The story behind puzzle No. 53
Ahmad Jamal Trio · At the Pershing: But Not for Me · Argo · 1958
Ahmad Jamal's trio recorded it live in a Chicago hotel lounge, and it turned an old song into one of the best-selling jazz records of its time.
The Ahmad Jamal Trio recorded Poinciana on January 16, 1958, in the Pershing Lounge of Chicago's Pershing Hotel. Argo released it on the album At the Pershing: But Not for Me.
Jamal played piano, with Israel Crosby on bass and Vernel Fournier on drums. The track runs just over eight minutes.
Poinciana became a massive jazz hit. The album stayed on Billboard's album charts for 107 weeks and had sold more than a million copies by 1994.
The success let Jamal open his own club and restaurant, the Alhambra. DownBeat's reviewer noted his influence on other musicians, including Miles Davis.
Poinciana grew out of a Cuban folk song, La Canción del Árbol. Nat Simon is credited as composer, with English lyrics by Buddy Bernier.
Jamal's recording reached a new audience decades later on the soundtrack of the 1995 film The Bridges of Madison County.
Listen to Fournier's drum pattern, a hypnotic mix of rolling toms and cymbals that carries the whole track.
Jamal uses space the way a big band uses dynamics, dropping to a whisper and then hitting hard.
Who's on it
Keep listening
For another pianist who sold millions of jazz records, revisit Erroll Garner's Misty (puzzle No. 9).
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