Few pianists in jazz have wielded space and silence as deliberately - or as devastatingly - as Ahmad Jamal. By 1971, his reputation was already formidable: Miles Davis had stated in his autobiography that "all my inspiration comes from Jamal, " his 1958 recordings at the Pershing Lounge had become some of the best-selling jazz albums of the era, and his command of the trio format was without peer. First Impressions captures him on June 25, 1971, at Studio 104 at the Maison de la Radio in Paris - home of the Orchestre Nationale de France - in a performance recorded for the ORTF and preserved in the INA archive for over five decades before finally seeing official release
