Ahmad Jamal children: Meet Sumayah Jamal

June 2024 · 2 minute read

Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones; July 2, 1930 – April 16, 2023) was a jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, and educator from the United States. He was one of the most effective small-group leaders in jazz for six decades. He was named a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy for his contributions to music history.

Ahmad Jamal children: Meet Sumayah Jamal

We cannot state unequivocally the number of children Ahmad Jamal had. However, his first daughter,  Mumeenah Counts is his first daughter died in 1979.

Sumayah Jamal is one of his surviving children. She is the one who verified the late pianist’s death. Ahmad Jamal has two grandchildren as well.

Sumayah Jamal lives her life outside of the spotlight, therefore little is known about her. Her exact date of birth, age, height, weight, and occupation are unknown.

Meanwhile, Jamal was born Frederick Russell Jones on July 2, 1930, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He began playing the piano when he was three years old when his uncle Lawrence challenged him to mimic what he was performing on the piano. Jamal began professional piano lessons at the age of seven with Mary Cardwell Dawson, whom he credits with influencing him significantly.

His Pittsburgh roots remained an essential part of his identity (“Pittsburgh meant everything to me and it still does,” he said in 2001), and it was there that he was exposed to jazz performers such as Earl Hines, Billy Strayhorn, Mary Lou Williams, and Erroll Garner.

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