Abdullah Ibrahim

[Milestones]

How great is Abdullah Ibrahim?

I would say very great indeed. I have been long aware of him, and even had a record or two. I know that way back I had African Space Program. Not too many years ago I picked up Bombella, which seemed a career summation. Then it was back to the 80s for the classic Water from an Ancient Well.

His stuff was not very easy to find, and titles seemed a bit confusing—so many with either “Africa” or “Capetown” in the title.

There are interesting similarities to Randy Weston, who is one of my all-time favorites. Both play piano, both have a gift for melody, both play in settings from solo to big band, both are strongly influenced by Ellington and Monk. Of course, Weston had a fascination with African even in his earlier years—and Ibrahim is African.

I guess the difference is that despite all the world music elements (especially African) in his music, Weston always retains a very strong pure jazz essence. Ibrahim, while certainly incorporating elements of American jazz, has that celebratory Capetown feeling.

Anyway, he has such great stuff: “Mandela,” “African River,” “The Wedding,” “Joan,” “Duke 88,” “The Mountain,” etc. I’ve never heard anything by him that was anywhere close to sub-par. I’m now getting into Ekapa Loduma, a live record with some really long tunes—but it’s great stuff. It’s got a big band sound like Bombella, but sounds a lot looser. Fabulous stuff.

What are the best records of Abdullah Ibrahim?

[mjzee]

The ones I like are:

1) African Marketplace, originally on Elektra. Recorded at a high point in his career, with a great band, and good production values.

2) There were 4 albums recorded for a South African label, and released in the U.S. on various labels (originally on Chiaroscuro). The best of the 4 is Voice of Africa, which has two of his "hits": Cape Town Fringe (aka Mannenberg Is Where It's Happening) and Black Lightning. The other 3 albums are also worth finding: African Sun, Blues For A Hip King, and Tintinyana.

3) His solo albums often have a moody brilliance. I like one called Memories (originally on Pausa). Beware: I think he has at least 2 different albums named Memories. The one I'm referring to has Township Sunday and Our Son Tsakwe on it.

4) His albums on his own Ekaya label are hard to find. Two that I like are Ekaya (full band with Carlos Ward) and Live at Sweet Basil (duo with Ward).

5) Don't overlook his first album on Reprise (!), Duke Ellington Presents The Dollar Brand Trio. Very self assured and engaging; this one has, I think, the most similarities to an (early) Randy Weston album.

There are many more, of course. I'd say any of his albums are worth investigating, though I'm not that thrilled with his relatively "free" period during the late '60's. I'm sure there are many here who are ready to contradict that.

[B. Clugston]

I'm a big fan of the two solo LPs on Sackville, the first Ekaya album, African Space Program and The Third World-Underground with Don Cherry and Carlos Ward. He's been very well documented over the years and I've enjoyed everything I've heard.

[tomatamot]

What to say about his albums with Archie Shepp and also Gato Barbieri?

I like it.

[king ubu]

Here's a lenghty old thread:


Big fan of his, got plenty more of his music compared to when that older thread started ... the one that has turned into a real favorite is this here:

Vinyl only, I think - I took chances there, ordering online from some unknown to me seller not using regular grading lingo, but it turned out to be very much okay ... and most important a great rekkid!

[mjzee]

Another good one is Buddy Tate Meets Abdullah Ibrahim.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Here's a lenghty old thread:

Big fan of his, got plenty more of his music compared to when that older thread started ... the one that has turned into a real favorite is this here:

Vinyl only, I think - I took chances there, ordering online from some unknown to me seller not using regular grading lingo, but it turned out to be very much okay ... and most important a great rekkid!

I've got it on CD - issued on CD in Germany by Bellaphon.

Nice album.

I've got quite a lot by A Ibrahim. I like all of it. Somehow, though, after a couple of years, I don't seem to have the energy to listen to them. 'Water from an ancient well' is an exception. Maybe the one with Buddy Tate will be an exception too, but I only got it in March.

MG

[Head Man]

I used to be a great fan of his and played his albums a lot. However in recent years he just doesn't seem to do it for me.

My lack of enthusiasm was probably not helped by the very poor performance he gave at The Sage in Gateshead a few years back. He hardly played the piano all evening and spent most of the time nodding his head to the beat and spending an enormous amount of time introducing the band after every tune.

[Leeway]

It's funny how a live performance can ignite or douse an interest in an musician. Has happened to me.

I like Abdullah Ibrahim. I'll even admit to liking his free period . I think he was perhaps more committed or ambitious for his music during that period.

My assessment is that he has put out a fair number of really fine albums, and a larger number perhaps of more pedestrian fare. The kind that was tossed off without much engagement.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some but I liked these albums:

EKAYA (already mentioned)

AFRICA TEARS AND LAUGHTER (on Enja)

ECHOES FROM AFRICA with Johnny Dyani (on Enja)

SANGOMA (on Sackville)

I just picked up SOWETO the other day and posted it over at the vinyl forum. Very much has that South African melodic vibe.

[Blue Train]

For me pretty much anything with a variation of Africa in the title, but if I had to put together a list.

Water From the Ancient Well

Ekaya

African Marketplace

Fats Duke and the Monk

South Africa

Good News Africa

African Dawn

African River

Capetown Revisited

Zimbabwe

Capetown Flowers

Echoes from Africa

The Banyana: Children of Africa

Live at Montreux

[colinmce]

Another good one is Buddy Tate Meets Abdullah Ibrahim.

Yes, this one is great. The CD has two wonderful trio cuts with Roy Brooks & Cecil McBee. More of that here:

[king ubu]

Okay, so I'll post a list of favourites, too ... (from last night, auto save only caught half of it when I lost my network connection last night, but I made a quick copy job)

1) not sure how to deal with the "African Recordings" (KAZ/Camden) - As-Shams/The Sun or Gallo material, I think - love all those dates with horns dearly! The CDs to look for are titled African Sun (fabulous Kippie, one of the beautifullest "Memories of You" ever! and then there's "Bra Jo from Kilimanjaro" "Rolling" in under the "African Sun" ... a disc very, very dear to me), Blue for a Hip King (more great Kippie and some of that session with Blue Mitchell, Buster Cooper, Harold Land and Doug Sides, plus Ibrahim, Basil "Mannenberg" Coetzee and Lionel Beukes), Tintinyana (the remainder of the Land et al. session, mostly trio) and last but definitely not least Voice of Africa (including the fabulous version of "Mannenberg"). Besides some early stuff with Kippie (there's of course also the "Jazz Epistles" album, but that one's more derivative to my ears) you get to hear some magnificient playing by Coetzee, Duku Makasi (he's the one that soaked up Coltrane) and on some cuts Barney Rachabane (he's the one who made an album with Groove Holmes, I'm sure the Beasties would have sampled that if they had been able to lay hands on it ...) ... and then there are two "Jazz in Africa" volumes, the second of which has a pair of looooong Ibrahim tracks, and also the great "Tshona" album by Kippie Moeketsi and Pat Matshikiza. Very much worth looking for! The first has most of the "Jazz Epistles" album paired with most of the John Mehegan album from South Africa (Doug Payne has some info - a pretty botched disc, but I've not found the Mehegan material elsewhere so far).

2) next top favourite: African Marketplace - I virtually grew up with this on the turntable, one of the most often played albums at my parents' when I was a kid ... Carlos Ward is wonderful, so is Craig Harris ... and you get Lawrence Lucie on the banjo, too!

3) the Enjas ... what a wonderful bunch! I love the sparse Africa - Tears and Laughter (with an alto guy called Talib Qadr, I think it was established in one of the earlier threads that he wasn't Talib Kibwe or anyone else), but then there's the bunch of albums with Carlos Ward, of which South Africa is the one I'm most familiar with ... but Zimbabwe is wonderful, too. The one you often see mentioned, Dollar Brand at Montreux, which adds Craig Harris, does a bit less for me.

4) more Enjas, different bands: Water from an Ancient Well, Mindif, No Fear No Die (a sentimental favourite, though not the best of the bunch), African River (John Stubblefield - dig? Howard Johnson! Dig?), the LP mentioned above belongs in here ... and there was also a Sun revival in 1991, which fails to build the same exitement as the seventies dates do, but still is worth a listen, Mantra Mode with Robbie Jansen, Mannenberg and others.

5) another Enja masterpiece, one of my prob. top 20 or 25 piano trio albums: Yarona, a wonderfully captured live recording (Marcus McLaurine on bass, George Johnson on drums)

6) solo stuff ... plenty of ... favourites: Matsidiso and South African Sunshine (both on Pläne, rec. 1980) - Enja released much of both on a disc, I think titled "Portrait", but I don't regall, it's been years that I had that one borrowed from a friend, my dad has SAS on LP, I've since found both LPs myself.

7) early stuff ... I've never been too partial to the Montmarte recordings released on Black Lion (I love the Webster stuff though), don't ask me why ... I enjoy the Ellington Presents LP though. Then there's another fabulous solo album, African Piano (JAPO, rec. 1969) - a masterpiece, in my opinion.

8) avant flirtations ... just before he made his best "african recordings" (c. 1974/75), he made African Space Program for Enja, with quite a band: Cecil Bridgewater, Enrico Rava, Charles Sullivan, Kiane Zawadi, Sonny Fortune, Carlos Ward, Roland Alexander, John Stubblefield, Hamiet Bluiett, Cecil McBee, Roy Brooks (rec. 1973) - fine one, too! There's another one from 1977 which sounds a bit messy to my ears, but again is very much worth listening to: The Journey, on which you get to hear: Don Cherry, Carlos Ward, Talib Rhynie, Hamiet Bluiett, Johnny Dyani, Claude Jones, John Betsch, Roy Brooks.

9) duos ... the most glorious of them all is of course Good News from Africa with Johnny Dyani (Enja, rec. 1973) ... they did a follow up that pales a bit by comparison ... but there are fine duos with Archie Shepp, Buddy Tate (I'm not that familiar yet with that one though), Max Roach ...

I kinda lost interest in the studio output of the past fifteen or so years though ... my dad kept buying some discs after "Yarona" and none of them comes close, I think. I also never really felt like getting the ones he made with those German radio big bands ... saw one of their festival gigs on TV and enjoyed it, but it's just not the same, really ... and I guess the same can be said about recent versions of his four horn band "Ekaya" ... I enjoyed the concert I heard a few years back, but in the end it's as if he doesn't have the right people around him ... they're all very competent, they all provide some very good playing and soloing, but the magic of the bands of the eighties (I'm too young to have heard any of them live, alas) is gone.

[page]

My favourite of his so far (haven't heard all albums yet) Is "Water from an Ancient Well".

[Milestones]

I do like the big band stuff. Not every artist adjusts well to this, but I think Abdullah did. Bombella, while it initially sounded a bit too slick, really grew on me after awhile; and I find the earlier live record more invigorating.

[xybert]

9) duos ... the most glorious of them all is of course Good News from Africa with Johnny Dyani (Enja, rec. 1973) ... they did a follow up that pales a bit by comparison ... but there are fine duos with Archie Shepp, Buddy Tate (I'm not that familiar yet with that one though), Max Roach ...

I love the duo album with Max Roach, Streams Of Consciousness... it's a real gem in my opinion... just to put it in context the only other album of his i have is African Piano (shades of solo Jarrett pre solo Jarrett?) which i also like but i'm obviously not an authority on Brand/Ibrahim. One of those artists where it's surprising i haven't checked out more of their stuff based on how much i like the stuff i do have.

[Milestones]

This is really an artist who must be heard. He now has considerable longevity, and, while he has a tendency to recycle, his best compositions can be mentioned in the same sentence as the works of Duke, Mingus, and Monk.

[king ubu]

I do like the big band stuff. Not every artist adjusts well to this, but I think Abdullah did. Bombella, while it initially sounded a bit too slick, really grew on me after awhile; and I find the earlier live record more invigorating.

I think that's the one I saw a live version of ... and yeah, it was pretty nice ... still more often than not I thought the soloists were competent and elaborate, rather than engaging, captivating - which to my ear is one of the things saxophone players with Ibrahim should be ... Carlos Ward is the yardstick, that tone alone can sting you, stir you, make you cry ... then there's Kippie (of course! the Godfather of 'em all!), Coetzee ... then Ricky Ford, Charles Davis, John Stubblefield - you name them! Those guys from the German radio big band (was it NDR or WDR? Or did he use both on different albums?) just don't do that for me ... not putting them down, mind me, I think these are mighty good bands and I enjoy plenty of stuff they did with the likes of Mike Gibbs or George Gruntz ... they're just not what I think matches Ibrahim's "burn" best (and neither are the three sax players in his current/recent Ekaya line-up, they're much too polished and not engaging enough ... maybe, after all, all these guys are too "schooled" (or not schooled enough to forget their schooling if that makes sense) to really let go with that inspired abandon, that controlled freedom that brought out the finest in Ibrahim's music.

But still, if I evern want to check out one, which is that "earlier live recording", this one here:

http://www.allmusic.com/album/ekapa-lodumo-mw0000015428

?

[Blue Train]

Speaking of Ward. He seems to have completely disappeared.

[danasgoodstuff]

That's a shame (Carlos disappearing), he had it going on...

[John Litweiler]

Chocolat won an Oscar for best foreign film but by far the best part of the movie, I thought, was the Abdullah Ibrahim score. Especially "African Marker" over the closing credits. Billy Higgins is terrific on the recording, which is on the album Mindif.

[Chuck Nessa]

One year at the Chicago festival he held his band in the wings and stared at the sky, ignoring the announcer, stage director, etc. One of his band members said "the Master is waiting for the stars to align". The stage manage said "tell the Master if he doesn't hit the stage in 30 seconds he doesn't get paid". Movement abounded.

[Robs]

I love Abdullah Ibrahim. Good News from Africa is one of my favorite albums of all time. African Portraits is another good one I haven't seen mentioned here. It's a solo performance from 1973. That's about all I know about it, but it's really beautiful and worth checking out if you can find it. I love the ruminating feel of his solo playing.

[Leeway]

I love Abdullah Ibrahim. Good News from Africa is one of my favorite albums of all time. African Portraits is another good one I haven't seen mentioned here. It's a solo performance from 1973. That's about all I know about it, but it's really beautiful and worth checking out if you can find it. I love the ruminating feel of his solo playing.

I have "African Portraits," and I think you are quite right about Ibrahim's ability to get deep in his playing. "Ruminating feel" is a good way to put it. In his solo performances, he can reach a powerful depth of feeling. Not always, but often enough to make you come back for more.

[Milestones]

Any opinions on the relatively recent solo album Senzo?

[mjzee]

He evidently has a new album out: