Customer Reviews

Senzo

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I'm not usually one for solo piano albums but as Abdullah Ibrahim is one of my favourite all-time artists I decided to give this a try. After a highly promising start (the opener "Ocean and the River" is excellent), the chords on the next four pieces may seem a little choppy & jangly on first listen with something of a lack of "light and shade" (one should note that the whole album is joined together as a "suite" so that the listener has to get used to a lack of specific "pausing for air" or "getting in the zone" for each piece). However, if you stick with it & get used to the style great wonders abound (& indeed from almost skipping past "Blues for a Hip King" (Track 6) on first listen it is now one of my favourites).
Each listen truly unveils more & more layers of texture and especially from Track 8 ("Tookah"), a bright boppy break after "Third Line Samba", each track seems better able to assert its own character with Tookah itself being followed by the excellent, rollicking "Pula (Rain)" & then the down tempo, reflective "For Coltrane". Also "Banyana" is a lovely interlude between "Meditation" & "Mamma".
So, overall a highly satisfying album (if you sit back & close your eyes without any other distractions you can almost imagine Ibrahim performing a private concert just for you in your own home) but largely in the nature of a retrospective rather than anything groundbreaking.
Nonetheless definitely recommended.

Abdullah Ibrahim's new recording is gorgeous. The word Senzo means ancestors. Ibrahim's piano calls to all of them, around the world and beyond. Indescribable.