0507. Abdullah Ibrahim
Water From An Ancient Well

Here's a guy who's gone under my radar totally. As for stereotyping, I didn't expect Abdullah Ibrahim to play this sort of lighter than air jazz, but instead thought it'd be something more along the line of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's Devotional Songs than In A Silent Way.

And while not as intoxicating as Miles' album, Abdullah's LP is a pleasant aquaintance. He mostly lets his piano take the backseat in favour of the horns - they seem to be central for his compositions - while still not putting himself totally in the background.

Unfortunately it's not easy to find any information on the tracks (but Jazz.com gives some nice info about the band), so I guess I'll never know the impact of the tunes in honour of anti-apartheid political prisoner Mandela, anti-slavery activist Sameeda and Malay resistance fighter Tuang Guru.

As the first black South African to record a jazz album under Apartheid (although a couple of decades before this album), he's definitely left a mark on music history, and I also find it to be a bonus that he's the dad of New York rapper Jean Grae. Musical families take strange turns sometimes.