Ahmad Jamal – Ahmad Jamal ’73: Verve Vault Series (180g Vinyl LP)

Ahmad Jamal Ahmad Jamal ’73 Reissued for the Verve Vault Series on 180g LP: Cut from the Original Master Tapes by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound and Pressed at Optimal.

On Ahmad Jamal ’73, one of jazz’s most acclaimed small-group pianists traded in his most familiar instrument for something with a new spin, recording his first of seven studio works for the 20th Century label from behind the electric piano. Backed by an expanded orchestra arranged and conducted by album co-producer Richard Evans, the ensuing album merges familiar jazz traditions with the sound of a new era, pairing Jamal’s leads with massive string, vocal, and horn arrangements on versions of then-current soul-funk hits (Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition,” War’s “The World is a Ghetto”) and spiritual jazz and funk numbers (“Sustah, Sustah,” “Peace at Last”).

The Verve Vault series is all-analog, cut from the original master tapes by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound and pressed on 180-gram vinyl.

Side A:

1. The World is a Ghetto
2. Children of the Night
3. Superstition

Side B:

1. Trilby
2. Sustah, Sustah
3. Soul Girl
4. Peace at Last