Global Courant 2023-04-17 19:41:25
Ahmad Jamal, one of the most elegant, eloquent and influential pianists and composers in modern jazz, died on Sunday, his wife, Laura Hess-Hey, and his daughter, Sumayah Jamal, told the Washington Pst. The pianist was 92 and died in Ashley Falls, MA, after a battle with prostate cancer.
Jamal’s spare sense of uncluttered, open rhythm was also, oddly, an influence on such great hip-hop producers as J Dilla (De La Soul’s “Stakes Is High”), DJ Premier (Gang Starr’s “Soliloquy of Sadness”), Pete Rock (on MOP’s “Stick to Ya Gunz,” and Ski (Jay-Z’s “Feelin’ It”), all of whom sampled some of the pianist’s finest, funkiest work.
Not an improvisationalist, Jamal was free before free jazz was a thing, and used repetition and ostinatos as some of his earliest signature touches.