Abdullah Ibrahim

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Abdullah Ibrahim (born 1934, Cape Town, South Africa), formerly known as Adolph Johannes Brand, and as Dollar Brand (from a popular brand of cigarettes), 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 before joining the European tour of the musical King Kong.

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.

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.

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Popular tags: jazz, piano, african, jazz piano, world  See more

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• African Magic
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• Blues For A Hip King
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• Zimbabwe
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• Water From An Ancient Well
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1		The Wedding			45
2		Ishmael			33
3		Whoza Mtwana			31
4		Blues For A Hip King			29
4		Tintinyana			29
4		The Mountain			29
7		For Coltrane			28
8		Tuang Guru			26
8		In a Sentimental Mood			26
10		Did You Hear That Sound (Toshio Matsuura remix)			25
11		Mandela			23
12		Song For Sathima			22
12		Water From An Ancient Well			22
14		Blue Bolero			21
15		The Pilgrim			19

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