Solotude (Gearbox)
Abdullah Ibrahim
Released November 2021
70th DownBeat Annual Critics Poll Top 20 Album of the Year
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mw-O2a07FsqFMlT5BXjtR32lSrSpD3dG0
Spotify:
About:
Each year on October 9th, Abdullah Ibrahim performs a solo piano concert at the Hirzinger Hall in South Germany in order to celebrate his birthday. Due to lockdown restrictions last year, this traditional birthday concert was replaced with the opportunity to record a solo piano performance. Hirzinger Hall, in Riedering, South East Germany, is famous for its incredible acoustics, and Ibrahim’s solitary performance lends itself perfectly to the space, The recording crew was sparse, the audience non-existent, yet Ibrahim’s communion with the piano remains warm and timeless.
In his own words:
“6 years old – I played my first note on the piano with the index finger
Now 80 years and 10 fingers later – a journey that took me from Cape Town to all corners and mentors of the world – the index finger unveiled plays itself – the one note of universal unity
My great grand father with his index finger showed me the hidden kalahari dreamtime essence of the plants, flowers, animals and sound of the distant hills
I was 6 years young”
Track Listing:
1. Mindiff 3:10
2. Trieste My Love 1:55
3. Nisa 2:24
4. Blue Bolero 2:08
5. In-Tempo 5:04
6. Dreamtime 2:30
7. Blue Bolero (First Reprise) 0:38
8. Peace 1:49
9. Blues For A Hip King 1:05
10. District 6 1:02
11. Tokai 0:39
12. District 6 (Reprise) 0:14
13. Pula 0:42
14. Sotho Blue 3:20
15. Blue Bolero (Second Reprise) 0:22
16. Did You Hear That Sound? 1:29
17. In The Evening 1:33
18. Once Upon A Midnight 6:27
19. The Wedding 4:52
20. Signal On The Hill 1:06
Personnel:
Abdullah Ibrahim: piano and composition
Recorded by René Kampka
Mixed and mastered by Caspar Sutton-Jones at Gearbox Records
Review:
When it comes to stately beauty, it’s damn near impossible to surpass an Abdullah Ibrahim solo piano set. The 87-year-old NEA Jazz Master and South African cultural icon has continually returned to this format over the decades, exploring and deepening a lifelong romance with rumination while epitomizing grace and wisdom. Oftentimes, as with the performance captured for 2019’s Dream Time, an audience is in attendance at Ibrahim’s recitals, giving him the opportunity to commune with company. But for Solotude, as the title implies, the seats were empty.
Forgoing a standing birthday concert out of necessity due to COVID-19 lockdown measures in the fall of 2020, Ibrahim still managed to make the most of the moment by substituting a recording session in its place. The music he conjured for the occasion, as with several other late-career solo ventures, has a certain gravitas yet remains remarkably weightless. In short, it’s pensive perfection drawing on a lifetime of cultivation and pruning.
7 Facts About Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’
Ibrahim’s signature touch, appreciation for space and abiding love for encapsulated communication(s) are all on display as he explores one memorable melody after another. There’s the haunting “Mindiff,” lingering in midair; a quick glance at “Blues for a Hip King,” offering gospel-like comforts; the stirring “Tokai,” delivered as a rickety and righteous fragment for all times; and a gorgeously subdued trip down the aisle for “The Wedding.” More than a dozen other compositions appear—some projected as passing thoughts lasting less than a minute, others fairly compact but fully realized—and each adds substance without any accompanying heft. Using spare lines that demonstrate the art of restraint while simultaneously giving of himself completely, Abdullah Ibrahim proves to be both the model of good taste and a freehearted storyteller.
Dan Bilawsky (JazzTimes)
