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 viny.
