Tag: Hall of fame

Hipster Sanctuary salutes Ahmad Jamal on receiving Grammy nomination for #BLUE MOON  “Best Instrumental 2013” and Down Beat”s Readers Poll- 2nd Best “Album of the Year.” We pay tribute to a sublime  musician upon his relentless pursuit of greatness and hereby induct him into #The Hipster Sanctuary #JAZZ HALL OF FAME.Blue Moon is not just Ahmad Jamal’s latest album, it’s his latest masterpiece, suffused with a feeling reminiscent of his greatest periods with Chess and Impulse ! Original compositions of pure majesty, brilliant new interpretations of American legends (the “film noir”, Broadway, the vast open spaces), each of these nine pieces showcases Jamal’s creative reinvention of swing, provides a pretext for some breathtaking melodies and calls on sophisticated syncopation that will leave you gasping.

Accompanied by three impeccable guardians of the tempo, Ahmad Jamal is at the peak of his art. Formerly a highly talented pianist of a type of music known as jazz, he is now the chief apostle of American classical music. The hallmarks of Mr. Jamal’s style are rhythmic innovations, colorful harmonic perceptions, especially left hand harmonic and melodic figures, plus parallel and contrary motion lines in and out of chordal substitutions and alterations and pedal point ostinato interludes in tasteful dynamics. He also incorporates a unique sense of space in his music, and his musical concepts are exciting without being loud in volume. Augmented by a selection of unusual standards and his own compositions, Mr. Jamal impressed and influenced, among others, trumpeter Miles Davis.

At 82 years old, with Blue Moon, Ahmad Jamal is at the peak of his art.

December 2012  Down Beat Magazine  Readers Poll !

Blue Moon named second best “Jazz Album of the Year!” 
DownBeat Magazine – Readers Poll 2012 

NEA JAZZ MASTER AHMAD JAMAL REINTERPRETS SONGS FROM CLASSIC AMERICAN CINEMA AND BROADWAY WITH   BLUE MOON  … AVAILABLE TODAY ON  JAZZ VILLAGE