Jamil Nasser

Jamil Sulieman Nasser ( Muslim name of George Leon Joyner, born June 21, 1932 in Memphis, Tennessee; † 13 February 2010) is an American jazz bassist of modern jazz.

Life and work

George Joyner, who changed his name after his conversion to Islam in Jamil Nasser played bass at sixteen and worked in local orchestras. During his studies at Arkansas State College he led the school band, 1953-55, he played in an Army band tuba. In his involvement with BB King 1955-56 he used an electric bass. He then came to New York City, playing with Phineas Newborn, worked with Teddy Charles, Sonny Rollins, Sonny Stitt and Booker Little. In 1959, Nasser had engagements in Europe and North Africa with Idrees Sulieman / Oscar Dennard, and participated in the last plate recording of Lester Young in 1959. He also recorded with Gene Ammons, Eric Dolphy, Lou Donaldson, Red Garland and John Coltrane. From 1964 to 1972 he worked in a trio of Ahmad Jamal, with whom he later also grossed plates. After he was predominantly freelance inter alia with Al Haig, Jimmy Raney, Harold Mabern, or with their own bands. In 1998, he took on a plate with jazz standards of the composer Richard Rodgers with saxophonist George Coleman.

His son is the alto saxophonist Zaid Nasser.

Disco Graphical Notes

• The Red Garland Trio & John Coltrane: Dig It! ( Prestige Records, 1958)
• Booker Little: The Booker Little 4 and Max Roach ( Blue Note Records, 1958)
• Eric Dolphy Berlin Concerts ( Enja, 1961)
• John Coltrane: Coltrane Plays the Blues ( Atlantic Records, 1962)
• Ahmad Jamal: The Awakening ( Impulse! Records, 1970) and Free Flight ( Impulse!, 1971)
• Al Haig: Ornithology ( Progressive Records, 1977)
• George Coleman: I Could Write a Book: The Music of Richard Rodgerss ( Telarc, 1998)