL MUSIC GUIDE

Although they were not Ahmad Jamal’s first recordings, the 1958 Pershing and Spotlite performances marked the beginning of his success. The original album But Not for Me, taped at the Pershing Lounge in Chicago on January 16 & 17, 1958, included eight of the 43 tunes played by the trio, which were carefully selected by the pianist himself.

The 1958 Down Beat review was mildly negative, referring to Jamal as playing “cocktail music”. While the reviewer acknowledged Jamal’s skill and influence on other jazz musicians such as Miles Davis, he wrote that, “The trio’s chief virtue is an excellent, smooth light but flexible beat. Throughout the music is kept emotionally, melodically, and organizationally innocuous.”

In August of 1958, however, Jet magazine already referred to the album as “a nationwide hit”, and the same month, Down Beat posted the album sales counts at over 47,000, noting that any album selling 15,000 to 20,000 is “big.” The December 1958 Down Beat poll of music retailers showed that the album was the “number one jazz bestseller”, and it stayed on Billboard Magazine album charts for 107 weeks.

The splendid formation of the Jamal Trio heard here would last until 1962, for on August 11 of that year bassist Israel Crosby died of a heart attack. To the eight tunes on the original album,  two extra tunes also recorded at the Pershing.

PERSONNEL:

• Ahmad Jamal - (piano)
• Israel Crosby - (bass)
• Vernell Fournier - (drums)

Live at the Pershing Lounge, Chicago, January 16 & 17, 1958.

TRACKS:

• SIDE A:
• A1. BUT NOT FOR ME
• A2. THE SURREY WITH THE FRINGE ON TOP
• A3. MOONLIGHT IN VERMONT
• A4. MUSIC! MUSIC! MUSIC! (PUT ANOTHER NICKEL)
• A5. THERE IS NO GREATER LOVE
• A6. IT MIGHT AS WELL BE SPRING (*)

• SIDE B:
• B1. POINCIANA
• B2. WOODY ‘N YOU
• B3. WHAT’S NEW?
• B4. I’LL REMEMBER APRIL (*)

• (*) BONUS TRACKS. Not on the original LP configuration.