js Ahmad Jamal’s first couple records, including “The Ahmad Jamal Trio”, may be some of the oddest of his career, and they certainly got a lot of attention when they first came out, unfortunately a lot of it negative. Jamal’s original trio was not the expected piano/bass/drums arrangement, but instead featured Jamal on piano pared with Ray Crawford on guitar and Israel Crosby on acoustic bass. Its an odd sound combination that is made even odder by their personal and creative approaches to their instruments. Serious jazz fans were initially turned off by Jamal’s light, “loungeish” approach to the piano, and I am sure they were more than a little surprised when they first heard Crawford imitate an electronic bongo machine by tapping his guitar. The combination of Crawford’s proto-Kraftwerk rhythms and Jamal’s quirky lounge piano have made this album highly prized with the exotica collectors, but jazz fans still have mixed opinions about this one.

Throughout this album Jamal’s playing is outstanding. On the album opener, “Perfidia”, Ahmad comes out swinging with odd syncopations of the well-known melody followed by bizarre couterpoints. There is no doubt that he is one of the most original and idiosyncratic voices on the piano, in a similar league with Monk , Ellington and Herbie Nichols. His loungey sound and original chord structures have also been a cross-influence with George Shearing, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock and Martin Denny. Its hard to escape the Jamal influence in modern piano sounds.

Much of side one has a driving Latin jazz groove, which is pushed by Crawford’s faux electro bongos and a guest maraca player on “Rico Pulpa”. On side two the band takes on a more traditional sound as the bongos are pushed to the background or left out entirely. This album is a must have for Ahmad Jamal fans and collectors of odd instrumental sounds.