Khan Jamal

• Name — Khan Jamal • Birth Name — Warren Robert Cheeseboro • Born — 23 July 1946 • Birthplace — Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. • Died — 10 January 2022 • Place of death — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. • Instrument — vibraphone, marimba, percussion • Genre — Jazz • Years Active — 1960s–2022 • Label — SteepleChase • Associated Acts — Byard Lancaster, Sunny Murray

Warren Robert Cheeseboro was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on July 23, 1946. His father, Henry McCloud, worked as an entrepreneur; his mother, Willa Mae Cheeseboro, was a stride pianist. He was raised in Philadelphia, and began playing the vibraphone during the later part of his teenage years in the mid-1960s. Jamal attended the Granoff School of Music and the Combs College of Music.

Jamal first played for a group called Cosmic Forces during the later part of the 1960s. He also played with The Sun Ra Arkestra. After leaving the group, he teamed up with several other of its former members to play with Sunny Murray's group Untouchable Factor. Jamal later co-founded Sounds of Liberation with Byard Lancaster in 1970. Its members included Monnette Sudler (guitar), Billy Mills (bass), Dwight James (drums), and Omar Hill and Rashid Salim (percussion). The band released its only album, titled New Horizons, two years later on its own record label Dogtown. However, it gained little impact outside Philadelphia at the time. The album was eventually reissued on Porter Records in 2010. This gave the group a new lease on life, culminating in the re-emergence of a recording made at Columbia University in 1973. It was ultimately issued in 2019 as Unreleased on Dogtown/Brewerytown. In addition to leading his own groups, Jamal performed with Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society in the 1980s, Joe Bonner, Billy Bang, Charles Tyler and others. His first solo album was Drum Dance to the Motherland, a live recording that was held in a small café in his hometown and first released in 1973. It was reissued by Eremite Records in 2006, with the label describing it as "the most legendary private press underground jazz album of the 1970s". Another solo album by Jamal, Infinity (1984), was reissued by Jazz Room in 2021 and dubbed spiritual jazz by WBGO. Jamal's style connected the two contrasting forms of free jazz and jazz fusion. He was also known for his skill of shifting modes and moods, as well as his versatile way towards music. He was a frequent performer at the Vision Festival.

Jamal had two sons: Khan II and Tahir. He died on January 10, 2022, at the Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia. He was 75, and suffered kidney failure prior to his death.

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• Name — Year — Label

• Drum Dance to the Motherland — 1972 — Dogtown

• Give the Vibes Some — 1974 — Palm 10

• The River — 1978 — Philly Jazz 1002, with Bill Lewis

• Infinity — 1984 — Con'brio 001; Stash 278; Jambrio 1001; Jazz Room 006

• Dark Warrior — 1984 — SteepleChase

• Three — 1985 — SteepleChase with Pierre Dørge, Johnny Dyani

• The Traveller — 1985 — SteepleChase

• Thinking of You — 1986 — Storyville 4138

• Speak Easy — 1988 — Gazell 4001

• Don't Take No! — 1989 — Stash ST-CD-20

• Percussion & Strings — 1997 — CIMP

• Cubano Chant — 2000 — Jambrio 1002

• Balafon Dance — 2002 — CIMP

• Cool — 2002 — Jambrio 1008

• Nothing Is Wrong — 2003 — CIMP with Odean Pope

• Black Awareness — 2005 — CIMP

• Return from Exile — 2005 — Discograph 6124582

• Fire and Water — 2007 — CIMP with Dylan Taylor-bass

• Impressions of Coltrane — 2009 — SteepleChase

Sources: n

• Artist — Name — Year — Label

• Sounds of Liberation — New Horizons — 1972 — Dogtown

• Ted Daniel — Tapestry — 1974 — Sun

• Monnette Sudler — Brighter Days for You — 1978 — Steeplechase

• Ronald Shannon Jackson & the Decoding Society — Nasty — 1981 — Moers

• Dwight James — Inner Heat — 1983 — Cadence

• Jemeel Moondoc — Konstanze's Delight — 1983 — Soul Note

• Billy Bang — Outline No. 12 — 1983 — Celluloid

• Joe Bonner — Suite for Chocolate — 1985 — SteepleChase

• Omar Hill and Art Webb — Caribbean Breeze — 1986 — Gaslight

• Dan Fogel — Naked Flowers — 1986 — Laughing Waters

• Sunny Murray — Change of the Century Orchestra — 1999 — JAS

• Omar Hill — Tribes of the Future — 2000 — Afrotex

• Jemeel Moondoc — Revolt of the Negro Lawn Jockeys — 2001 — Eremite

• Roy Campbell Jr. — It's Krunch Time — 2001 — Thirsty Ear

• Antipop Consortium and Matthew Shipp — Antipop vs. Matthew Shipp — 2003 — Thirsty Ear

• Matthew Shipp — Equilibrium — 2003 — Thirsty Ear

• Thunderbird Service — Soul Unity — 2006 — Heavenly Sweetness

• DJ Spooky — The Secret Song — 2009 — Thirsty Ear

• Scanner with the Post Modern Jazz Quartet — Blink of an Eye — 2010 — Thirsty Ear

• Sounds of Liberation — Unreleased (Columbia University 1973) — 2018 — Dogtown