Ahmad Jamal has been mastering 88 key pianos for over 6 decades and at 90 still shows no signs of hanging it up. And, he is one of the select few jazz musicians to ever receive the Gammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Rightfully so I should add! I have over 40 releases of Jamal’s work on vinyl, from his self-titled Epic trio album to his 1980s masterpieces.
“Rhapsody”, recorded on the Cadet label December 1965 falls
a bit short of the usual Jamal grooves I have come to expect. While the concept
of Jamal and his trio backed by a 15-piece string orchestra is curious, the
selection of tunes is somewhat ho-hum. With the exception of two, “Then I’ll be
Tired of You” and “The Shadow of Your Smile” which are reason enough to keep
the entire album in my collection! The string recording quality is rather sharp
and shrill (typical of many recorded string sections), the trio is in rare form
and the tempo is excellent on both of these tracks. Interestingly, only 4 of
the 9 tracks are with the strings, the rest are his standard trio of Jamil
Nasser, bass and Vernal Fournier on drums. Of the trio tracks, Steve Allen’s
mega hit “This Could Be the Start of Something Big” is a confusing mess of
pyrotechnics that makes the melody hardly recognizable. McCoy Tyner’s
“Effendi”, “Invitation”, “Strange” and Jamal’s own “Concern” are uninspiring
and seem to show a tired pianist.
If you like piano and strings, this may not be the best
choice, I’d sooner suggest Dave Grusin’s first album, also on Epic, Erroll
Garners masterpiece with David Rose or the ever-underrated Pete Jolly.
Performance 6 out of 10-With the exception of the two
mentioned tracks, the rest is almost boring.
Recording 6 out of 10-Poorly captured violins and uninspired
songs ruin what could have been a stellar session.
Overall 6 out of 10-If you have space in your collection for
an album with two great tracks, buy it, otherwise leave it for a better Jamal
record like “At the Pershing” or “Happy Moods”.
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