Spanning the period of his Argo releases Naked City Theme, Extensions, and Roar of the Greasepaint, these two double-album collections of live concert broadcasts from the Penthouse Club in Seattle vastly increase the available number of Ahmad Jamal's early-mid 1960s recordings. The redoubtable producer Zev Feldman unearthed these treasures and they are presented to as high a standard as his landmark releases on the Resonance label.

Jamal himself has always valued recordings of live events over studio sessions, and that's because the audience becomes part of the performance, as he interacts with his listeners by creating space, altering dynamics, producing surprise interjections and occasionally leaving bass and drums to develop ideas he's sketched out for them at the keyboard. Apart from a brief return by Vernell Fournier to the percussion chair, from 1963 through to all but the final session here, the drummer in Jamal's trio was Chuck Lampkin (before he left music to become a TV news anchor). And after a short stay by Richard Evans, the bassist was Jamil Nasser, who was still with Jamal when I first heard the trio live, 25 years after these records. Nasser and Lampkin's empathy with Jamal is first-rate, and the very longevity of the relationship helps create a tight sense of ensemble – thinking, breathing and phrasing together, wherever Jamal takes the music, and this is the core of these exceptional performances.

That's not to say the tracks with Evans are lacking in fine moments, notably the Bach-like keyboard counterpoint in the bassist's composition ‘Minor Adjustments’ that contrasts with some romping sections over a firm backbeat, and a hell-for-leather version of Hodges’ ‘Squatty Roo’. But the main trio shines in an extended ‘Keep On Keeping On’ with all Jamal's famous control of dynamics apparent from the head onwards, while a 13-minute ‘Minor Moods’ allows us to witness just how he holds an audience by offering a feast of subtle variety.

The second 1965-66 volume is no less impressive, with that same core trio stretching out on ‘I Didn't Know What Time It Was’ with some of Jamal's most rhapsodic playing leading into a surprisingly uptempo treatment of the song. And a foray into Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse territory gives us a dramatic contrast with an almost sombre lead-in to what becomes a joyous ‘Feeling Good’. All in all, a marvellous collection of a protean pianist at the top of his form with totally sympathetic trio partners.