African Magic

Brand: Enja Justin Time

Details: Amazon.ca Recorded in Berlin at the 2001 Jazz Across the Border Festival, this trio performance is a loosely knit, yet powerful suite that moves across space and time from the landscape of Ibrahim's native South Africa to the history of jazz. Along the way he pays homage to guides and mentors, like the spiritual teacher Tuang Guru and John Coltrane. Duke Ellington gets special attention in the suite's latter stages, including a brief fragment of "Solitude," a deeply personal transformation of "In a Sentimental Mood," and Ibrahim's vigorous "Duke 88." Incorporating familiar Ibrahim themes like the majestic "The Mountain," the suite is sometimes knit together by "Blue Bolero," a bittersweet melody that appears in fragmentary interludes until it ultimately emerges as the suite's lambent conclusion. Elsewhere, one piece evolves naturally into another, with Ibrahim's personal magic consisting in an ability to weld melody and rhythm together in ways that are both unexpected and absolute. Bassist Belden Bullock and drummer Sipho Kunene contribute notably to the rhythmic dialogues of "District Six," "The Stride," and the floating "For Coltrane." --Stuart Broomer

UPC: 068944330126

EAN: 0068944330126

Languages: English

Binding: audioCD

Item Condition: UsedVeryGood