Jan 27 2020
Best of 2019 #32: Abdullah Ibrahim – “The Balance”
Abdullah Ibrahim brings a poignancy to a melody unlike any other jazz musician, ever. Perhaps this is something that was destined to occur or perhaps it is a talent shaped by a life under Apartheid, including life as an exile and, later, a return to his South Africa home. There is both joy and sadness, exultation and melancholy carried upon the pianist’s expressions of melody, and these are not contradictions but the embodiment of what it means to be alive, and perhaps that is why the music of Abdullah Ibrahim flows through the body as essentially and effortlessly as blood to the heart. The Balance was recorded over a single day with Ibrahim’s long-time septet Ekaya, and it adds to catalog of music that is as profound and important as any musician’s, ever.
Your album personnel: Abdullah Ibrahim (piano), Noah Jackson (double bass, cello), Will Terrill (drums), Cleave Guyton Jr. (alto sax, flute, piccolo), Lance Bryant (tenor sax), Andrae Murchison (trombone), Marshall McDonald (baritone sax), and guests: Alec Dankworth (double bass), Adam Glasser (harmonica).
Released on Gearbox Records.
Music from Cape Town, South Africa.
I wrote about this album for The Bandcamp Daily.
The question of influence is not just one of music theory, but also of perspectives. On his 2018 release My East Is Your West,
Feb 10 2020
Now up: January’s Best Jazz on Bandcamp recommendations
And here we go. Okay, so before entering the homestretch of the #Bird2019 Best of 2019 countdown, lets take a brief interlude and put the spotlight on some excellent recordings that made their mark in the first month of the new year. Just now, my latest Best Jazz on Bandcamp recommendations posted on The Bandcamp Daily. This monthly installment covers albums for January 2020. There’s ten primary recommendations in total, plus some bonus recommendations, to boot. The new year is off to a great start, so don’t go thinking that all of your budget is going to be obliterated by my Best of 2019 list. You’re just getting started on a whole new year of great music.
On that note, let’s begin.
Follow this LINK to read those recommendations and listen to music from each album.
Check out past recommendations by running through my contributor archives.
Have fun going through the list!
Cheers.
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By davesumner • Jazz Recommendations - 2020 releases • 0 • Tags: Antoine Berjeaut, Auand Records, Brian Shankar Adler, Chant Records, Dan Rosenboom, Discos ICM, Ears and Eyes Records, Fabian M. Mueller, Gearbox Records, I See Colors, International Anthem, Jeff Parker, John Tchicai, Kaspar von Grünigen, Luke Norris, Makaya McCraven, Marcos Basso Grupo, Mike Baggetta, Minus Zero Records, Muriel Grossmann, Oyvind Hegg-Lunde, Samuele Strufaldi, Self-Produced, The Westerlies, Tommaso Rosati