Ahmad Jamal is dead: Cool jazz pioneer was 92

Ahmad Jamal, the pianist and bandleader who helped pioneer the influential style that later became known as cool jazz, died Sunday of prostate cancer at his home in Ashley Falls, Massachusetts. He was 92.

His death was announced by his daughter Sumayah Jamal.

“All my inspiration comes from Ahmad Jamal,” said trumpeter Miles Davis, just one of many musical icons and jazz aficionados who credit Jamal with influencing the direction of the form, away from the speed and frenzy of bebop to a freer approach.

Jamal often described his playing style as honoring the spaces between notes, a less-is-more approach that was initially dismissed by critics in the 1950s as shallow cocktail lounge music.

The record-buying audiences disagreed, and Jamal’s 1958 album At Pershing: but not for me spent an unprecedented two years on Billboard’s album chart. Later generations of jazz pianists such as Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett would cite the free, relaxed, yet intensely rhythmic style as a major influence. Clint Eastwood recorded two songs from the album for inclusion on the soundtrack Madison County Bridges.

In total, Jamal has released more than 60 albums throughout his career.

Jamal was a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master. In 2017, he received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy for contributions to music history alongside Charley Pride, The Velvet Underground and Sly Stone, among others.