Muneer Nasser, son of the late great jazz musician Jamil Nasser, will discuss & sign his book "Upright Bass: The Musical Life & Legacy of Jamil Nasser" "I loved the way Jamil played bass, so I asked him to join my band. His great bass playing and personality contributed much to my music." B.B. King George Joyner, Jamil Sulieman, and Jamil Nasser are names that appear on the records of Phineas Newborn, Lou Donaldson, Ahmad Jamal, and Red Garland. These names identify one jazz bassist, composer, and jazz advocate, who made an indelible mark in the jazz world for over fifty years. Upright Bass chronicles his evolution from a young bassist on Beale Street to a top-flight bassist on the New York Jazz scene. Miles Davis harbored curiosity about the environment that produced Jamil and three Memphis musicians he hired in 1963. Nasser's narrative captures the untold stories of two piano giants Phineas Newborn and Oscar Dennard. He also shares anecdotes about his mentors: Papa Jo Jones, Lester Young, Charles Mingus, Oscar Pettiford, and Ray Brown. Moreover, Jamil describes his decade long tenure with Ahmad Jamal, which included a life-threatening imprisonment in South America. Finally, we learn about his plight as an outspoken jazz artist fighting for greater union representation, the perils of heroin addiction in the music industry, media access, healthcare, and self-ownership.
Muneer Nasser is a musician, author, songwriter, and historian. Born on June 3, 1967 to the late, great bassist Jamil Nasser. Muneer’s exposure to the jazz idiom was early and powerful. He met and interviewed many great jazz artists associated with his father. A lifelong commitment to jazz history evolved out of these discussions. Moreover, Nasser conducted extensive jazz research over the last forty years.
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