Results for "abdullah ibrahim"

Abdullah Ibrahim: The Balance

July 9, 2019

Unlike other forms of popular music, jazz is a product of where artists are from. Each musician's sound is flavored by their environment and surrounding culture. Louis Armstrong had a joyful New Orleans sound, Dizzy Gillespie had the arch flavor of New York, Chet Baker had a relaxed West Coast feel and Howard McGhee had a ...

Abdullah Ibrahim

Born: October 9, 1934

Abdullah Ibrahim’s new solo program transcends category, combining the intimate and the universal in a unique way that is hinted at in its title. SENZO means “Ancestor” in both Chinese and Japanese. SENZO also echoes the name of Abdullah Ibrahim’s Sotho father, in whose language the word translates as “Creator”.

Abdullah Ibrahim, South Africa’s most distinguished pianist and a world-respected master musician, was born in 1934 in Cape Town and baptized Adolph Johannes Brand. His early musical memories were of traditional African Khoi-san songs and the Christian hymns, gospel tunes and spirituals that he heard from his grandmother, who was pianist for the local African Methodist Episcopalian church, and his mother, who led the choir. The Cape Town of his childhood was a melting-pot of cultural influences, and the young Dollar Brand, as he became known, was exposed to American jazz, township jive, CapeMalay music, as well as to classical music. Out of this blend of the secular and the religious, the traditional and the modern, developed the distinctive style, harmonies and musical vocabulary that are inimitably his own.

Abdullah Ibrahim: The Balance

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 ...

Hugh Masekela: Masekela '66 - '76

by Chris May
May 11, 2019

Like his compatriot and close contemporary Abdullah Ibrahim, Hugh Masekela has a 24-carat discography which stretches back six decades and digs deep into the taproot of jazz. Ibrahim is still with us--he has a new album scheduled for June 2019--but Masekela passed in January 2018. Among the several solid Masekela compilations on the market, this 3-CD ...

Watch the 2019 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert from the Kennedy Center at All About Jazz or Jazz Near You!

April 11, 2019

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) will honor the 2019 NEA Jazz Masters at a tribute concert held in collaboration with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, hosted by Jason Moran. The concert will also be available via a live webcast at both All About Jazz and Jazz Near ...

Aaron Rimbui: Nairobi to New York City

by Seton Hawkins
April 2, 2019

Kenya is noted for an extraordinary array of musical offerings yet its jazz scene has historically been quite slim. However, Nairobi-born pianist Aaron Rimbui may change that dynamic. Drawing on the musical traditions of Kenya and East Africa, Rimbui has established a singular and absolutely arresting approach to jazz piano. With several ...

Roberto Magris: World Gardens

by Jerome Wilson
March 14, 2019

Pianist Roberto Magris is originally from Italy but he has played all over the world, but to a great extent he has chosen Kansas City as his base. He has encountered a lot of different sounds in his travels and that is reflected in the wide variety of the music he creates on this set.

Celebrate the 2019 NEA Jazz Masters with the National Endowment for the Arts Free Tickets to the April 15 Tribute Concert Available Now!

March 13, 2019

The National Endowment for the Arts will honor the 2019 NEA Jazz Masters—recipients of the nation’s highest honor in jazz—at a series of free events this April, held in collaboration with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. These events—a concert with performances by stars of the jazz and music world, ...

2018: The Year in Jazz

by Ken Franckling
January 3, 2019

The year 2018 was a busy one for the jazz world. The genre's version of the #MeToo movement resulted in a new Code of Conduct and other efforts to make the music workplace more equitable. International Jazz Day brought its biggest stage to St. Petersburg, Russia. The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, which ran a high-profile ...

2019 NEA Jazz Masters Will Be Celebrated at Free Concert on April 15, 2019 in Washington, DC

December 20, 2018

Each year, the National Endowment for the Arts bestows the nation’s highest honor in jazz—the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowships—on individuals who have made significant contributions to the art form. Today, the NEA is announcing the four newest recipients of this lifetime honor—Bob Dorough, Abdullah Ibrahim, Maria Schneider, and Stanley Crouch, who is the recipient of the ...