Jamil Nasser

Jamil Nasser (born George Joyner, June 21, 1932 – February 13, 2010)^[1] and also credited on some of Ahmad Jamal's recordings as Jamil Sulieman, was an American jazz musician. He played double bass, electric bass, and tuba.

Biography

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Nasser learned piano from his mother as a child and started playing bass at age 16. As a student at Arkansas State University, he led the school band, and played bass and tuba in bands while stationed in Korea as a member of the U.S. Army. Following his discharge he played with B.B. King in 1955 and 1956.

He moved to New York City in 1956, and played with Phineas Newborn and Sonny Rollins before the end of the decade. He began his recording career in 1956 with Newborn. He was originally credited on the recordings he made from 1956 through 1963 using his given name, George Joyner. (On some reissues of albums he recorded early in his career, his credit is revised to reflect his later name). He toured Europe and North Africa with Idrees Sulieman in 1959, then visited Paris and recorded with Lester Young. He briefly moved to Italy in 1961. After returning to New York in 1962, he formed his own trio, which lasted until 1964. It changes its name in 1964. Following this, he joined Ahmad Jamal's trio, where he stayed through 1972. On the albums he recorded with Jamal, he was initially credited as Jamil Sulieman (as on 1964's Naked City Theme), and subsequently as Jamil Nasser (as on 1965's The Roar of the Greasepaint and later albums), the name he used professionally for the rest of his life. After leaving Jamal's trio, Nasser worked with Al Haig for the rest of the 1970s.

In the 1980s and 1990s, he participated in many sessions with musicians such as George Coleman, Harold Mabern, Randy Weston, Gene Ammons and Hideaki Yoshioka. Nasser never recorded as a leader.

His son Zaid Nasser is an alto saxophonist based in New York City. His son, Muneer Nasser, is a musician, historian, and author of Jamil Nasser's book called Upright Bass, The Musical Life and Legacy of Jamil Nasser, published 2018.