In Focus: Khan Jamal

An hour of recordings from one of the finest jazz vibraphone players ever to hold the mallets. Raised in Philadelphia, Khan Jamal began playing vibes (and later marimba) as a teenager in the 1960s. By the end of the decade and into the 1970s, Khan would become a notable figure in the more exploratory fringes of the jazz scene, playing with drummer and free jazz pioneer Sunny Murray, and playing a role in Sun Ra's Arkestra. Jamal would be one of the first artists to bridge the oftentimes disparate attitudes of free jazz and jazz fusion, creating work that straddled both. Photo: Jan Persson