Jazz Articles about Abdullah Ibrahim

About Abdullah Ibrahim

Radio & Podcasts

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 ...

Album Review

Abdullah Ibrahim: Solotude

Read "Solotude" reviewed by Gareth Thompson

by Gareth Thompson
November 19, 2021

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 ...

Radio & Podcasts

Jazz From South Africa - Hugh Masakela, Abdullah Ibrahim, Johnny Dyani (1960 - 1978)

by Russell Perry
April 14, 2020

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 ...

Live Review

Abdullah Ibrahim al Roma Jazz Festival

by Serena Antinucci
November 22, 2019

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, ...

Album Review

Abdullah Ibrahim: Dream Time

by Chris May
September 23, 2019

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 ...

Interview

Abdullah Ibrahim: The Sound of the Universe

by Mackenzie Horne
September 13, 2019

Abdullah Ibrahim's cosmology informs his art. While some might look upon him as an overseer at the crossroads between new and old, the tempered pianist stands as a sage, painting swirling rhythms that resemble the spheres of the universe with his compositions. He continues to combine ancient wisdom with the tones of the future; formation and reformation are one and the same for him. He roots his musical practice within tradition, composing with an ethos based on cycles.

Album Review

Abdullah Ibrahim: The Balance

Read "The Balance" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
June 3, 2019

Abdullah Ibrahim's discography goes back sixty years, and although there are longer periods between his releases than there used to be, Ibrahim has retained all his grit and jubilance. The pianist and composer continues to make gloriously uplifting music steeped in its South African roots, in a style which still carries echoes of his formative overseas influences, {{m: Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. The Balance, which is Ibrahim's first new album in four years, will delight anyone who ...