Ahmad Jamal - The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd [Repost]

Ahmad Jamal - Roar of The Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd - Argo LP 751 -Argo Original Pressing, Grey Label ,Mono [new version]

Ahmad Jamal - Piano
Jamil Nasser - Bass
Chuck Lampkin - Drums

Recorded: Feb 24 & 25 1965, Nola Penthouse Studio, NYC
From the musical production "The Roar of The Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd"
Words and Music by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley

Engineer: Tommy Nola
Album Production and Supervision: Esmond Edwards
Cover Design: Michael Reid Design

Released: May 1, 1965

My dual jazz vinyl collecting and blogging hobbies have taken me in many directions - many fruitful, some less so - but in the end I keep coming back to the Argo/Cadet label and Ahmad Jamal.  On the eve of a major blog milestone [two hundred posts!], I've decided to go back to the beginning, to the very roots of this blog's rationale and mission with three 1965 Jamal sides from my archives.  

I've always felt that 1965 is a key year in the Jamal discography. Unfortunately Jamal's recordings from this year:  'Roar of the Greasepaint' (recorded 02/65) 'Extensions' (recorded 5/65) and 'Rhapsody' (recorded 12/65) have all remained officially unreleased on CD. I gather the unavailability of these sides are for a myriad of reasons;  perhaps licensing/legal issues (Jamal's Chess/Argo recordings were eventually absorbed  into the MCA/Universal Music corporate family, which Jamal didn't appreciate, leading to a lawsuit), commercial considerations (each of these recordings weren't great sellers at the time , and without critical support have been mostly lost to time), and also perhaps due to Jamal himself (he's hypercritical of his own work and dislikes much of his later post 1962 classic trio output). Nevertheless, I think there's a strong case for a reconsideration of these recordings. On a personal note, documenting these lost Jamal sides actually first inspired me to get into blogging nearly five years ago when I was frustrated that I couldn't get to listen to them!

The following three sides are my personal favorites in the Jamal discography because  they represent distinct Jamal approaches to deconstructing familiar jazz forms and genres - 'The Roar of the Greasepaint' reinterprets the typically staid  'jazz standards' form by tackling a silly Broadway musical/Tin Pan Alley ; 'Extensions' represents his attempt play 'out', and  take account of the 'New Thing'/Free Jazz currents of the mid sixties;  'Rhapsody' (courtesy of Joe Kennedy's great arrangements) revitalizes the tired and cheesy 'jazz with strings' genre, and somehow makes it compelling. In the end these are very much Jamal sides, but I appreciate the experimentation beyond the classic piano trio/cocktail jazz setting.