Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones; July 2, 1930 – April 16, 2023) was a jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, and educator from the United States. He was one of the most effective small-group leaders in jazz for six decades. He was named a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy for his contributions to music history.
Why did Ahmad Jamal change his name?
He grew interested in Islam and Islamic culture while traveling in Detroit, where there was a substantial Muslim community in the 1940s and 1950s. Hence, in 1950, he converted to Islam and changed his name to Ahmad Jamal.
Meanwhile, Jamal was born Frederick Russell Jones on July 2, 1930, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He began playing the piano when he was three years old when his uncle Lawrence challenged him to mimic what he was performing on the piano. Jamal began professional piano lessons at the age of seven with Mary Cardwell Dawson, whom he credits with influencing him significantly.
His Pittsburgh roots remained an essential part of his identity (“Pittsburgh meant everything to me and it still does,” he said in 2001), and it was there that he was exposed to jazz performers such as Earl Hines, Billy Strayhorn, Mary Lou Williams, and Erroll Garner.
