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Thursday 8 June 2017
58 min

Jazz news: Ahmad Jamal, Marseille my love

In Avant-Premier, "Marseille" of Ahmad Jamal which appears at Jazz Village / Pias Friday 09 June 2017.

Jazz news: Ahmad Jamal, Marseille my love
Ahmad Jamal, © JM Lubrano

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"Marseille"
"Marseille"
Last giant piano a genre he prefers to call traditional American music as jazz, Ahmad Jamal recently returned to the front of the stage with "Blue Moon" and "Saturday Morning", two albums in which he carried very high His art of an irreproachable groove . The adventure continues here in a very francophile record; With its always magnetic rhythmic, the pianist pays tribute to the Provencal capital, its multicolored sea and its port turned towards Africa, " Marseille ", which appears at Jazz Village. A symbol of openness that rhymes with one of the most accomplished musics of today.
A new album of the legendary pianist and composer Ahmad Jamal is still a highly anticipated event . But "Marseille" radiates a particular enthusiasm because it is a very personal expression of the sincere and mutual admiration that exists, for more than six decades, between the American artist and the French public.
The title that gives its name to the record is a love letter to the iconic capital of the south, whose magnificent port and dazzling light have inspired many artists and filmmakers over the years. Although the album begins with the instrumental interpretation of this piece, it is the vocal version, with a striking performance by the French rapper Abd Al Malik, which immediately attracts attention, mainly because this kind of collaboration is a bold one A new departure for Jamal, aged eighty-six. The city is a figure with a powerful influence on anyone who walks its streets and marvels at its many monuments and sunsets with pictorial beauty. The city is alive. The city is anything but silent. The city is timeless.
It was at Jazz In Marciac on August 4, 2016 that Ahmad Jamal performed this title in world premiere, a concert broadcast live on France Musique . By inviting the vocalist Mina Agossi and the rapper Abd Al Malik, Jamal offered to the spectators of the prestigious French jazz festival two unforgettable versions of this new composition Marseille, of which he for the first time wrote the lyrics, translated by Mina Agossi .
To accompany the pianist, we find three musicians with whom he developed over time a real musical telepathy - drummer Herlin Riley , bassist James Cammack and percussionist Manolo Badrena . Together they form a rhythmic section that is both reactive and assured, each member making his presence felt without disturbing the minutely constructed rhythmic continuum of music, which has a hypnotic pulsation accentuated by a wide variety of subtleties. James Cammack, a valuable member of the Jamal bands in the 1980s and 1990s, returned to the fold for the occasion and did not hide his joy. Herlin Riley, another drummer from New Orleans alongside Ahmad Jamal, was noticed at Wynton Marsalis. And we must also pay attention to the rich textures created by Manolo Badrena, former member of the pioneering group of the merger, Weather Report. Its collection of bells, bongos, congas, rain sticks and claves is used brilliantly to spew music with new colors and subtle polyrhythms. The rich canvas of stamps that Badrena weaves within the arrangements is both orchestral and percussive.
The story of Jamal's life and his journey into music, from his hometown of Pittsburgh, are to say the least amazing. As a child prodigy, he took his first piano lessons when he was only seven years old. Jamal first focused largely on the work of the classical master Franz Liszt before meeting the virtuoso pianist Art Tatum, one of the founding fathers of contemporary jazz piano, who inspired him as an improviser.
A professional musician at eleven, Jamal has formed quartets and then trios, and after a decade, achieved a monster success with his 1958 album, "Live A The Pershing". This one spent 108 weeks classified in the charts with in particular the famous hit Poinciana.
For the next four decades, Jamal has continued to record, exploring a wide range of ensembles ranging from electric bands to strings, but in the 1980s and 1990s it has truly established itself as a Master of the acoustic trio with piano.
The albums he recorded for the Birdology label, including the trilogy "The Essence", are classics of contemporary jazz, and this last disc, as well as the recent "Blue Moon" and "Saturday Morning" which inaugurated his collaboration With Jazz Village, confirm that Ahmad Jamal remains at the top of his creative power. "Marseille" is the jewel of a master musician who never says more than is necessary, but always enough for the world to stop and listen.

Where to listen Ahmad Jamal

  • Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th June at 8.30pm at the Opéra de Marseille (13)
  • Friday June 30 at 8:30 pm at the Vienna Theater (38) as part of Jazz in Vienna
Ahmad Jamal (piano) 
James Cammack (double bass) 
Herlin Riley (drums) 
Manolo Badrena (percussion) 
Abd Al Malik (voice) 
Mina Agossi

Programmation musicale

Ahmad Jamal « Marseille »
Marseille (Instrumental) (Ahmad Jamal)
Jazz Village 570136
"Marseille"
« Marseille »
Ahmad Jamal « Marseille »
Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child (Trad. arr. A. Jamal)
Jazz Village 570136
"Marseille"
« Marseille »
George Cables « The George Cables Songbook »
For Honey Lulu (G. Cables, S.E. Charles)
HighNote 7292
"The George Cables Songbook"
« The George Cables Songbook »
Dave Brubeck « Live at The Kurhaus 1967 »
Someday, My Prince Will Come (Frank Churchill)
Fondamenta 1704025
"Live at The Kurhaus 1967"
« Live at The Kurhaus 1967 »
Vincent Peirani « Thrill Box »
Goodnight Irene (Trad.)
ACT 9542-2
"Thrill Box"
« Thrill Box »
Jean-Charles Richard « Faces »
First Sound (Jean-Charles Richard)
Herrade 001
"Faces"
« Faces »
Eric Bouvelle, Romane « Allo, Balthazar ?! »
Balthazar (Romane)
Frémeaux FA 8539
"Hello, Balthazar ?! "
« Allo, Balthazar ?! »
Louis Sclavis « Napoli's Walls »
Divinazione moderna II (Louis Sclavis)
ECM 1857
"Napoli's Walls"
« Napoli's Walls »
Bill Cunliffe « BACHanalia »
Solfeggietto (C.P.E. Bach)
Metre 1009
"BACHanalia"
« BACHanalia »
Ernesto Tito Puentes «Victoria »
Soy Guajiro (Ernesto Tito Puentes)
La Boutique 6136472
"Victoria"
«Victoria »
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