Ahmad Jamal - Ahmad Jamal '73 (Verve Vault Series, LP Vinyl)

On Ahmad Jamal ‘73, one of jazz’s most acclaimed small-group pianists traded in his most familiar instrument for something with a new spin, recording his first of seven studio works for the 20th Century label from behind the electric piano. Backed by an expanded orchestra arranged and conducted by album co-producer Richard Evans, the ensuing album merges familiar jazz traditions with the sound of a new era, pairing Jamal’s leads with massive string, vocal, and horn arrangements on versions of then-current soul-funk hits (Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition,” War’s “The World Is a Ghetto”) and spiritual jazz and funk numbers (“Sustah, Sustah,” “Peace At Last”). The Verve Vault series is all-analog, cut from the original master tapes by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound and pressed on 180-gram vinyl.

1 World Is a Ghetto
2 Children of the Night
3 Superstition
4 Trilby
5 Sustah Sustah
6 Soul Girl
7 Peace at Last