Featuring:
Abdullah Ibrahim - piano
Noah Alexander - cello
Cleave Guyton - alto sax/flute

South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim was a member of Sophiatown group the Jazz Epistles, who recorded South Africa’s first jazz album by black artists in 1960. He left for Europe two years later, where Duke Ellington helped him launch a record of his own trio. Ibrahim followed Ellington to New York, where he became a member of Ellington’s band, occasionally substituting as its leader. During a brief return to South Africa in the 1970s, Ibrahim helped found Cape Town’s Cape Jazz sound, merging improvisational jazz with the local piano-based folk music known as Marabi. Following the end of Apartheid, Ibrahim returned to South Africa, where he has remained a revered figure. Continuing to perform and record, Ibrahim has alternated between solo work and bands of various sizes. He has also remained active in music education, opening Cape Town’s M7 Academy for South African musicians in 1999. At the age of 80, he plays much more rarely—and largely in Europe, with North American dates becoming increasingly rare.