Ahmad Jamal: What Is This Thing Called Love

At the club he then owned, Jamal and his partners give one of their classic performances of the late '50s and early '60s, maintaining constant suspense with a song everybody knows by heart. First, they don't clearly quote the melody before one minute, after having circled it in many ways. Then they carry on this hide-and-seek game until there's no resting place for the ears of those who've grasped that anything can happen at any moment. This trio is a real orchestra, and Jamal acts as an arranger. Or should one say a stage director, who dispatches sound effects. Who could believe that in those days some called Jamal a lounge pianist?