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Abdullah Ibrahim (born 9 October 1934 in Cape Town, South Africa), formerly known as Adolph Johannes Brand, and as Dollar Brand, is a South African pianist and composer. His music reflects many of the musical influences of his childhood in the multicultural port areas of Cape Town, ranging from traditional African songs to the gospel of the AME Church and ragas, to more modern jazz and other Western styles. Within jazz, his music particularly reflects the influence of Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington. With his wife, the jazz singer Sathima Bea Benjamin, he is father to the New York underground rapper Jean Grae, as well as to a son, Tsakwe.
He first received piano lessons at the age of seven, was an avid consumer of jazz records brought by American sailors, and was playing jazz professionally by 1949. In 1959 and 1960, he played alongside Kippie Moeketsi with The Jazz Epistles in Sophiatown; the group recorded the first jazz LP by Black South African musicians in 1960. Ibrahim then joined the European tour of the musical King Kong.
He moved to Europe in 1962, and in February 1963, while Ibrahim was performing as “The Dollar Brand Trio” in Zürich's “Africana Club”, his wife-to-be Sathima Bea Benjamin convinced Duke Ellington to hear the trio while Ellington was in Zürich on a European tour. As a result, a recording session was set up with Reprise Records: Duke Ellington presents The Dollar Brand Trio. A second recording of the trio (also with Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn on piano) performing with Sathima as vocalist was recorded, but remained unreleased until 1996 (A Morning in Paris under Benjamin's name). The Dollar Brand Trio (with Johnny Gertze on bass and Makaya Ntshoko on drums) subsequently played at many European festivals, as well as on radio and television.
Since then Ibrahim has toured mainly in Europe, the United States, and in his home country, South Africa. Performances are mainly in concerts and clubs, mostly as a band, but sometimes playing solo piano. He mainly plays piano but also plays flute, saxophone, and cello; he mainly performs his own compositions, although he sometimes performs pieces composed by others.
He briefly returned to South Africa in the mid-1970s after his conversion to Islam (and the resultant change of name from Dollar Brand to Abdullah Ibrahim); however, he soon returned to New York in 1976, as he found the political conditions too oppressive. While in South Africa, however, he made a series of recordings with noted Cape Jazz players (including Basil Coetzee and Robbie Jansen). This included Coetzee's masterpiece, "Mannenberg", acknowledged by most as one of South Africa's greatest musical compositions; the recording soon became an unofficial soundtrack to the anti-apartheid resistance. Saxophonist and flutist Carlos Ward was his sideman in acclaimed duets during the early eighties.
Abdullah Ibrahim has written the soundtracks for a number of films, including the award winning Chocolat and, more recently, No Fear, No Die. Since the end of apartheid, he has lived in Cape Town, and now divides his time between his global concert circuit, New York, and South Africa.
He also took part in the 2002 documentary Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony where he and others recalled the days of apartheid.
Abdullah Ibrahim is a towering figure in South African music, an artist who brings together all its traditions with a deeply felt understanding of American jazz, from the orchestral richness of
Duke Ellington's compositions for big band to the groundbreaking innovations of Ornette Coleman and the 1960s avant-garde.Ibrahim has worked as a solo performer, typically in mesmerising unbroken concerts that echo the unstoppable impetus of the old marabi performers. He also performs regularly with trios and quartets and larger orchestral units. Since his return to South Africa in the early 1990s, he has been feted with symphony orchestra performances, one of which was in honour of Nelson Mandela's installation as President. He has also founded the "M7" academy for South African musicians in Cape Town, and was the initiator of the Cape Town Jazz Orchestra, an 18-piece big band launched in September 2006.
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ABDULLAH Ibrahim, born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1934, remembers hearing traditional African songs, religious music and jazz as a child - all of which are reflected in his music. He received his first piano lessons in 1941 and became a professional musician in 1949 (Tuxedo Slickers, Willie Max Big Band). In 1959 he met alto saxophone player Kippi Moeketsi who convinced him to devote his life to music. He meets and soon marries South African jazz vocalist Sathima Bea Benjamin in 1965.
In 1962 the Dollar Brand Trio (with Johnny Gertze on bass, Makaya Ntshoko on drums) tours Europe. Duke Ellington listens in at Zürich's Africana Club and sets up a recording session for Reprise Records: Duke Ellington presents the Dollar Brand Trio. 1963/64 sees the trio at major European festivals, including TV shows and radio performances.
United States. In 1966 he leads the Duke Ellington Orchestra: "I did five dates substituting for him. It was exciting but very scary, I could hardly play". Other than six months playing with the Elvin Jones Quartet Abdullah Ibrahim (who changed his name after his conversion to Islam in the late 1960s) has been a band leader ever since. 1968 sees a solo piano tour. From then on he has continuously playing concerts and clubs throughout the US, Europe and Japan with appearances at the major music festivals of the world (e.g. Montreux, North Sea, Berlin, Paris, Montreal, etc.). A world traveler since 1962, Ibrahim went back to South Africa in the mid-1970s but found conditions so oppressive that he went back to New York in 1976.
In 1988 Ibrahim wrote the award-winning sound track for the film Chocolat which was followed by further endeavors in film music the latest being the sound track to No Fear, No Die.
An eloquent spokesman and deeply religious, Abdullah Ibrahim's beliefs and experiences are reflected in his music. "The recent changes in South Africa are of course very welcome, it has been so long in coming. We would like a total dismantling of apartheid and the adoption of a democratic non-racist society; it seems to be on the way." In 1990, Ibrahim returned to South Africa to live there but keeps up his New York residence as well. Several tours took him around the globe featuring his groups and also doing much acclaimed solo piano recitals. 1997 saw the beginning of a duet cooperation with the dean of jazz drums, Max Roach.
Later projects (1997 and 1998) are of a large scale nature: Swiss composer Daniel Schnyder arranged Abdullah Ibrahim's compositions for a 22 piece string orchestra (members of the Youth Orchestra of the European Community) for a CD recording and a Swiss Television SF-DRS production and also for the full size Munich Radio Philharmonic Orchestra again for CD production and for concert performances featuring the Abdullah Ibrahim Trio.
The world premiere of the symphonic piece was at the renowned Herkules Saal, in Munich, Germany on January 18th 1998, under the direction of Barbara Yahr and the Zürcher Kammerorchester premiered the string orchestra version at Zurich's Tonhalle in February 1998.
The string orchestra version was released in September 1998 ("African Suite") and met widest critical acclaim from the worlds of both jazz and classical music. The symphonic version ("African Symphony") will be released in 2001 in a double CD set which also features Abdullah Ibrahim with the NDR Jazz Big Band giving the full scope of his large format music.
Another highlight was the premiere of Cape Town Traveler, a multi-media production at the Leipzig music festival in 1999. A one hour performance featured A.I. & the Ekaya Sextet, a vocal group, filmmaterial from the early days in South Africa and the European years, electronic sounds ranging from impressionism to drum&bass - a great experience.
The newest album is "Cape Town Revisited" , recorded live in Cape Town. The piano of A.I. is featured with Marcus McLaurine (b) and George Gray (dr) and added is the fiery trumpet of South African Feya Faku on several tracks. A great honor has been bestowed on Abdullah Ibrahim when the renowned Gresham College in London invited him to give several lectures and concerts (beginning in October 2000 at Canary Wharf). Among his predecessors at the famed institution which looks back at a history of 500 years are John Cage, Luciano Berio, Xenakis
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South African pianist and composer. Born Adolph Johannes Brand, Ibrahim began his career in his home country, playing in a big swing band, forming his own trio, and then recording in a modern jazz sextet called the Jazz Epistles. This music was released in 1961, but soon afterwards, the political situation in South Africa led to the break up of the band, and Ibrahim (under the name Dollar Brand) moved to Switzerland, playing in a trio and accompanying the singer Sathima Bea Benjamin, whom he later married.
Duke Ellington heard the group, arranged for it to record, and later brought Ibrahim to the United States, where he appeared at the Newport festival, toured with Elvin Jones and led his own groups. Gradually, Ibrahim's distinctive style began to emerge - music that recalled the sounds of South Africa, and mixed his country's vocal and harmonic traditions with the rhythmic feeling and improvisation of jazz.
In the late 1960s, he spent time in South Africa, Europe and the United States, but from 1977 until the end of Apartheid, he was mainly based in New York. Since 1990 he has split his time between South Africa and New York. From 1983 he has led a group called Ekaya (which means 'home') as well as various trios, occasional big bands and many special projects.
Central to his music is the idea that his compositions can be learned by ear - he seldom uses written scores - and that his pieces build from simple beginnings to huge and exciting sounds. He also continues to play solo piano, using techniques from all areas of piano history from the boogie woogie that first inspired him to play jazz to the more modern sounds of his mentor Ellington and a player he greatly admired, Thelonious Monk.
Further Reading:
Ed Hazell: 'Abdullah Ibrahim' in Barry Kernfeld (ed): The New Grove Dicitonary of Jazz (2nd ed) London 2001.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazz/profiles/abdullah_ibrahim.shtml
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About Abdullah Ibrahim
This is a fan-created site for Abdullah Ibrahim's music. Abdullah Ibrahim (born 1934, Cape Town, South Africa), formerly known as Adolph Johannes Brand, and as Dollar Brand (due to the brand of cigarettes he bought, Gold Dollar), is a South African pianist and composer. His music reflects many of the musical influences of his childhood in the multicultural port areas of Cape Town, ranging from traditional African songs to the gospel of the AME Church and ragas, to more modern jazz and other Western styles. He first received piano lessons at the age of seven, was an avid consumer of jazz records brought by American sailors, and was playing jazz professionally by 1949. In 1959 and 1960, he played alongside Kippie Moeketsi with The Jazz Epistles in Sophiatown. In 1962 during a tour of Europe, Duke Ellington heard The Dollar Brand Trio playing in Zürich's Africana Club. As a result, a recording was set up with Reprise Records; Duke Ellington presents The Dollar Brand Trio. The Dollar Brand Trio (with Johnny Gertze on bass and Makaya Ntshoko on drums) subsequently played at many European festivals, as well as on radio and television. Since then he has toured mainly in Europe, the United States, and in his home country, South Africa. Performances are mainly in concerts and clubs, mostly as a band, but sometimes playing solo piano. He mainly plays piano but also plays flute, and saxophone; he mainly performs his own compositions, although he sometimes performs pieces composed by others. He briefly returned to South Africa in the mid-1970s after his conversion to
Islam (and the resultant change of name from Dollar Brand to Abdullah Ibrahim); however, he soon returned to New York in 1976, as he found the political conditions too oppressive. While in South Africa, however, he made a series of recordings with noted Cape Town jazz players (including Basil Coetzee and Robbie Jansen). This included Coetzee's masterpiece, "Mannenberg", acknowledged by most as one of South Africa's greatest musical compositions; the recording soon became an unofficial soundtrack to the anti-apartheid resistance. Abdullah Ibrahim has written the soundtracks for a number of films, including the award winning Chocolat and, more recently, No Fear, No Die. Since the end of apartheid, he now lives in South Africa and divides his time between his global concert circuit, New York, and South Africa. Abdullah Ibrahim is a towering figure in South African music, an artist who brings together all its traditions with a deeply felt understanding of American jazz, from the orchestral richness of Duke Ellington's compositions for big band to the groundbreaking innovations of Ornette Coleman and the 1960s avant-garde. Ibrahim has worked as a solo performer, typically in mesmerising unbroken concerts that echo the unstoppable impetus of the old marabi performers. He also performs regularly with trios and quartets and larger orchestral units. Since his triumphant return to South Africa in the early 1990s, he has been feted with symphony orchestra performances, one of which was in honour of Nelson Mandela's installation as President. He has also founded a school for South African musicians in Cape Town. With his wife, the jazz singer Sathima Bea Benjamin, he is father to the New York underground rapper Jean Grae, as well as to a son, Tsakwe.Source: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=93999433
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Abdullah Ibrahim
The melodic sounds of South Africa are fused with the improvisation of jazz and the technical proficiency of classical music by South Africa-born pianist Dollar Brand or, as he's called himself since converting to Islam in 1968, Abdullah Ibrahim. Since attracting international acclaim as a member of the Jazz Epistles, one of South Africa's first jazz bands, Ibrahim has continued to explore new ground with his imaginative playing. Exposed to a variety of music as a youngster, including traditional African music, religious songs, and jazz, Ibrahim began studying piano at the age of seven. Becoming a professional musician in 1949, he performed with such South African groups as the Tuxedo Slickers and the Willie Max Big Band. Ten years later, he joined the Jazz Epistles, a group featuring trumpet player Hugh Masekela and alto saxophonist Kippi Moeketsi. The band, which had been formed in 1959 by American pianist John Mohegan for a recording session, Jazz in Africa, had recorded the first jazz album by South African musicians.
In 1962, Ibrahim left South Africa with vocalist Sathima Bea Benjamin, who he married in 1965, and temporarily settled in Zurich. Performing with his trio, which featured bassist Johnny Gertze and drummer Makaya Ntshoko, Ibrahim was overheard by Duke Ellington at the Africana Club. Ellington was so impressed by what he heard that he arranged a recording session for Ibrahim and the trio. The resulting album, Duke Ellington Presents the Dollar Brand Trio, was released on the Reprise label in 1963. he continued to be supported by Ellington following the album's release. In addition to being booked to play (at Ellington's urging) at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1965, Ibrahim served as Ellington's substitute and performed five shows with the Ellington Orchestra the following year. Shortly afterwards, he disbanded the trio and accepted an invitation to join Elvin Jones' quartet. The collaboration with Jones lasted six
months. After leaving the Jones quartet, he continued to be involved with a variety of projects Besides touring as a soloist in 1968, he worked with bands led by Don Cherry and Gato Barbieri. Briefly returning to South Africa in 1976, Ibrahim settled in New York the same year. Although he returned to South Africa to live in 1990, he continues to divide his time between his birthplace and his adopted home in New York. In 1997, Ibrahim collaborated on an album and tour with jazz drummer Max Roach. The following year, Swiss composer Daniel Schnyder arranged several of his compositions for a 22-piece orchestra for a Swiss television production, and for a world tour undertaken by the full-sized Munich Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Barbara Yahr of the United States. Ibrahim has composed the scores for such films as Chocolat and No Fear No Die.
Source: Craig Harris, All Music Guide
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Perhaps the most gifted African musician working within the fused ancestral streams of African+American music, Abdullah Ibrahim, formerly known as Dollar Brand, is a pianist, composer, arranger, band leader and teacher. He is among the preeminent proponents of music as a healing and transformative tool. He has brought to bear upon his music influences from the artistic royalty of American Jazz and African musics. The thrust of his gifts is an expression of this lineage. His creative intention has been secured through his deep Faith. Abdullah Ibrahim's understanding of the far-reaching roots of the healing traditions of both music and people's art is comprehensive .
Many who have encountered Abdullah Ibrahim would also call him a teacher...including many of those who make up his worldwide audience. There is no escaping the transformative power of his music should one approach it with receptivity. In this respect he is both teacher and student, standing as exemplar within the chain of transmission which posits that every person is being inexorably drawn home and is capable of both openness and activation, of being taught and teaching, of following the path and leading others along it.
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