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Biography

He learned to play piano as a seven year-old, and started his career as a jazz pianist by pottering around in his hometown of Cape Town on the hunt for jazz records that the mariners carried. To ensure he never missed a bargain, he always kept a dollar in his pocket. Therefore, the artist adopted the name of Dollar Brand, though he later discarded it. Together with trumpet player Hugh Masekela he was a member of the recognised group Jazz Epistles, which made South Africa’s first genuine jazz record in 1960.
Ibrahim left South Africa in 1962 and settled in Zurich. There he met Duke Ellington, who arranged a recording with his band and sponsored Ibrahim’s first appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1965. Later on he would perform alongside a long list of jazz’s big names, such as Gato Barbieri, Don Cherry and Elvin Jones. He moved back to South Africa for a short period in the mid-1970s but now lives permanently in New York, and set up his own band, Ekaya, in 1983.

Abdullah Ibrahim unites African rhythms with jazz in an entirely unique manner and once you’ve got his music under your skin you will never forget it. He has released a row of recordings and this discography represents only a small taste. For a complete discography and a list of announcements, visit his great “unofficial” homepage.

Relevant artists:
Miriam Makeba
Manhattan Brothers

AFRICAN PIANO  
JAPO/ECM/1973

This is a concert broadcast from Copenhagen in 1969 with Ibrahim alone on the piano. One might assume that an entire concert of solo piano work could become monotonous and boring, but this certainly does not sound so. Abdullah Ibrahim plays piano in a way that takes one’s breath away. I experienced Ibrahim performing in this same manner in my home town of Trondheim in 1971, and can assure you that the performance has caused a lasting effect. This disk is no poor substitute. One after another, the pieces flow marvelously over each other. Ibrahim reveals everything from expressions of temperament to lyricism, all the time with a nerve you’ll seldom experience. This is original, organic - utterly sovereign!

GOOD NEWS FROM AFRICA
Enja/ECM/1973

Fantastic album that underlines and celebrates Ibrahim’s African roots.

Ron Wynn
All Music Guide

AFRICAN MARKETPLACE
Electra/1979

Classical album with Abdullah Ibrahim and a 12 piece band.

AFRICAN RIVER
Enja/1989

AFRICAN SUITE  
Enja/2000

The first time you hear “African Suite” you may have a problem comprehending the music’s structure. The album is comprised of pieces from Abdullah Ibrahim’s huge catalogue, here arranged for piano, bass, drums and string orchestra (The EU’s Youth Orchestra). The music moves seemingly unstructured out of Ibrahim’s magic horn of plenty. By the second hearing you will know you must approach the music on its own terms; you’ll discover little by little how the themes and melodies reveal themselves to you and you’ll be captivated. Abdullah Ibrahim’s songs are brilliantly arranged and the music’s many layers do become clear. The arranger and producer, Daniel Schnyder, compares Ibrahim’s piano pieces with Liszt’s and Beethoven’s. Anyway, “African Suite” is a fantastic blend of jazz, classical and African music. It is beautiful, but not syrupy; it is laid-back but not shallow; its structures are unfamiliar but it swings. It speaks to both the heart and the mind - what more could one ask for? This is a masterwork!

CAPE TOWN REVISITED  
Enja/2000

I have a weakness for Abdullah Ibrahim, I admit that. Most of what this pianist does is touched with a peculiar engagement that ensures it is never boring. On this new disk, recorded at a concert in Cape Town in 1997 but first released in 2000, it seems as if the return to his hometown makes him to sparkle ever brighter. He sets the right tone with the rhythmic “Damara Blue” that alternates between lyric melody lines and hefty rhythmic expression, followed up by the almost-rock “Someday Soon, Sweet Samba”. He plays the whole time with an amazing energy that allows him to glide along in the world’s most recumbent style, where every single tone is just suspended in the air. The most competent George Gray backs the piano on drums and Marcus McLaurine on a poetically singing bass. The 15 tracks slide along, one after the other, disturbed only by an audibly enthusiastic audience in a small and intimate venue. Just when the alternation between piano, drums and bass threatens to pull the listener into monotony way, Feya Faku pops up with his warm trumpet. What could be better than this?

AFRICAN MAGIC
Enja/2002

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