The Ultimate Ahmad Jamal Playlist

0:00I'm a Jement, a master of taste, time, and touch. A hero to Miles Davis, 11's, Nas and J. Dilla. This is the ultimate. I'm a Jement playlist. I'm Adam Annis. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You Hear It Podcast. Music, explore. Explore, brought to you today by the You Hear It Players Club, Peter. Yes. This is a brand new set of lessons that I began this season of the podcast where I'm going to do a selection of songs that we're going to do throughout the season. And I'm going to teach you how to play them from a very basic level. So if you have been thinking, I wish I could dust off my instrument and learn how to play. I don't know, Led Zeppelin's The Ocean or Radiohead's Weird Fishes or Stevie Wonders, isn't she lovely? Well, that one I know already, but yeah, what you do. But, man, lock in, plug in, because we're going to, let's plug in the players. Plug into the players club. You can click the link in the description to learn more about the players club. Go to You Hear It Players Club. Yeah, go to You Hear It.com. Sorry, I had to throw that in there. That's right.

1:00One more bit of housekeeping before we get going on this incredible lesson. While you're at You Hear It.com, leave us a voice mail because we are going to do a mail-back episode coming up and we want to hear from you. Right. And you might be scared because you're like, oh, my voice is going to be on the, the, if I leave you a speak pipe or a message that your voice is going to be on the podcast. And you would be right to be scared. Yeah. It will be. But think about us. Our voice is all over this for an hour every week. So join the party. Yeah, join the party. Yeah. So again, no, but you get a chance. Don't, don't be nervous. You, you, you get a chance to submit it first. I know a lot of people think, oh, I'm just, I'm talking and it's being recorded. You have a chance to approve it or not. Yeah, you can edit it. You can approve it. You can redo it. Well, I don't know about editing. Don't, don't get excited, buddy. No, you can literally plug it. Plug it in, Peter. Plug it. Okay. Today's exciting day. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. I know. I know you're about to say that, but it really is. I mean, we're talking about not only a legend, a gentleman, a goat for sure, a steward of jazz piano for, for multiple generations, uh, and OG, but, but really one of the most influential

2:00musicians that we're ever going to talk about on this pod, uh, in, in several different ways, beyond just what we're going to celebrate, which is mostly going to be his incredible pianism. Is that a word? We don't know. We say the word. Do you know what I mean by it? Yes. So it becomes a word. You're talking about the, the vegetable, the pee is no pee. Oh, a pianistic ability. Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And we're talking about none other than. I'm on Jamal. That's the great, the great one, the great man, Ahmad Jamal. I mean, he is a hero to both of us. He's a hero to most modern jazz musicians and a lot of modern musicians because of his incredible sensibilities, like one of the greatest masters of time, touch, feel, melody, improvisation, voicings, taste. Yeah. He ran an amazing band for years. I love this. One of the stats that we have here, uh, on our, our worksheet for this episode, Peter, is I'm on Jamal was active, uh, playing and recording music from 1948 to 2020. Yes. Uh, that's 72 years.

3:00That's longer than Queen Elizabeth's reign in the 20th century. That's, that's astounding. That's right. Because he was, and he earned his, he wasn't just born into it. No, he really did earn it. And, uh, if you're not familiar with Ahmad Jamal, first of all, where you've been, but second of all, I'm envious of you today. Because you get to experience some of the great music of the 20th century for the first time. Yeah. And I think there's actually probably a lot of people don't, don't feel shameful if you're not familiar. I think there's a lot of people that know the name. Yeah. And have it really hurt. Well, actually they have heard. And I think that that's going to, how quickly does, oh, it's going to happen pretty quick. But I, yeah, I think he's one of those artists that really has name recognition, but a lot of people haven't dug in. So like you say, Envious for sure, it's going to be, this is a great time. Because I think we have an incredible, what do we have? 10 or 11 tracks here? We have 10 tracks here. Five each. Are we really naming this the ultimate? I'm now I'm nervous. That's, that was your idea, buddy. Was it the ultimate? I'm on Jamal playlist. Well, we have the pre-production meetings. I'm so excited. I'm so cocky. But then we get in here and I'm like, I want to do Mr. Jamal right.

4:02Well, this is truly a playlist because of your first pick, Peter, is not anything on an album. Yes. So this was from 1960, CBS Studios. The legendary. Legendary. CBS Studios. And this was from a television broadcast that brought together a lot of famous jazz musicians. Oh, the lot's incredible. Yeah, I remember. Did you have the VHS? I had the VHS. They used to show the VHS in music school, like in classes all the time. Lazy teachers. They've shown footage of this. Ken Burns used some of this footage for his jazz documentary. Lazy documentary. Terran. No, it's actually incredible. But there's just because there's so many. Yeah, Lester Young, Ben Legendary artist, Billy and Joliday. Yeah, everybody was there. Billy Holiday, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's beautifully filmed. I mean, dare I say, like for the technology they had for video and for audio. And how it was broadcast. It's incredible how good it was. I mean, really holds up against a lot of the camera work today. And I don't know. It's good. It's really good. Love links to it. So of course it's on YouTube. And we'll watch a little bit of it.

5:02So this is the trio. I'm Ajimal, I'm piano. And some names that we're going to hear pretty much the entire day. Yeah. Israel Crosby on the bass. And for Nell forne A on the drums. Yeah. And this is the title that we got from this is called excerpt from the blues. Yeah. And look at that. Second part of jazz from 61, the Ahmad Jamal's Reo. It's excerpts from the blues by Ahmad Jamal. It's all those other musicians hanging out in the background. I think Elis Jo Jones right there. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Hey. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

6:02Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Who's doing that? Oh. Yes. Who's doing that? Whoa. Is he lying? Yes. I'm sure you're going to be able to stay here. Major 7, why not? And look at that shot. If you're on an audio, make sure you go check this out on YouTube. For no fornye there. Brush. Oh my gosh. With the workshop technique.

7:03Bob and Webster. Yeah. For our listeners, they keep cutting to like just as legend. Yeah, he's saying. Webster is cigarette hanging out his mouth. Some hipster guy in the background. Hey, hey. Come on. One of the most orchestral pianos that we've had. Space too. So much space. Okay. We started out right, didn't we? Yeah. I mean, for your first pull, that was. Oh, yeah. By the way, this is my, yeah. Are we pretty competitive situation? It's not a competitive. It's not like the draft because we know because I've already won. It's not competitive. Yeah. Boom. Well, you picked five and then I picked five. So I had to kind of deal with your five picks. Oh, I'm looking at this list. Somehow you managed. Oh, I'm doing okay. So it's just a little bit more. Yeah.

8:04I'm doing okay. Yeah. I'm doing okay. I'm doing okay. I'm doing okay. I'm doing okay. So it's not technically a draft. We're just kind of pulling our top five picks and trying to make the ultimate playlist, right? So I am though coming at you. Okay. I'm going to come after you because that was a great pull. Okay. And the only thing I could think of to counter would have been this. But not for me. Live at the Pershing. The sound of the drums. Oh. Perfection except for the tuning of the piano. Even that, I'll take all I love this line. Man, why is this such an iconic arrangement?

9:10It's so simple. And I tell you why. And why I'm much of all the greatest. Why? He's never 10 seconds away from the melody. Whether he's playing the melody or during his solos. Or even when he's not playing any of the notes. You can tell, listen to his solo. He's never 10 seconds away from you. You might not be five seconds. Letting you know where the melody is. It's such a less and grainy musician. And when he commits to a melody, he commits. You don't pull back. And then that counter melody that the bass line is. It's a really cool one. Almost no calming in the left hand. Melody. All right. Quoting the melody. Yeah. Oh, I love this block chords here. Cramatic.

10:11Imminibly, eminibly. Oh. Yeah. The cracks. No. Hey, do you miss the melody? Because there it is. There it is. It rears its beautiful melody. Oh. Man, there's such a dramatic presence to like. To when he's playing and when he's playing. He keeps his face. Oh, yeah. Oh. Oh, yeah. Oh. Oh, that's what I forgot. Gain. Oh. Hey, do you miss the melody? I think this is the most finely crafted. Yeah.

11:11Jazz metal trio playing ever. 100%. This is what we were saying on our trio showdown the other week. That King Cole. She could. I already planted my flag. I think for craft. A arrangement. Oh, this. The ending. Oh, this is one of the simplest, most beautiful endings. I think this is one of the most beautiful endings. I think this is one of the simplest, most beautiful endings. Oh, and the ending. Oh. And the ending. Oh. Oh. Okay. You know, you don't have to have an outcourse of the melody. If you're not playing the melody of the whole time. You know what I'm saying? It's just crazy that this is a live, this is live the purging. What's really incredible about this is we always have a great opportunity with live recordings. You hear people like you're in the club. It's, you know, 1950s.

12:11Yeah. Chicago. Outcomposed coming in with the top note. That's the stereotype. Right. No, he did. You had to green mill a lot. That's true. Yeah. We typically associate the greatest live recordings as being really free spirited, you know, extended souls. You know what's going to happen? The crowds roaring. And this crowd is very present. Like it's, it's, it's a sort of chattery. I mean, you're not talking. You're not talking. Yeah. There's like, there's stuff going on. Like, there's a constant. It's not like the silent thing. But the way that they're playing, and look, I got it. We can talk about it because I heard of mod playing numerous times. Obviously later on in his career, live, but the way they're playing on this is like everything has been predetermined. Yeah. And I don't mean in a stale way, but they're doing a live gig where people are hyped up. You can feel the energy. It's palpable. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's like, it's like a, like, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a precision in craft that shouldn't work in a live situation. You're like, oh, that, that's boring. But it's just like, I mean, it wasn't really not. He's a lot of the stuff that a mod and the whole band, there were certain cues and triggers

13:12and, like, things, they were always done. But like a lot of the stuff that sounds like, oh, that must have been composed because it's so perfect. It wasn't. That was actually improvised. You can hear the different versions of the tunes. But he had that combination between improv, planned, spontaneous arrangements and cues that he would have. But this is a tight, I mean, how long is that thing like three, three, three, three, 30, 30 on a live trio, you know, in Chicago? Yeah. They're not stretching. No. Yeah, he's not just blowing a bunch of lines. But there's so much music in that. Like I keep saying the melody is always so close. Yeah. And then the rhythm section of, of Israel Crosby and Vernal forne, are queuing off of things that I'm, I'm, I'm doing and creating these arrangements that are just stunning. Yeah. And they are in such a great pocket. But I think about when I think about this trio is quiet swagger. They have this quiet confidence. Quagger. That sounds bad. But, but squagger. Squalar. That's better. No, but it is this confidence that they exude.

14:13You can hear it through the speakers. No cockiness. No cockiness. There's like very little ego going on. I totally agree. I mean, you feel that. It's like, it's a, it's a visceral feeling the way they're all playing and then what, and then the way they play is it's such an ensemble. Yeah. But there's like this restraint. Yeah. There's so much restraint. Which takes confidence. It takes confidence. And typically in live situations, it can be a little bit like, hmm, did they really bring it? But damn, did they bring it? Yeah. And then when you look, the arc, I mean, I've listened to this track so many times. I know. You know, and I think Pian, jazz pianists, this is, this might be the most, you know, revered, sort of just trio crafted. Yeah. It's not like a mod's like, like, greatest solo or anything. I mean, it's certainly very good. It's not, I mean, what we heard on the, on the live thing in a way was like more ripping and running. Yeah. Kind of a mod. But I mean, just as a trio craft, it's perfect. Yeah. It's perfect. It's like if you went to, you know, wherever, you know, Greek architecture and you want to see Ionian pillars, why are you looking at me like that? I am. Oh, you didn't have those in the major sketch?

15:13We had those in. No, but like some like, you want to go see that and say, look, let's go to Athens. Let's go. Like, this is the, the module trio is like, oh, let's go. Run our way. Hey, everyone, taking a break real quick. We throw around a lot of music theory terms here in the show. If you're googling things like what is a triad? All right. I'm googling what you're trying. What is a lidian? What? How do you spell lidian? No, how do you spell that, bro? Sorry. Good news. We have all the answers for you in the liner notes. You'll find the liner notes companion guide with clear, simple explanations of the contest. We explore in this episode in the episode description. Download the liner notes for this episode or free today. So you're saying I won that round? I know this is not competitive, but I don't think you did. I think we tied. I would say so far. Well, your next cut, this is good. So this is from the album called Portfolio of a Module. Yeah. And this is recorded live in the spotlight. I think it was the spotlight club. Same year, released in 1958, released in 1959.

16:15Same band, this is old devil. This is a T.C. spotlight club. Here we go. This is an important chapter. Level 3. This is a tunable with several smallgeschenschenschsch長. That's why it. That's what it is. Ah. You get success with that E flat there. What you think? He's a bandit of the melody.

17:16Have a look. He's never more than a few people. You're right. He's always around the corner. Oh, space. Hey, man, their brakes. Their brakes are so great because of everything they do to lead up to it. It's like the drama of it. It's perky. Hmm. Hey, the minutes.

18:17Ah. And you know, by I'm not using space in the way that he does, using the melody in the way that he does, it's not a traditional high solo than the bass player solo is that we trade for us with the drummer every time. It's like there doesn't need to be that. I mean, like everybody is involved the whole time. Group collected in the improvisation. It really is. It's a template that you know, so back in the day, we're talking 58, no 90s, early 9, 91, 92. I had a trio called the, I don't even know why I'm talking, we're doing the Ahmad Jamal. Are you playing? The Ahmad Jamal playlist. Let me talk about my trio. Can I hear your version of Old Devil Moon, please? We used to play this arrangement. Oh, really? Yeah, Brian Blade on Drums, Christopher Thomas on bass.

19:18That's a hell of a band there. We had like a regular gig at a place called Charlie Bees in the warehouse district in New Orleans. The gig started at 1 a.m. Yeah, I'm not about that last time anymore. It finished at 5 a.m. It was an after hours joint. So you were a young man. Yes. But it was such a great time because Brian, Chris and myself were, we were all obsessed. Like I'm sure you were at that age as well. Or whatever, like if you're a jazz pianist, all roads lead to Ahmad Jamal. I mean, I think you could say the same about Herbie and McCoy or whatever. But in a different way, I think with the Ahmad Jamal. Yeah. But we were so obsessed with this. We had this gig of which oftentimes there was nobody there. It was this big, beautiful club. But it took a while. So we would just play at each week. We would try to learn as many Ahmad Jamal trio arrangements. And this is the one of the ones we really liked. And sometimes like some, some drunken, like, you know, bros would come in there in New Orleans for like a weekend and be like, listen, some mighty grad Indian music.

20:19What are you doing? And we're like up there. Boom, boom, boom. Yeah. So we're like, I'm trying to do my imitation of them. And you're probably like dead arrogant with those cats too. The bros coming in. Exactly. Yeah, we were talking to them. That's a great pull. It's a great pull. My next pull is from the album All Of You from 1962. This is actually one of the first albums I ever bought on vinyl when I started collecting vinyl. And I found this at the record exchange down in South City, which actually you and me and the great Christian McBride. Oh my God. We, several weeks ago, almost lost Christian McBride in there. I know. You didn't want to leave. Yeah. It's a, it's a cavernous record store. And I bought this album, Ahmad Jamal trio, All Of You. Yep. This is, this is from the live of the Alhambra, though. It is. Yeah. He had a lot of repackaging. A lot of repackaging. And this is Star Eyes from that live gig 1961 at the Alhambra. Oh yeah. A. A.

21:40Hmm. Let me have a military band vibe. Airwater? Impulse perhaps? Yeah, definitely. There's a lot of aerial cargo here. There's an air. Was it air cargo from Pittsburgh? It was. Or I make it up. Yeah. I think that's right. Yeah. That cloud I used to play on the high air.

22:41Oh, you're now. That's that New Orleans thing. Oh, isn't that sick? What do you switch to? It's good sticks. Oh. It's an unexpected use of that somehow. Like, it doesn't, it fits so well, but, but they're not like going all the way into a New Orleans. No, it's not like vibe. But there's a lot of it. It's so, that's cruel, right? Like, he's bringing that at all times. I can't think of anything. It's just amazing. Yeah, you can't like name that group. You don't need the name. But we do have a track track coming up next that we're going to be naming the group. I haven't listened to that in a long time. Thank you for, oh, the Alhamburg. Did you know that was a mod's club club? Yeah, he owned a club. Yeah, that's right. In the late 50s or early 60s? Yeah, a module all famously from Pittsburgh punching above its weight. We like to say the same thing with St. Louis kind of a rust belt overlooked.

23:41No, Pittsburgh Western city that's pretty heavy music. Yeah, sure. Okay, now's where Peter takes the lead. Cardwell School of Music in Pittsburgh. Oh, because of that. Yeah, that's where you went to. No, no, no, with your next pick. Oh, okay. Yeah, no, a module start playing at three years old. I know. I know. So, it's going back to the musical family, all that good stuff. And I never knew this. He was discovered by the famous infamous Columbia executive John. And I believe, I'm not going to speak out of turn here. You know what? I don't care. Do it because I'm not a journalist. Go. And that didn't he discover Aretha Franklin as well and some others? You're looking like just total blank. Like could be us could be no, but you're not jumping on that bandwagon. Are you? You're not jumping off it. I'm not co-signing on it though. I'm not, I don't know. A John Hammond was like a fantastic exec for Columbia. Anyway, okay, but the next track that we have, I don't know how I was able to grab this. Well, it was inevitable that one of us was going to do this. This is probably, this is definitely his most famous track. He played it all throughout. I mean, when I got a chance to hear him still in, you know, the 20, I actually think, I guess,

24:44no, I'd never heard him after the pandemic, but and I think me too was around that time. Yeah. He was touring very late into his career. Yeah, yeah. He didn't tour like great. Like he did it when he wanted and would like just do like really good gigs. He do clubs. Yeah, he was here at St. Louis. St. Louis and St. Louis and do festivals in Europe. You know, the first time I met him, which was like mid 90s, I'll never forget. I was getting in a van. It was like a shuttle van at like, I think it was the knees jazz festival. You know, it's like, you're going from the hotel over and I'm getting in and you know, people kind of move around. Somebody said, oh, they'll be like, move to the back seat so I could get in there. And I was like, oh my god, this is a module who's like physically in the same vicinity that I am. I almost was like, I just wanted like crawl up and get in this lap and be like, but I just, you know, I said, oh, Mr. Jamal is so great to meet you. And he was, oh my god, what were listening to you here? This is exactly the way he was. Yeah. Did you ever get a chance to meet him? I never talked to him. You know, he had a, there was a certain amount of presence.

25:46I think I shook his hand, but I never really spoke with him. Yeah, he probably, I think because of the level of explain the alley. There's the fear factor as pianist, you know, whatever, but he was so warm and just like, hey, you know, and then was like, oh, who were you put in? Oh, I'll try to call. I was like, oh my god. Yeah. And this was the other period where I'm like, learn all these arrangements and we're playing them. You know, so cool. So it was like yesterday. I remember getting in that band. Yes, this is his biggest hit. I mean, he played it forever, point Sienna, of course. And this is, I guess the original recording. It's not. It's not. He recorded it very early on. I was testing you. You are correct. Yeah, but this is by far the most famous version, the live from the Pershing, right? Yes. And this is so iconic that literally the groove that's played here by Vernel for now drums is now a standard groove where you say, hey, give me a point Sienna groove. Yeah. And every drummer knows exactly what you mean. Even beyond jazz, kind of. Yeah, of course. You know, it's kind of like a thing, you know, and it's rare that it would be named after, you know, like a song that's really from an arrangement. It's not even, I guess you could say give me that Vernel for an yay groove, but even I mean, like this is about how he plays about how the whole trio plays it.

26:52So here we go, point Sienna. Oh. Oh. Okay. Off. Okay. Oh. This is also a masterpiece. Like here that four hand. Is that a low-tongued listen for it? Yeah. Or is that bass drum? I believe it's a... It's not like a timpani. I believe it's a floor drum. Yeah. Oh, that's a new world. Oh. Oh. Woo. Two, three. It's subtle, too, isn't it?

27:52In the bass line, the way it interlays. And Amats is playing... ...sprint. So beautifully, sparsely, straight down. Like there's not even sick a patient. Yeah. He's just like... Yeah, because everything's there. He knows he doesn't have to... Oh, exactly. Exactly. ...exactly like anticipation. Right, because everything, they set up the whole thing. Oh, that here. Oh, when it goes to the bridge. Yeah, everything's super straight. And then let's... We know that's coming back. A little solo. Oh, no. Yeah, we're building up right now.

28:53Peter, effectively, to what's one of the greatest moments in the history of jazz. What happens in a few seconds? Yeah. Right there. Oh, yeah. Against it. But there's a connection with the groove before, right? Then, that far from the melody, huh? It's a little bit... It's a little bit... Oh, man, that's right, Sam. Splashing!

29:54Like, I don't know how Brunel Slynya gets that snare drum without the snares to sound like that. He's got those little pops. Those little rimshot pops. This is some of the small amount of solo he does on this track. Back to the melody. And we're just hanging out here, too. All right, that's great. All right, well, we gotta hear the moment one more time. Okay. I wanna hear the moment one more time. It's a break. I mean, it's such a great break. And the build. One of the greatest rim shots that happens right before. And this part is very... It's still got the groove, but it's very like... Kind of square the way a mob was playing before that, right? It's about the time.

31:00So right here. You like that part? Magical. I mean, it is magical. It really is magical. All right, my next pick... And again, a live recording, which is... Yeah, it's the same. I think... Has everything we've done... Everything has been live. Or on live on television. Well, this... Next one is the first one that's not live. And it's also the first one that doesn't have Israel Crosby or Vernell for any way. This is from the 1970 album The Awakening on the Impulse Record label. Heavenly Sample. Heavenly Sample, yeah. This is... I love music, this features... Jameel and the Seer on the bass and Frank Gantt on the drums. And I love music, sampled by the world... No, the world is yours. Famously. But the whole track is pretty killing. Della uses a lot of this record.

32:00It's really this... Seer, I'm off for like five minutes. Run through these changes like this. Yeah. I think 70. Yeah, so he's kind of a different player at this point.

33:07Yeah, he's on Impulse now. Yeah, the sound is different. His approach is slightly different. I mean, he's maturing and he's exploring things. And this... I mean, I heard him many times alive. This is really... Yeah. This is the way he was playing, like live. Agreed, huh? Agreed. When I heard him live, he sounded more like this than he did on the live. No, he was always moving. He was always moving before. All right, next up you got it. Okay. Ooh, I got another banger, but we're going back in time back to 1958. This is... It could happen to you from the live with the spotlight again. Oh! Okay. This is so good. We gotta start this. That is so good. This is another... Come on. This is another one of those like, you know, do we slap our way in? Do we hit it? But this is just... This is like... They ease their way directly into the swing. Ah! There we are. Party's going. It's like you walk into the party and... Hey! I'm here. Oh.

34:09Who up high? Ah. Hey. Who up high? Who up high? It's like getting slapped in the face. And no pickup on those. It's just like... Boom, boom, boom, boom. What do you like that melody? Yeah. Brian Blade, very influenced by Fritell for you. But she's brushwork.

35:10There just aren't too many bands that sound like this. Yeah, and their two feel was very unique. Because it's like... Go, go, go, go. It's got a little bit of a lot of... There's a little... A little... A little... A little... A little... A little... A little... Oh! And because the way Fritell is for it, he's not like... He's like... He's like... It's not like... It's not that straight kind of swing. Ah! And no like pickups on this. I love that. It's not like... But don't be. But don't. And none of that. It's just... And the resonance of Israel crossed me. But didn't... Hey! Yeah! Woo! There's so much playfulness in all of these recordings. I mean, any of the stuff to turn down is...

36:10It's exactly... All right, can we talk about the elephant in the room, please? Okay. No, literally there's an elephant sitting right in there. One of us is gonna make a dad joke. You beat me to it. What do you got? Influence on Miles Davis. Yeah, I guess this is a huge elephant. Yeah, Miles talked about it. Yeah, open that. Oh yeah. He spoke about it in his book. It's on record. Oh yeah. The thing what I'm noticing here, like there's very direct ways in terms of repertoire and approaches. And even like some of the arrangements on like the Miles at Carnegie Hall, I believe it was. And some of the kind of mini big band stuff that he really took the trio versions. Or at least the approaches that Dimad Jamal Trio. And he talked about this, Miles Davis. And used that for these arrangements, you know, as a template, you know, as a model for a lot of that stuff. But what I'm hearing on this, and I never really thought about it like this, I think a mod had a huge influence on Miles in terms of how Miles played melody. I couldn't agree more. Okay. Yeah, I guess you could. Come on, keep agreeing. I agree so much. You're absolutely right. You know, it's like because solar wise Miles, I mean, it's not like Miles was derivative in terms of it.

37:17But it was more like the way it's like that you could just feel this resonance of how a mod Jamal used space. You know, honored the melody on these great standards, but also was fine to like let it go almost like where the listeners imagination is going. And then to come back in it, as you said, never more than 10 seconds away from the melody. I mean, that's all Miles and the space, you know, and elegance. But Peter, your theory here holds up with evidence because like when you listen to young Miles playing with Bird, yeah, he's got some of his Miles sensibilities. He's not dizzy, Gillespie. He's not trying to be this like superhero trumpet player playing all this flash, right? He was, he was doing more of it than he would do after a mod Jamal's in soul for sure. So you can hear him playing less and less and less. Yeah. And he talked about Jamal's influence on him so much so that I don't know if you remember we did that episode on the four prestige records, the relax and work and cook and steam it. Yeah. And the pianist on those albums where Garland and Miles told Red specifically do that a mod Jamal thing way up high on the piano.

38:21Right. Right. Play less, try to sound like that. He wanted that sound and you can hear it in Miles's own playing and you can hear it in the direction the bands went, especially around this time. Obviously Miles went his own direction even more eventually away from this. Yeah. He was definitely trying, you know, it was a competitive landscape for trumpet players in the bebop era when he came right into the thing, when he came to New York, when Miles did obviously, Dizzy Gillespie was the over, you know, towering giant, but then you had fast and the borrow, Clip of Brown, not that like these were players that maybe fit into that classic bebop trumpet player mold better than Miles in a way. Because Miles had in fact, he had a sound though, like you hear his sound on that, but he didn't have the dexterity. He was really good. I mean, for sure, but like once, you know, maybe a mod kind of unlock because we always think of Miles, you know, the tastemaker, the original, the OG, like, like influenced by nobody influences everybody else. That was later. Yeah. Right. And it almost feels like a mod gave him license to be like, OK, I'm not going to imitate trumpet players. And maybe there's a little bit because I can't because I'm picking the greatest ones that ever lived in the bebop era happen to be around.

39:26But I'm going to pick something that's a little bit off the grid in terms of a different instrument, but there's a resonance to that approach that's deep inside of me. So let me try some of that piano stuff over here and it worked. Good. That's a great take Peter. And I think you're spot on. I really think you're right. And I think the evidence backs you up. OK. My next poll here. Yeah. This is interesting. I don't know if you know this existed, but you know that there's a live at the person volume two. I do it. I don't know what that well. It's so good. Yeah. It's some of the same dates for the same date. Same band same style of ranging. Yeah. So this is Cherokee from and this was released like so it was recorded the same day as the same weekend as the live of the person. But not for me, but released like three years later. This is Cherokee. Ah. Yes. I do.

40:35Just like a half time three fourth. Yeah. Ah. Man, Israel Crosby doing some heavy lifting here. Ah. Man. And that's the thing. If it's not so clearly delineated like this, my solo is this your solo.

41:37Right. You can come and go as you please. Yeah. That was their thing. That was their thing. So great. Let's bring it back. Yeah. I remember this now. Ah. Get the drummer song. I know. Really one of the only times you hear this. Yeah. What a fresh master. Ah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now I remember what an influence he had on blade. Oh, yeah. You can hear it. Greg Hutchinson too. Yeah. Brushed up. Yeah. That's a good one, man. It's incredible. I remember. Oh, there's a funny part at the end. Sorry. Sorry.

42:42There's only, no, no, please. A little bit left. Again, these little arrangements, these little cues. Hey. That's sick. Man. That'd be a run on sentence and the left's her hands. But a good thing he like pieced out for a 90s set. I know. You know. He built up the street cred to do that throughout the whole thing. Ah. Oh, he loves that. I like that. You're a guy. You got here.

43:47The corners just say like, I like that. You're another. That's so funny. That's so good. Good. Yeah. I listen to that way back in the day. We actually played that arrangement. I remember now. Chris McBride trio a couple of times. He likes doing that one. Man, I was just made a note here. Israel Crosby. I mean, I knew this. I just, I guess it was out of sight out of my kind of situation. But we look at this sort of late 50s, even from the mid 50s all the way up through the 60s. The bass player that I think dominates, you know, piano triels, quintets, like the great prestige and blue note. And, you know, impulse records and I mean, there's a bunch of great bass players. But I think Paul Chambers. Yeah. Of the young bass players. It's the one that always comes to mind. I mean, he was just so great. Sure. And really dominated in a way. But I got to put Israel Crosby up there. Maybe not in the volume of recordings that he was on. And certainly was, you know, very heavily during that whole period playing with with Ahmed, Ahmed Jamal. But I got to, like in terms of like technique and swing and sound. I don't know. Is that a controversial hot song?

44:53I don't think it's controversial. I think he sounds great. I think he sounds great in this band. He's a little bit older than everybody too. He's like 10 years older than Ahmed Jamal. And he's he's just he just feels so solid back there. So solid. He just feel like there's nothing that Ahmed could do to throw him or that that Vernille for an yay could do to knock him off that beat. You know what I mean? Like it's just like so. So big. All right. What's your next pick? Okay. We got Willow weep for me. Willow weep for me back from the Alahamber 1961 live. Easy way in. Yeah. So you get some of that Oscar Peters to be a little Tatum influence, right? In the way he was stretching pull and push up melody.

46:01And then his blues chops like we don't think about that is his goat's human so good. When needed. Oh. Man. So many of these live recordings. And we did cherry pick. I just bunch of stuff on these records I could have.

47:07I mean it was like very hard and very easy at the same time. But the precision like it's very rare. I'm great on great live recordings that like everything's perfect. You know what I mean? Even with like Oscar Peters center something. And like it's just uncanny like his. Because he's very exposed. You know he's this is a lot of playing for him in a way. He's a rushes so that you can hear every day. He hits any cacks you're going to hear it exactly. Very precision oriented. All right. That's a great pull. Good last pull. We had the last track. I'm sad. PD. Shad. Yeah. PD said. I do baby talk. I'm actually going to call an audible. So as we were listening to these tracks from live at the Pershing like I had something picked from earlier in his career. Yeah. And I'm kind of realizing like I didn't want to do too much from live at the Pershing. But then I was like yeah, but I can't do an ultimate playlist without including this. Uh oh. This is. That's true. Not for piano tuning. But this is what's new. This is the last track on that iconic album.

48:18And there's just some moments in here that are my favorite moments in music. Yeah. And it'd been more influential on me than anything else. Yeah. Maybe I've ever heard. Man, this is such a unique and template. Templatable. The way of playing a ballad. Oh. Oh.

49:18Oh. Everything the chord changes the sort of walking balance field than this. That's not a ballet group. I feel like one of the Wu Tang about the jump. Yeah. No one was playing like this then like he's kind of not in a piano trio. It was influenced by this a lot of rap around and rap around trio later on. He did a lot of incorporate a lot of these things really well like in the 90s and to that up until he was no longer with us.

50:25It's just pretty it's just phenomenal. Yeah. Staggeringly good. And and thank you. I'm out of the incredible music and amazing career and the wonderful light and energy that you gave off. Every time I saw him live I left feeling elevated and like light on my feet. Let's do some categories Peter thing. He did the thing. Desert Island tracks. What you got? I got binot for me. Oh, it's for me. It was a close call between Poincy and a binot for me. But there's something about that. Yeah. That'll always get me off my seat. Get me moving. What about you? Well, we're good because I got Poincy and a perfect. I got me covered and normally I'd be like, Oh, I'm not going to go with that. But I'm like, man, you got to have. Yeah. Apex moment. I have speaking of Poincy and that snap on Poincy and a right before the boom. I just even just when Vernal goes to the ride for the first time, but even just the snap right before that. Just that one moment. Right there. It doesn't matter if it was the first. I mean, the first time I heard it, I thought I couldn't walk. Yeah. Like I lost feeling in my legs and knees. And I still feel that way every time I hear it, it's just still causes like immense tank face and joy.

51:33Man, I'm so torn here. I put down like from the from the live video from 60, the excerpt from the blues when they go into the swing. It's just such a deep thing. But I'm also thinking about on old devil moon, the way it ends to me is like, because I think this is true on like he had these slick endings that are so easy to learn actually. This is the thing. I'm not played so much stuff. Not all of his. He played some stuff that you're like, oh my god, I could never play that. But most of his stuff compared to an Oscar Peterson or herbie Hancock or a Chikiria or McCoy Tiner, it's it's very accessible because there's space. There's clarity to it now to do it well and like him. It's very hard because it's very stylized. And like there's these bigger picture things that are part of it beyond just the notes. He's also making things seem easier. Yeah. There's a certain amount like of connection. I'd say with Bill Evans. I wonder how much Bill Evans. He certainly was influenced by a mod. You would have to. You know. But anyway, I the way that that ends old and we didn't get to the end. But I'll just say everybody go and listen to the way it ends because it's just another one of his little cute tag endings with a little bit of a variation.

52:43But it's so it's such a lift. And he had this ability because of everything that came before it. You know, it's not just like, okay, now we're done. And so bam, then we go to the next two. It's like you're elevated. You're elevated. And then you end on this high. You know, so I'm going to go with that. Snobometer to seven. Absidence. You think it's snobby. I think the ultimate amajimal playlist that we've put together is snobby. Yeah. Why what do you? I think it's very listenable music that I could put on for. I'm sorry. Does the snobometer measure listenability? Yeah. How snobby it is. How accessible it is. How would a general audience like it? And I think if you put on but not for me or really any of these tracks, someone who doesn't know anything about jazz. There's no context for it would still be like, well, that feels great. It's just accessibility. What you're changing it into. It's not changing it. No, I take it to be like, okay, you're at a party and you're like, hey, Rob. You always come up with these elaborate scenarios from the snobbiness. How do you measure snobby? You get a guy with like a corduroy jacket.

53:45Oh, you don't. Sorry. You don't come up with a lover. It's very serious. Think about this. Got him Rob with two bees, two bees rob. He reads the rob report short for Robbie, which was short for Robert, which added a bee and the cookie. I kept the extra B. So you come up to me. Hey, Rob. How are you? What have you been listening to lately? And he says he has a pipe. And it's not latest. Just kind of there. He says, you're right. This is too easy. You'll hear it ultimate. Amal Jamal playlist recently. Would you be like snob snob? I'd be like nerd. I don't know if I would be like snob. Okay. Anyway. Okay. Seven. I mean, I feel like the stomabiner is only working if we're completely polar opposites. It's how it's always work. You know what I just feel like Amal in general does have a little bit of snobby. It's totally excess. Well, I agree. But like Bill Evans, I think is most of his stuff is the two because it's like people know him. People like him. Can we spend a couple of minutes? People do know him like Amal, but they haven't heard him quite as much. I don't know. Can we spend a couple of minutes on the name? Because you and I have been saying it differently this whole time. I think it's Ahmed Jamal. I believe it's Ahmed. Yeah. I was I used to say Amal all the time. Right. Someone corrected me. Yeah. Okay.

54:52Okay. Okay. Agreed or agree? Is this better than KLB? Now by is this we mean this ultimate Amal Jamal playlist? Yes. No, he did it. What? Yes, he did. Are you serious? You don't agree. I have maybe. So I'm close. I think I mean for me, I like it. I like it. It's a little bit of a that's apples and like we're cheering. Yeah. I mean, if you were to do like the ultimate miles Davis playlist versus this then that would be a real argument. I think this might be that we should do that. We should do a draft at some point. Well, this is awesome. We very rarely get into KLB territory tying or exceeding. So that's exciting. I mean, this is this is the apex for me. This is pinnacle. This is as good as art. Can you see? I mean, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I think it's just up there. We've been in the mount top. Right. Thank you. Thank you, buddy. Yeah. Cool. Well, this was fun, man. Yeah. Till next time. You'll hear it.