But Not for Me: Live at the Pershing

Ahmad Jamal

Carefree Jazz Piano

Jazz piano took a radical swerve with Ahmad Jamal. Before the Pittsburgh native became a phenom with this 1958 live date, his third album, the instrument had been at the center of an escalating arms race: It was populated by speed demon beboppers (Bud Powell, Tommy Flanagan) striving to impress with ever more formidable technique and by more conceptual thinkers (Dave Brubeck) incorporating harmonies used in classical music.

Jamal's approach is completely different. He has plenty of dazzle in his fingers, but he rarely shows it. Instead, he projects a serene, unhurried, lyrical swing—even on his most heated lines, he plays as though the keys have been doused with warm butter. He uses silence, putting oceans between his phrases. He makes the piano sing. On "But Not for Me," the Gershwin classic, Jamal transforms sweet-nothings blues phrases—the kind associated with another jazz minimalist, Count Basie—into sparkling, slippery gems of ad-libbing.

Jamal's restraint proved a serious lure. The album's "single," a sly little Latin-rhythm fantasia entitled "Poinciana," appeared on jukeboxes and became Jamal's signature tune. Its success propelled But Not for Me, recorded in a small Chicago club where Jamal's trio was the house band, to number 3 on Billboard's album chart—it remained on the charts for 107 weeks, unusual for a jazz record even then. Its success brought Jamal to the peak of jazz fame—Miles Davis became one vociferous champion—but the pianist's later albums failed to replicate the low-key ethos of this one. Though he some-times got close, But Not for Me stands as his masterwork, the moment when Jamal shortcircuited rampant jazz abstraction with music that just plain feels good.

Genre: Jazz
Released: 1958, MCA
Key Tracks: "Poinciana," "There Is No Greater Love."
Catalog Choice: Ahmad's Blues
Next Stop: Miles Davis: Friday Night at the Blackhawk
After That: The Three Sounds: Black Orchid
Book Pages: 387–388