Ahmad Jamal: Blue Moon

1 Autumn Rain - 7:37 2 Blue Moon - 9:55 3 Gypsy - 5:13 4 Invitation - 13:13 5 I Remember Italy - 13:07 6 Laura - 6:29 7 Morning Mist - 8:19 8 This Is the Life - 7:08 9 Woody'n You - 4:56

Five HUGE Stars!! The awesome "Blue Moon" is one of Ahmad Jamal's best! This CD captures jazz hall of fame composer, innovator, and piano genius Ahmad Jamal at age 81 and at the height of his musical powers": swinging, attacking, and improvising as creatively as he has throughout an illustrious career. This Jamal quartet is composed of the ingenious percussionism of 22 year Jamal 'conguero' Manolo Badrena, the vital bottom pulse of Reginald Veal on his bass violin, and master drummer Herlin Riley, a welcome addition to the drum kit again after 20 years. Mr Jamal, already in other international halls of fame, in 2011 became the most recent addition to the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame. Here he is in splendid compositional and improvisational form, lengthening the performance time of most songs for more extensive explorations. The result is a whopping 72 minute CD with all of the characteristics that have made him a jazz favorite for decades: beguiling vamps, smoking pedal-points, lush interludes, sudden tempo changes, extensive ballad expositions, and hard-swinging solos in uncompromising virtuosity. In addition, the bass and percussion players 'crank it up' a notch to the boiling point on many songs.

Price: $20.98