The Ahmad Jamal Trio - Volume IV
The Ahmad Jamal Trio – Volume IV stands as one of the most compelling documents of a trio that quietly revolutionized the jazz piano format. Ahmad Jamal's approach, built on space, dynamics, and an almost orchestral sense of arrangement, was unlike anything else in jazz at the time, and this recording captures that sensibility in full bloom.
With Israel Crosby's warm, melodic bass and Vernell Fournier's featherlight, conversational drumming as his foundation, Jamal moves through ten standards and jazz staples with effortless authority. The lush balladry of Autumn in New York and The Girl Next Door gives way to the playful swing of Stompin' at the Savoy and Squatty Roo, while Cheek to Cheek and Secret Love reveal a trio that could transform even the most familiar material into something entirely their own. Taboo opens the set with an exotic, rhythmically charged energy that immediately signals this is no ordinary piano trio date.
What makes Volume IV endure is not virtuosity for its own sake, but the trio's collective intelligence - the way each musician listens, responds, and leaves room for the others. Miles Davis, who famously cited Jamal as one of his greatest influences, understood this instinctively. This is jazz as conversation at its most refined.
Artist(s): Piano – Ahmad Jamal
Acoustic Bass – Israel Crosby
Drums – Vernell Fournier
Recording Info: Recorded on location - Sept 6, 1958 (Spotlite Club, Washington, D.C.)
Engineer - Malcomn Chisholm
Producer - Dave Usher
Sourced from a 4-track tape
Components used for Transfer:
This transfer leverages precision analog playback and mastering-grade digital conversion. The signal path begins with a modified Studer A810 with Flux Heads, fed through a Merrill Audio Master MX Tape Head Preamp. The analog signal converts via a Merging Hapi converter, synchronized to an Antelope Audio 10MX atomic clock for temporal accuracy. All components receive isolated power conditioning through a Shunyata Research Everest 8000 with Shunyata Sigma-X power cords, while grounding infrastructure utilizes Shunyata ALTAIRA hubs to minimize noise floor and preserve sonic detail throughout the transfer chain.
1 Taboo 3:55
2 Should I 3:31
3 Stompin' At The Savoy 4:15
4 The Girl Next Door 3:22
5 I Wish I Knew 3:27
6 Cheek To Cheek 4:46
7 Autumn In New York 3:11
8 Secret Love 3:40
9 Squatty Roo 2:14
10 That's All 2:29
Please Note: This release was edited in DXD PCM from a DSD256 Master, then the DXD edited master was used to generate the final DSD files using Merging Technologies Album Publishing.
DXD (352.8KHz 24/32 bit PCM) is one of the best and least destructive formats for post-processing DSD originated digital recordings.
Copyright © & ℗ High Definition Tape Transfers 2026, including all compilation, transfer, remastering, and restoration aspects
 |
 |