Bassist Israel Crosby is best known for the seven prolific years he spent with the landmark Ahmad Jamal Trio from 1954-62. His bass lines on classics such as “But Not for Me,” “Poinciana,” and, well, everything else he recorded with Jamal are ingenious masterpieces of melodic invention, harmonic direction, swinging propulsion, and subtle orchestration.
But Crosby deserves his spot in the pantheon for more than his tenure with Jamal. He enjoyed a significant if often overlooked career as an innovator through the 1930s and 1940s, and his tragically brief, post-Jamal musical life was heading in intriguing directions
