Abdullah Ibrahim

378,701 plays (46,682 listeners)
In your library (0 plays)

Listening now: superpond

12 shouts

Add to my Library Share

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.

Tagged as:

jazz, piano, african, jazz piano, world
See more…

Similar Artists

Top Albums

African Magic
Abdullah Ibrahim
Buy
- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $9.99
- 7digital $9.99
- iTunes $10.99
- Buy Album
- Amazon $16.98
- eBay Search
Blues For A Hip King
Abdullah Ibrahim
Buy
- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon Search
- eBay Search
Water From An Ancient Well
Abdullah Ibrahim
Buy
- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $9.99
- 7digital $9.99
- iTunes $10.99
- Buy Album
- Amazon $14.99
- eBay Search
The Mountain
Abdullah Ibrahim
Buy
- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon Search
- eBay Search

Top Tracks

1	Mannenberg full track	44
2	Blues for a Hip King	42
3	Guilty full track	36
4	The Wedding	32
5	King Kong	31
6	Ishmael	29
7	Third Line Samba	28
8	For Coltrane	26
8	The Mountain	26
10	Tuang Guru	24
11	Blue Bolero	23
11	Mysterioso	23
13	Bra Joe From Kilimanjaro full track	22
13	Eleventh Hour	22
13	All Day & All Night Long	22

Shoutbox

Leave a comment. Log in to Last.fm or sign up (it’s free).

tenrapid wrote:
October 2009

it is his 75th birthday today and he's doing a special concert tonight in Johannesburg which i'm going to! i'm not the biggest jazz fan (although i know a lot of his early stuff because my mom always played his albums at home), but i'm still looking forward to watching a living SA legend at work :)

View Profile | Leave tenrapid a shout
koajazzz wrote:
August 2009

Namlhanje, très belle chanson

View Profile | Leave koajazzz a shout
StevePL wrote:
April 2009

GOOD

View Profile | Leave StevePL a shout
PablolitaScobar wrote:
January 2009

Can you guys help me? I am looking for the song "The Minstrel", a track on the Album "Made in South Africa Township One More Time". This is not purchasable neither on Amazon.com nor on Amazon Europe...Anybody who knows where I could purchase the album?

View Profile | Leave PablolitaScobar a shout
PopplagiWest wrote:
January 2009

One of the greatest living treasures of the jazz world. This man is holy.

View Profile | Leave PopplagiWest a shout
boroboro222 wrote:
December 2008

Hi to all! i just found a place where to download acid jazz mp3 to hard drive http://mp3downloadserver.net/ jazzzinggg ;)

View Profile | Leave boroboro222 a shout
eclectictrains wrote:
August 2008

At last I have found this track. I am at peace with my musical world. I saw Abdullah Ibrahim back in 1993 at the Jazz Cafe in Camden London. He was playing as a 4 piece with some NY based musicians and they were amazing. "The Mountain" melted over me and the audience and we were caught under his spell. Abdullah Ibrahim is so prolific and I didn't which album it was on. I had, and still have, the tune in my head but didn't know it's name. On one occasion I even whistled it to a man behind the counter on the jazz floor of Virgin on Oxford Street. Thanks Last.fm, a musical mission has been accomplished. I might even buy the cd...

View Profile | Leave eclectictrains a shout
Shichman wrote:
July 2008

good stuff

View Profile | Leave Shichman a shout
maxi_d wrote:
May 2008

so good...

View Profile | Leave maxi_d a shout
zziverbey wrote:
March 2008

great man, great music

View Profile | Leave zziverbey a shout
sparsk wrote:
May 2007

This music is so deep and fluid! Can't get enough African Magic.

View Profile | Leave sparsk a shout

See all 12 shouts

Videos

Events

Mar 9 Abdullah Ibrahim L'Heure Bleue, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
Add shout | 4 attendees
Mar 11 Abdullah Ibrahim Victoria Hall, Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
Add shout | 6 attendees