Pittsburgh native Ahmad Jamal held a singular status in jazz and continued making incisive, relevant music up until his death in 2023 at age 92. This set includes his earliest work in the “three strings” trio format of piano, guitar, and bass, with an economical group sound, tight arrangements, and a rhythmic excitement reminiscent of The Nat “King” Cole Trio. The stuff holds a special magic. It represents Chamber Music of the New Jazz, as the title of another major Jamal release from this period called it. Tracks 1-6 are the Okeh Chicago sessions from 1951-1952, with Eddie Calhoun on bass. Epic put these out later on The Piano Scene of Ahmad Jamal, which also contained “three strings” material recorded for Epic in New York in 1955, with bassist Israel Crosby. Some of the 1955 material also came out on the Epic release The Ahmad Jamal Trio. What is salient is that the 1955 music (tracks 7-21)—every last bit a model of extraordinary subtlety, intricacy, and invention—was recorded all in one day, October 25. Standouts include the cinematic take on Duke Ellington’s “Black Beauty” and an early version of “Poinciana” with Ray Crawford tapping out bongo rhythms on his guitar pickup, prefiguring Vernel Fournier’s famous drum beat from a few years later.