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Jazz Articles about Abdullah Ibrahim
Spoleto Festival USA 2023
by Perry Tannenbaum
Spoleto Festival USA Queen Street Playhouse, Sottile Theatre, TD Arena Charleston, SC May 26 to June 11, 2023 Respect for the elders in the jazz lineup of this year's Spoleto Festival USA jazz was gracefully counterbalanced by a hearty welcome to newer generations. It only felt fleetingly like the closing of the book on a previous era when South Africa's iconic pianist-composer Abdullah Ibrahim returned to Charleston, one of the last--if not the very last--headliners ...
read moreVicenza Jazz 2023
by Libero Farnè
Vicenza Jazz 2023--New Conversations Varie sedi 10--20.5.2023 Almeno due sono state le idee portanti che hanno caratterizzato la ventisettesima edizione di Vicenza Jazz--New Conversations. Innanzi tutto, come ha spesso ripetuto il direttore artistico Riccardo Brazzale nel presentare i concerti, più che in passato si è voluto puntare lo sguardo su proposte rappresentative della ricerca jazzistica più attuale, cogliendo la vitalità di un linguaggio in continua evoluzione, basato su una fertile ibridazione di culture, tendenze, generi ...
read moreKeep It Big!
by Patrick Burnette
After last episode's extravaganza we decided to keep our focus on larger ensembles for this outing. It's a mix of historical issues (some better engineered than others) and two nearly brand-new releases. What do they have in common? Ain't none of them trios. Pop matters gets historical as we contemplate Pitchfork's deathless mediations on the oldness" of Steely Dan. Playlist Discussion of Woody Herman's album Moody Woody (Everest) 2:53 Discussion of Abdullah Ibrahim / Dollar Brand's album African ...
read moreAbdullah Ibrahim: Solotude
by Gareth Thompson
Abdullah Ibrahim once told a seminar at his M7 Academy in Cape Town, The devil lives on the stage. This is where the ego comes out." On the strength of Solotude, recorded live on his eighty-sixth birthday, Ibrahim has crushed such personal demons and now lets angels guide his performing. One takes his point though, given that even the most spiritual music needs some sense of conceit to create and promote it. But this is an artist with nothing left ...
read moreJazz From South Africa - Hugh Masakela, Abdullah Ibrahim, Johnny Dyani (1960 - 1978)
by Russell Perry
The brutal repression of the subversive mixed-race jazz subculture in South Africa led to the emigration of several important musicians whose work in the United States and Europe helped focus the world's attention on the apartheid regime in the 1960s and 1970's. Prominent among the emigres are pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, who originally recorded as Dollar Brand, trumpeter Hugh Masekela and bassist Johnny Dyani Playlist Host Intro 0:00 The Jazz Epistles Vary-Oo-Vum" from Jazz Epistle, Verse 1 (Celluloid) 3:53 ...
read moreAbdullah Ibrahim al Roma Jazz Festival
by Serena Antinucci
Abdullah Ibrahim Roma Jazz Festival Auditorium Parco della Musica 17.11.2019 Mi piace pensare che Abdullah Ibrahim, mentre cammina lentamente verso il pianoforte della Sala Sinopoli, stia pensando al potere dell'istante. Come scriveva il poeta ottantacinquenne Jorge Luis Borges: Nel caso non lo sappiate, di quello è fatta la vita, solo di momenti." Il suo concerto in piano solo all'Auditorium Parco della musica (in versione acustica) è la successione ininterrotta di quei momenti, di un'esistenza straordinaria, ...
read moreAbdullah Ibrahim: Dream Time
by Chris May
Stream-of-consciousness solo-piano recitals come in as many shades as jazz itself. At one extreme are Keith Jarrett's messianic epics. At another are Abdullah Ibrahim's less flashy but deeper outings. Ibrahim's style is about substance, space and subtlety. He says more by doing less. Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, after all, were his formative influences. Dream Time was recorded in March 2019 at the Hirzinger Concert Hall in Sölinhuben, in the foothills of the German Alps where Ibrahim ...
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