Celestial Bird Dance, the first song on the album (the intro), is too short for my liking. The beautiful melody composed in 1970 deserves more than just over a minute. It is one of those songs that make you want to listen to it more than...
Tuesday night, the South African jazz legend Abdullah Ibrahim might have played the fewest notes of any pianist appearing in the TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival’s NAC Studio series. But make no mistake, the impact of what Ibrahim played was huge. Making every note count, he led his...
Few of us will have ever been disappointed by performances that our Theatre Royal puts on. However, I have rarely been startled, especially by a jazz concert. This is a genre that I think I have loved since I was in my pram, with my older...
Abdullah Ibrahim’s fame has never quite matched his achievement. One could easily argue that he is the most talented pianist who has not yet been elected to the DownBeat Hall of Fame. He is the most prominent jazz musician ever born in Africa, and by...
On the eve of his 80th birthday and less than a year after the death of his wife, singer Sathima Bea Benjamin, South African piano great Abdullah Ibrahim has released his starkest, most reflective collection to date. Mukashi is a Japanese word that translates as...