today’s must have
Good News From Africa is a 1973 album from the South African jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim that I heard for the first time last week at the suggestion of Rob, head of label relations here and in-house classical and jazz nerd/savant. It was also prominent featured in Britt Robson’s User Guide to Abdullah Ibrahim. For me, the whole record comes down to “The Pilgrim” and the softly rocking bass part, half-lullaby half-warning, a refrain that returns a few times on Good News. And the vocals that open “Ntsikana’s Bell,” the album’s beginner, the soft, not-quite-sad tone and the hyena yelps that announce Ibrahim’s essentially pop piano part, are just incredible — instantly reminiscent of so many great Smithsonian Folkways field recordings, but fit into a larger arrangement.
I know this isn’t blowing minds here, talking about what I know is a beloved record, but I’ve just really been taken with it this week, and wanted to share the love. Anyone into this album? Anyone have love to share back?
I’ve really been enjoying Yarona for a couple of months now, so I’ll definately check this one out.
I love this about emusic; never heard of Abdullah Ibrahim before his recordings showed up here; now all these great things to discover.
Something non-emusic I’ve been loving lately is Phoning It In – lo-fi 20 minute recordings over land phone lines of various artists.
http://phoningitin.net/
Recomend checking out: Times New Viking:
http://phoningitin.net/shows/217-Times-New-Viking
MV EE:
http://phoningitin.net/shows/292-Matt-Valentine-Erika-Elder
and Blevin Blectum:
http://phoningitin.net/shows/367-Blevin-Blectum-Blectum-From-Blechdom
but it’s all good. and free.
another good new jazz today:
http://www.emusic.com/album/Der-Rote-Bereich-Live-In-Montreux-MP3-Download/11405209.html
Acjtually the whole new ACT collection is quite amazing
really, really love this record, and i think you’re spot-on about the highlights, yancey. not sure i can think of another album that incorporates that field-recording feel into a jazz context so well, but john carter’s “dauwhe” is definitely worth a mention, too:
http://www.emusic.com/album/John-Carter-Dauwhe-MP3-Download/11331992.html
“african space program” (also on enja) is another great ibrahim record. doesn’t appear to be on emusic at the moment, but it’s worth checking out if you can get a hold of it.
I’ll have to check out the Good News. I’ve always enjoyed Dollar Brand.
Here’s one of my favorite South African jazz albums:
[url=http://www.emusic.com/album/Chris-McGregor-s-Brotherhood-Of-Breath-Chris-McGregor-s-Brotherhood-Of-Breath-MP3-Download/11221666.html]Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood Of Breath[/url]
I first heard Dollar Brand on a 1969 recording, African Piano, which is available on the UK site but not in the US. The other album recorded around the same time was African Sketchbook, [url]http://www.emusic.com/album/Dollar-Brand-Abdullah-Ibrahim-African-Sketchbook-MP3-Download/11320059.html[url]
African Piano sounds like a test run for Abdullah Ibrahim, at the time he still went by the name of Dollar Brand. It’s an entire piano suite cut arbitrarily into the separate tracks but if you play the record you won’t know where the tracks start or end.
Both African Sketchbook and African Piano play around with dissonance and are very spacial and ambient. Cool.