| LearnJazzPiano.com archives: South African Jazz pianist | |
| glynn -- 05/22/2007, 15:51:25 -- #35192 | |
| Hi guys Just done a trip to South Africa (back in Oz now), while I was there I met a DJ from SA Jazz FM, we had a chat and he thought I might like a pianist called Abdullah Ibrahim, a South African Jazz pianist. I quite enjoyed his music, and very different as a lot of his jazz is inspired by local south african music, so I thought I might introduce him here to anyone interested. His Jazz is very bluesy with pieces ranging from full blues to jazz numbers. Check him out for something different. Cheers | |
| hepcatmonk -- 05/22/2007, 17:54:01 -- #35192 | |
| Abdullah Ibrahim is AWESOME. African Dawn, his solo piano album, is one of my favorite alltime albums. Really underrated player. Also check out recordings by Dollar Brand -- it's also Abdullah Ibrahim under a nickname. | |
| 7 -- 05/22/2007, 23:16:19 -- #35192 | |
| Not that it makes any difference, but I met Dollar Brand aka Abdullah Ibrahim when I was house piano player at a bar called Hotel Splendid just off the Neiderdorf in Zurich Switzerland (probably July of 1984). He came in and played for a full set (I was getting paid and he was just playing for fun). He played a bunch of white key modal stuff. It was nice, I just stood behind him trying to steal his tricks. What really blew me away though is that he looked just like the photos of Jelly Roll Morton (I'm NOT kidding). | |
| DrJazz -- 06/05/2007, 15:31:10 -- #35192 | |
| One of Ibrahim's best-known tunes - MANNENBERG - is in my book EXPLORING JAZZ PIANO (Vol 1), which I believe Scot will be reviewing soon! A lot of his material uses very simple, gospel-related chord sequences (like C - C7/E - F - F#dim - C/G), but check out his awesome tunes THE MOUNTAIN and THE WEDDING - both have really beautiful changes! Tim | |
| Barry -- 06/06/2007, 07:51:42 -- #35192 | |
| I think it's only respectful to point out that Dollar Brand is not a 'nickname' but his original name. When he converted to Islam, he changed his name to Abdullah Ibrahim. Therefore any recordings of Dollar Brand will be earlier recordings than any that are listed under Abdullah Ibrahim. Check out his album 'Blues for a Hip King' there's a nice mixture of influences on that record. | |
| jmkarns -- 06/06/2007, 08:02:21 -- #35192 | |
| You guys have me running back to my records for a fresh listen. Thanks for reminding about Ibrahim! | |
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