Ahmad Jamal was born on July 2, 1930, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A child prodigy who began to play the piano at the age of 3, he began formal studies at age 7. While in high school, he completed the equivalent of college master classes under the noted African-American concert singer and teacher Mary Caldwell Dawson and pianist James Miller. He joined the musicians union at the age of 14, and he began touring upon graduation from Westinghouse High School at the age of 17, drawing critical acclaim for his solos.

In 1950, he formed his first trio, The Three Strings. Performing at New York’s The Embers club, Record Producer John Hammond “discovered” The Three Strings and signed them to Okeh Records (a division of Columbia, now Sony Records). In 1994, Mr. Jamal received the American Jazz Masters award from the National Endowment for the Arts. The same year he was named a Duke Ellington Fellow at Yale University, where he performed commissioned works as the Assai String Quartet

After the incredible success of Ahmad Jamal’s Jazz Village debut Blue Moon, the great jazzman returned to the studio to record Saturday Morning, an even more joyful album, made up of the kinds of ballads to which only he holds the key. Each one is a moment of grace, shining like a star in the sky of American Classical Music. The set features one wonderful Duke Ellington cover and a tribute to Horace Silver. With his light-fingered but rhythmic style, Jamal sends us into a sensuous trance and leads us to a musical climax: a sound that is 100 percent pure groove. Now available as a 180-gram vinyl LP, the gatefold double disc set includes a bonus digital download card.