Ahmad Jamal was born on July 2nd, 1930 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh was the home of many artists known the world over for their work and contributions to both European Classical Music and American Classical Music (The term Mr. Jamal prefers for Jazz).
He began playing piano at age 3, the same age Erroll Garner started. Jamal and Garner attended the same elementary and high schools. Mr. Jamal started his formal studies with noted educator, Mary Cardwell Dawson. Ms. Dawson was responsible for the first African American artists joining The Metropolitan Opera Company. When Madame Dawson moved to Washington, DC., Jamal continued his studies with James Miller, a contemporary of Earl Wild, both Pittsburgh natives. By age 10 Jamal was composing, orchestrating and performing works by Franz Liszt, exploring the music of Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, Nat Cole, Erroll Garner and a host of music notables. Jamal immersed himself fully in learning the American Song Book. He was proficient at amassing a huge repertoire and caught the attention of his senior Pittsburgh masters. Quickly hired on, he joined the AFof M (American Federation of Musicians) at 14, when the minimum age requirement was 16.
At 17, he left home at the request of the George Hudson Orchestra and began touring the country. The orchestra included Clark Terry and orchestrator Ernie Wilkins. The touring schedule included major theaters throughout the United States; Notably, the historic Apollo Theater in NYC, and The Howard Theater in Washington, DC. Mr. Jamal took the Apollo stage with the orchestra at 18 years of age. Jamal began touring with George Hudson's Orchestra after graduating from George Westinghouse High School in 1948. He then joined touring group The Four Strings, that disbanded when violinist Joe Kennedy Jr. left. In 1950 he moved to Chicago, performing intermittently with local musicians Von Freeman and Claude McLin, and solo at the Palm Tavern, occasionally joined by drummer Ike Day. Born to Baptist parents, Jamal became interested in Islam and Islamic culture in Detroit, where there was a sizeable Muslim community in the 1940s and 1950s. He converted to Islam and changed his name to Ahmad Jamal in 1950. In an interview with The New York Times a few years later, he said his decision to change his name stemmed from a desire to "re-establish my original name." Shortly after his conversion to Islam, he explained to The New York Times that he "says Muslim prayers five times a day and arises in time to say his first prayers at 5 am. He says them in Arabic in keeping with the Muslim tradition." Jamal made his first records in 1951 for the Okeh label with The Three Strings (which would later also be called the Ahmad Jamal Trio, although Jamal himself avoided using the term "trio"): the other members were guitarist Ray Crawford and a bassist, at different times Eddie Calhoun (1950–52), Richard Davis (1953–54), and Israel Crosby (from 1954). The Three Strings arranged an extended engagement at Chicago's Blue Note, but leapt to fame after performing at the Embers in New York City where John Hammond saw the band play and signed them to Okeh Records. Hammond, a record producer who discovered the talents and enhanced the fame of musicians like Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, and Count Basie, helped Jamal's trio attract critical acclaim. Jamal subsequently recorded for Parrot (1953–55) and Epic (1955) using the piano-guitar-bass lineup. The trio's sound changed significantly when Crawford was replaced with drummer Vernel Fournier in 1957, and the group worked as the "house trio" at Chicago's Pershing Hotel. The trio released the live album, At the Pershing: But Not for Me, which stayed on the Ten Best-selling charts for 108 weeks. Jamal's recording of the piece "Poinciana" was first released on this album.