Wednesday, January 5, 2011

State of Israel

Israel Crosby was a subtle monster of the bass who was already killing as a teenager ("Blues of Israel" from a 1935 session under Gene Krupa's leadership), going on to enliven Ahmad Jamal's recordings of the 1950s. I "get" Jamal in bits and pieces. My favorite work of his is the early drummer-less trio recordings with Crosby and guitarist Ray Crawford. Miles Davis's over-the-top praise of the pianist continues to taunt me -- what did he hear that I don't? -- but then again Miles never had a kind word for McCoy Tyner. Go figure.
As for IC, his beat and rotund tone are pure pleasure. Hear him on "Profoundly Blue" with Charlie Christian and company. This was a special player whose quarter century career was actually too brief.

A vastly cleaner audio version of "Easy to Remember" can be heard on

THE COMPLETE AHMAD JAMAL TRIO ARGO SESSIONS 1956-62 on Mosaic Records.






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