Rebirth of the Cool

Pianist Ahmad Jamal’s 1950s stint at Chicago’s Pershing Club with bassist Israel Crosby and drummer Vernell Fournier--captured on the 1958 Argo recording “Live at the Pershing”--not only redefined the sound of the piano trio, but it also influenced jazz artists great and small.

Miles Davis, writing in his 1989 autobiography “Miles,” remembers seeing Jamal in Chicago during that period: “I loved his lyricism on piano, the way he played and the spacing he used in the ensemble voicings of his group. I have always thought that Ahmad Jamal was a great piano player who never got the recognition he deserved.”

Now, 40 years later, Jamal has achieved that recognition; he’s in demand with international appearances and a new CD, “Nature,” on the Verve label. The qualities of Jamal’s sound that so impressed Davis in the ‘50s--lyricism, ensemble voicings and sense of space--continue to set his music apart. He brings his quartet with steel drum player Othello Molineaux to the Robert B. Moore Theatre at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa Saturday .

Though steel drum is a departure from Jamal’s usual touring trio, the pianist is quick to point out in a telephone interview that it’s nothing new.

“I had this very configuration with Othello nine years ago,” Jamal said from his home outside New York City. “I met him through [pianist and recent West Coast Jazz Party headliner] Monty Alexander. I’ve always had different-sized ensembles, small and large, and I can write for any-size group. I just finished writing a string quartet.”

While the promise of a string quartet from the pen of the 68-year-old Jamal is something to look forward to, his latest album follows a more familiar format with Jamal originals and tunes from film-composer Jerry Goldsmith and others.

Steel drum player Molineaux’s presence heightens the disc’s harmonic and percussive interest, while a guest appearance from saxophonist Stanley Turrentine adds soulful solos.

Though best known as a trio player, Jamal has frequently added percussionists, guitarists and more while recording dozens of albums for various labels over the years.

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His trio recorded with a string section as far back as 1959. In 1978, the adventurous keyboardist did an electric nonet date for 20th Century-Fox Records, covering tunes from Billy Joel and Steely Dan. “Pittsburgh,” the 1989 Atlantic label tribute to his hometown, features orchestra on a number of tracks.

“I’ve always had an orchestral mind,” says Jamal, discussing his current configuration. “The steel drums just add another dimension to the music. I really don’t play any differently when I play [with the steel drums present]. I just try not to do anything that distracts. Otherwise, I play to what I hear.”

This lack of distraction, a characteristic of Jamal’s waste-not style since his Chicago days, is exactly what attracted Davis to the pianist’s music. While much is made of Jamal’s influence on Davis, the pianist says that he admired the trumpeter as well.

“I lived a block and a half from Miles for a number of years in New York,” he says, “and we had a mutual admiration society going. I admired his work all the way back to when he came out with “Birth of the Cool” with Gerry Mulligan. And we had historic connections as well. One of my first jobs was with the band of George Hudson out of [Davis’ hometown] East St. Louis, so we knew some of the same people.”

Jamal started playing the piano at 3 and began making professional appearances at 11. “If you want to be a Tiger Woods or a Venus Williams, you have to start young,” he says, laughing. “Anyway, some of us needed to be cheated out of our childhoods. Things weren’t as rough as they are for kids today, but [playing piano] kept me occupied, gave me something to focus on.”

In the early ‘50s, Jamal garnered attention playing the Blue Note Club in Chicago and The Embers in New York. After scoring a hit with the Pershing recording and its single, the now-classic “Poinciana,” Jamal moved between record companies in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and also ran his own club for a time in Chicago, the Alhambra. Reissues available from that period include the 1970 date “The Awakening” on the Impulse label, which includes drummer Frank Gant (he will be with Jamal on the current tour).

Jamal, who’s worked with a tight circle of musicians over the years, says it makes sense to be loyal to sidemen.

“If you’re looking for a particular sound, you have no choice. That’s why the Modern Jazz Quartet kept Milt Jackson around for 40 years. You can’t be cohesive if you keep changing musicians every minute. The longer a musician is with you, the more empathy and response they can show.”

Looking back on his career, Jamal sees himself among a slowly disappearing group of musicians who benefited from three generations of jazz experience.

“Even though there’s a difference in our ages, guys like myself and [drummer-band leader] Thad Jones, and [composer-bandleader] Gil Evans and [vibraphonist] Milt Jackson and [bassist] Ray Brown, we saw three different eras of music. We’re old enough to have heard the big bands of guys like Jimmie Lunceford and Count Basie.

“I was still pretty young when Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker created the bebop era, and I’ve lived beyond them into the electronic age. We’ve all experienced such a great body of work and we’ve gotten to learn much from each other.”

Ahmad Jamal, with Frank Gant, James Cammack and Othello Molineaux, plays Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Robert B. Moore Theatre, Orange Coast College, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. $28 in advance, $32 at the door. Seniors, OCC students, children under 12 $25 in advance. (714) 432-5880.