Requisites

at the Pershing: BUT NOT FOR ME is a 1958 jazz album by pianist Ahmad Jamal. The tapes were made on January 16, 1958, at the Pershing Lounge of Chicago’s Pershing Hotel and each set played that night which was recorded by Malcolm Chisholm, recording engineer. A total of 43 tracks, of which 8 were selected by Jamal for the album. The LP was produced by Dave Usher and was released later that same year on Argo Records as LP-628. Though Jamal had previous releases on Argo, they had been from previously made masters. This, however, was his first release recorded for Argo and his first live recording.

Of the eight composition selected for the album comprised of standards, the 1936 composed Poinciana became the standout, not only for it’s length at eight minutes, seven seconds but also for his emotionally melodic playing.

In August 1958, Jet magazine referred to the album as “a nationwide hit”. The December 1958 Down Beat poll of music retailers showed that the album was the “#1 jazz bestseller“, selling an unprecedented 47,000 copies, it stayed on Billboard Magazine album charts for 107 weeks and eventually sold more than a million copies.

1. “But Not For Me” (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 3:32
2. “The Surrey with the Fringe on Top” (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II) – 2:35
3. “Moonlight In Vermont” (Karl Suessdorf, John Blackburn) – 3:09
4. “Music, Music, Music” (Put Another Nickel In) (Bernie Baum, Stephen Weiss) – 2:56
5. “No Greater Love” (Isham Jones, Marty Symes) – 3:26
6. “Poinciana” (Buddy Bernier, Nat Simon) – 8:07
7. “Woody N’ You” (Dizzy Gillespie) – 3:40
8. “What’s New?” (Bob Haggart, Johnny Burke) – 4:11

• Ahmad Jamal – piano
• Israel Crosby – bass
• Vernel Fournier – drums

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