African Suite

Abdullah Ibrahim | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 20, 1999)
• Original Release Date: July 20, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Enja
• ASIN: B00000JJK5
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #280,178 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new dimension to Ibrahim's haunting sound., August 24, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: African Suite (Audio CD)

If you have fallen in love with Ibrahim's beautifully crafted, while at times down and funky soweto sound then you must hear this album. The strings fit incredibly well with the piano, adding a new dimension to the already spiritual experience of Abdullah Ibrahim's music.

A perfect album for unwinding with trance like and bewitching melodies. Bought this for a friend who sent me a note a few weeks later - "being lulled to sleep my Abdullah every night".

Buy it and tell your friends - why isn't this man more widely known ??

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jazz Orchestra? You Bet!, August 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: African Suite (Audio CD)

If Ellington, Gillespie and Mingus (and maybe a little Monk)could collaborate today, I think this is what you might hear. Lush, but never the least bit cumbersome, Ibrahim finds a way to make orchestration propel his themes rather than back them. Dynamics are especially spectacular. "Ishmael" in particular feels like some magic postscript of Gillespie's "Caravan" and Ravel's "Bolero." Cool stuff.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Background, foreground - wherever, it's high ground, January 31, 2001

By 

Mr. Stuart Robert Harris "Vivir Con Arte" (Bradford-on-Avon, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: African Suite (Audio CD)

There are loads of folks out there who like the idea of jazz but can't really take too much of "the real thing". So they buy "lite" versions and brave the insults. You know what I mean. You know who I mean. Then there are those hard-core jazz lovers who like the real stuff, honks, squeaks and discord.

Abdullah Ibrahim somehow bridges those two camps. His music is always authentically jazz, yet never self-indulgent or listener-unfriendly.

There are some majestic pieces on this album - in particular Ishmael, which I first downloaded free through Real. It's an album you can live to or listen to equally. To maintain the integrity of my own star ratings, there aren't quite enough compellingly sublime moments to make it a straight five, but it's a firm four. Few people would find it anything less than a real pleasure.