Ahmad Jamal will turn 89 on July 2, and he doesn't perform live very often anymore. So when the opportunity to see him play at the McCarter Theater in Princeton, NJ arose last week, I jumped. I'd recently interviewed his longtime drummer, Herlin Riley, and was expecting an evening of dignified swing that combined bluesy vamps with some classical flourishes and lush, romantic melodies. That was not at all what transpired.
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Ugly Beauty: The Month In Jazz – May 2019
