Ahmad Jamal
Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones; July 2, 1930 – April 16, 2023) was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, and educator. For six decades, he was one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz.[1] He was a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Master and won a Lifetime Achievement Grammy for his contributions to music history.[2][3]
For the Pakistani cricketer, see Ahmed Jamal (cricketer). For the Egyptian footballer, see Ahmed Jamal (footballer).
Ahmad Jamal
Frederick Russell Jones
July 2, 1930
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
April 16, 2023 (aged 92)
Ashley Falls, Massachusetts, U.S.
- Jazz
- hard bop
- modal jazz
- cool jazz
- post-bop
Musician
Piano
1948–2020
Biography[edit]
Early life[edit]
Jamal was born Frederick Russell Jones in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on July 2, 1930.[4] He began playing piano at the age of three, when his uncle Lawrence challenged him to duplicate what he was playing.[5] Jamal began formal piano training at the age of seven with Mary Cardwell Dawson, whom he said greatly influenced him. His Pittsburgh roots remained an important part of his identity ("Pittsburgh meant everything to me and it still does," he said in 2001)[6] and it was there that he was immersed in the influence of jazz artists such as Earl Hines, Billy Strayhorn, Mary Lou Williams, and Erroll Garner. Jamal studied with pianist James Miller and began playing piano professionally at the age of fourteen,[7] at which point he was recognized as a "coming great" by the pianist Art Tatum.[8] When asked about his practice habits by a critic from The New York Times, Jamal commented that, "I used to practice and practice with the door open, hoping someone would come by and discover me. I was never the practitioner in the sense of twelve hours a day, but I always thought about music. I think about music all the time."[8]
