Why did Ahmad Jamal change his name?

Ahmad Jamal was an American jazz pianist and composer. Jamal was born Frederick Russell Jones.

However, he discovered Islam in his adolescence. He became interested in Islam and Islamic culture while touring Detroit, where there was a sizable Muslim community in the 1940s and 1950s.

In 1950, he converted to Islam and changed his name to Ahmad Jamal. In an interview with The New York Times a few years later, he explained that he changed his name to “re-establish my original name.”

He told The New York Times shortly after his conversion to Islam that he “says Muslim prayers five times a day and rises in time to say his first prayers at 5 a.m.” In keeping with Muslim tradition, he says them in Arabic.”

Jamal began touring with George Hudson’s Orchestra after graduating from George Westinghouse High School in 1948.

He formed his own trio in 1951 and recorded his first album, “Ahmad Jamal Trio: Volume 1,” in 1955. His most famous album, “At the Pershing: But Not for Me,” was recorded live at the Pershing Hotel in Chicago in 1958 and became a huge commercial success, making him one of the best-selling jazz pianists of all time.