Award-winning jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal said he didn't choose music as a career.
"Music chose me," Jamal said during a phone interview from his Pittsburgh, Pa. home. "At 3 years old, when I began playing, you don't make conscious choices.
"That was too young for me to even begin to think about what I wanted to do. I just did it," he continued. "It chose me and that's the way it has been ever since."
At 79, Jamal has been looking back at his career and said the thing that kept him going was "an interesting life — one that encompassed many things, especially traveling.
"My life is very interesting and even more interesting than it was during the more stressful years when you're trying to accomplish everything and trying to raise a family and keep men working," he said.
One of those "interesting things" was his recent — and first — trip to Russia.
"They tried to get me to go to Russia for years and years and years," he said. "I finally accepted and enjoyed it immensely. So I composed a composition as a result of going to Moscow. I wrote a composition I like very much, called 'Flight to Russia.' "
The song is on his CD, "A Quiet Time," which was recently released in the United States (it was released in Europe last year). This new full-length, which features 11 tracks, is not to be confused with the four-track extended play of the same name.
"Going into the studio is always exciting, always challenging and always different," Jamal said. "I don't go into the studio that much. I used aggravate the companies I've been with by not going into the studio. I only go into the studio when I have something to say musically. I don't dare go in otherwise, because that's dangerous and non-productive."
Jamal, whose career has spanned more than seven decades, said the main challenge is to "avoid distraction.
"You have to be sure you remain focused, and that's a challenge for anyone, even for a journalist as well, and a pilot. He can't have distractions," he said.
Still, some of those distractions are the rewards of being in the business. He was given the Kennedy Center's Living Legends Award in 2007 and was named an officer in the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government that same year.
"The Living Legends award in Washington was great because I had a lot of my colleagues there who were still living," Jamal said. "We got that before we got our transition (to the other side)."
"My friend Dave Brubeck was standing beside me," he explained. "Dave is a little older than me. He's 88 or 87 and still hitting it. It was a great evening."
Jamal is also a American Jazz Hall of Fame inductee, and was given the American Jazz Masters Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts in 1994. His many accolades span the decades and he had to buy a house with a big room just to put up all his awards.
"I'm housing all my memorabilia and medals and all this stuff so my grandchildren can look at them," he chuckled. "And I hope they're all overwhelmed. I want them to see all of their grandfather's memorabilia. I have a huge room for that and my two pianos. So my grandchildren can admire them, hopefully."
And while looking back on the past is nice, Jamal has at least one eye on the future.
"You have to keep looking forward," he said. "You can look back so you don't make the same mistakes, but you cannot stop and rest on your laurels. You have to keep going, have to keep writing new compositions and have flawless presentations. And you want to get joy out of what you're doing.
"I'm always programming. I'm programming now as I am speaking to you," Jamal continued. "That's certainly unique in my business. If you're professional, you're always thinking of your next performance."
He is excited for his new project, a children's song called "Morning Fly."
"I have an educator in Long Island that is waiting for me to finish it. I hope it will catch on across the country and the globe. I have to see the final draft," he said.
Jamal also wants to finish "some other things" that he has been working on.
"We never live long enough to accomplish everything (we) want, whether you're Ernest Hemingway or Ahmad Jamal. But if you can reach a happy medium, there's a sense of satisfaction," he said. "I've been very fortunate and continue to hope for best of both worlds — this one and next one."
e-mail: scott@desnews.com
If you go...
What: Ahmad Jamal Trio
Where: Sheraton City Center, 150 W. 500 South
When: Jan. 11, 7:30 p.m.
How much: $25
Phone: 801-278-0235
Web: www.jazzslc.com