This record comes quite soon (for AI) after ‘The Balance’ but unlike that one this is a solo outing recorded live at his now hometown in Bavaria. I had the privilege of hearing this live at Cadogan Hall the day before I got the review...
Performing solo, the 84-year-old South African pianist treats melody with reverence – then instinctively, skilfully dismantles it....
Ten pieces, in chronological order, that document the NEA Jazz Master's musical journey....
Ibrahim says on a short note on the back cover of this LP “We push ourselves out of our comfort zones”. Later he says “Technically it’s very, very skilled but there’s a simplicity in the complexity so that people can relate to it. It’s a...
South African composer and pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, formerly known as Dollar Brand, is now in his 84th year. For at least 60 of those years, he has been a jazz musician. With a long and impressive career already behind him, Ibrahim continues to record and...
“The purest thing between heaven and earth is love,” says Abdullah Ibrahim, “and sincerity is the gatekeeper.”...
More than six decades into a trail-blazing career in music, and recently named a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts, Abdullah Ibrahim shows no signs of slowing down. The legendary jazz pianist, composer and anti-Apartheid activist – Nelson Mandela called him the "Mozart...
On his first album in five years, the pianist finds yet more surprising pleasures in his signature blend of South African music and American jazz....
The material on The Balance may be new to listeners – including the title track, premiering exclusively below – but it's very familiar to veteran pianist and newly christened NEA Jazz Master Abdullah Ibrahim on his first new album in five years. "We've been playing this music...