{"title":"Abdullah Ibrahim (Dollar Brand)","description":"\u003cp\u003eDollar Brand left South Africa in 1962 as the apartheid government tightened its grip on Black cultural life, and the records he made in the years that followed carried the sound of Cape Town with him into Switzerland, New York, and across the major European festivals. His grandmother had been the pianist for the local AME church in Cape Town; his mother led the choir; and the music he eventually built, rooted in Khoi-san songs, Cape Malay rhythms, gospel, and the jazz of Monk and Ellington, was shaped by all of it. Duke Ellington heard the Dollar Brand Trio playing at the Africana Club in Zurich in February 1963 and arranged a Reprise recording session, producing the album that introduced the pianist to an international audience. By the time Brand settled in New York in 1965, he had already developed a piano style that sat outside any single tradition. He converted to Islam in 1968, took the name Abdullah Ibrahim, and in 1974 recorded \"Mannenberg\" in Cape Town, a piece that became the unofficial anthem of the anti-apartheid movement. His long association with Enja Records, running from the early 1970s through the following decades, produced the bulk of the catalogue collectors seek out today.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"dollar-brand-abdullah-ibrahim-african-piano-1972-japanese-trio-records-vinyl-lp","title":"Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim) - African Piano (1972 Japanese Trio Records Vinyl LP)","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eVinyl\u003c\/b\u003e: VG+\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSleeve\u003c\/b\u003e: VG+\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eObi:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e VG+\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOur grading system explained \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/dpbg4u-d1.myshopify.com\/pages\/secondhand-grading-guide\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003ehere\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePhoto is of the actual item.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim) - \u003cem\u003eAfrican Piano\u003c\/em\u003e | Vinyl LP - 1972 Japanese Trio Records (PA-7057 \/ JAPO 60002)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdolph Johannes Brand grew up in Cape Town and learned piano in the South African jazz and church music tradition before taking the name Dollar Brand. By 1969 he had been living in Europe for several years, playing with Duke Ellington's support across Europe and recording for the Danish Steeplechase and German MPS labels. On October 22, 1969, he played a solo set at the Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen. The recording was informal — microphones placed close to the piano, the ambient noise of the room present throughout — and was first released on the Scandinavian Spectator label in 1970, then by JAPO Records (ECM's subsidiary) in 1973, and eventually absorbed into the ECM catalogue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe music covers nine pieces, all originals, played without pause. The titles range from the direct — \"The Moon,\" \"Sunset in Blue\" — to the long and declaratory: \"Flute Behold The Night And Day Gently They Give Way To Each Other Dear Brother.\" \"Bra Joe From Kilimanjaro\" opens with a rolling ostinato vamp that settles the room; listeners who start talking stop. \"Kippy\" and \"Jabulani — Easter Joy\" draw on the marabi rhythms of the Johannesburg townships; \"Tintiyana\" has a hymn-like quality. Brand converted to Islam in 1968 and subsequently took the name Abdullah Ibrahim; the conversion is part of the context for the spiritual register the music moves through.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis 1972 Japanese pressing is on Trio Records (PA-7057), licensed from JAPO 60002. The insert is missing.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Trio Records","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43458641920059,"sku":null,"price":45.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/3203\/3339\/files\/IMG_6753.jpg?v=1777254029"},{"product_id":"dollar-brand-abdullah-ibrahim-at-montreux-1981-japanese-enja-vinyl-lp","title":"Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim) - At Montreux (1981 Japanese Enja Vinyl LP)","description":"\u003cp data-start=\"1061\" data-end=\"1214\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eVinyl\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e: EX\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSleeve\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e: VG+\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eObi:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNone\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOur grading system explained \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/dpbg4u-d1.myshopify.com\/pages\/secondhand-grading-guide\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003ehere\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePhoto is of the actual item.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim) - \u003cem\u003eAt Montreux\u003c\/em\u003e | Vinyl LP - 1981 Japanese Enja (28MJ 3045, Polydor K.K.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy 1980 Dollar Brand had been Abdullah Ibrahim for twelve years, performing and recording under both names depending on the context. His Montreux set moved between his South African Cape township inheritance and the modal jazz vocabulary he had built over two decades in Europe and America.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Tsakve\" lasts under two minutes, a statement of theme that functions as an arrival rather than a piece. \"Whoza Mtwana\" is the album's centrepiece. Ibrahim builds a bluesy piano riff from the first bar and sustains it while Ward and Harris layer above, Strobert's drumming building without shifting the groove's centre. \"The Homecoming Song\" and \"The Wedding\" on Side A are slower and more open, Ibrahim on sopranino saxophone in both, the harmonium-like quality of that instrument's upper register sitting distinctly above Ward's alto. \"The Perfumed Forest Wet With Rain\" opens Side B at nine minutes; \"Ishmael\" closes the record at ten, Gardner's bass the primary voice in the first two minutes before the full ensemble arrives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCarlos Ward had previously worked with Ibrahim and Don Cherry, and the ease between them in the horn voicings across the set reflects that history. Craig Harris's trombone is used differently from the rest of the front line, closer to a textural element than a solo voice on most pieces. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the 1981 Japanese Enja pressing (28MJ 3045), manufactured by Polydor K.K.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Enja","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43533762166843,"sku":null,"price":35.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/3203\/3339\/files\/IMG_7027.jpg?v=1779365096"},{"product_id":"dollar-brand-abdullah-ibrahim-the-dream-1979-japanese-trio-records-vinyl-lp","title":"Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim) - The Dream (1979 Japanese Trio Records Vinyl LP)","description":"\u003cp data-end=\"1214\" data-start=\"1061\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eVinyl\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e: \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eVG+\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSleeve\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e: VG+\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eObi:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNone\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOur grading system explained \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/dpbg4u-d1.myshopify.com\/pages\/secondhand-grading-guide\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003ehere\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePhoto is of the actual item.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDollar Brand - \u003cem\u003eThe Dream\u003c\/em\u003e | Vinyl LP - 1979 Japanese Trio Records \/ Freedom Original (PA-9736, Giants of Jazz 1500 Series)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy January 1965 Dollar Brand had already lived three lives in jazz. He had been the pianist on the first significant South African jazz album, \u003cem\u003eJazz Epistle Verse 1\u003c\/em\u003e, recorded in Johannesburg in 1959 with Hugh Masekela, Kippie Moeketsi and Jonas Gwangwa. He had left South Africa with his wife Sathima Bea Benjamin in 1962 to escape the tightening apartheid restrictions on mixed-race performance, and reassembled the trio with Gertze and Ntshoko in Zurich. He had been heard there by Duke Ellington, who in February 1963 produced the trio's first studio album in Paris and effectively launched his European career. The Copenhagen Montmartre date captures the trio at full stride. Brand's piano language at this point draws openly on Ellington and Monk, but the Cape Jazz vocabulary that would define his later work is already present in the rhythmic phrasing of \"The Stride\" and the lyrical melody of \"Tintinyana\". Gertze and Ntshoko are unobtrusive, supple, and locked into the leader's sense of space.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 30 January 1965 concert was recorded by Jazzhus Montmartre's house engineer Birger Svan and the tapes were then carved up across multiple labels in the years that followed. Fontana's \u003cem\u003eAnatomy of a South African Village\u003c\/em\u003e used part of the evening for a 1965 LP. The remainder sat unreleased for fourteen years until Alan Bates' Freedom Records licensed the material and gathered these six pieces under the title \u003cem\u003eThe Dream\u003c\/em\u003e. Bates' UK Freedom label and Trio Records in Japan released sister pressings in 1979 — this is the Japanese Trio copy, sequenced into their Giants of Jazz 1500 series alongside other licensed material from the Freedom and Black Lion catalogue. Brand was already three years into his life as Abdullah Ibrahim by the time this came out, but the sleeve retained his earlier name for continuity with the 1965 recording credits.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Trio Records","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43540977745979,"sku":null,"price":45.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/3203\/3339\/files\/IMG_7060.jpg?v=1779517895"},{"product_id":"duke-ellington-presents-the-dollar-brand-trio-japanese-reprise-vinyl-lp","title":"Duke Ellington Presents The Dollar Brand Trio (Japanese Reprise Vinyl LP)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eVinyl\u003c\/b\u003e: VG+\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSleeve\u003c\/b\u003e:\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eEX\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eObi:\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEX\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur grading system explained \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/dpbg4u-d1.myshopify.com\/pages\/secondhand-grading-guide\"\u003e\u003cb\u003ehere\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003cbr\u003ePhoto is of the actual item.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDuke Ellington Presents The Dollar Brand Trio | Vinyl LP - Japanese Reprise Records Reissue (P-6122R, Jazz-Forever Series)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn February 1963, Sathima Bea Benjamin convinced Duke Ellington to visit a small club in Zurich where her partner Dollar Brand was playing piano with a trio. Ellington stayed, and by the end of the set he had agreed to arrange a recording session. Brand, Gertze and Ntshoko flew to Paris. They recorded six tracks in a single day. The album that resulted was the first international exposure for a pianist whose style combined the church hymns and township melodies of Cape Town with the harmonic language of Thelonious Monk and Ellington himself. \"Dollar's Dance\" and \"Kippi\" (named for Kippie Moeketsi, the alto saxophonist who played in Brand's South African group the Jazz Epistles alongside Hugh Masekela) are built on simple, repeating melodic figures that accumulate weight through repetition rather than complexity. \"Ubu Suku\" is slower and darker, with Brand playing sustained, ringing chords over Gertze's bowed bass. \"Brilliant Corners,\" the Monk composition, is the one piece drawn from outside Brand's own writing, and its angularity sits naturally beside his originals. \"The Stride\" closes the album with a nod to the piano tradition Ellington grew up in.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBrand was 28 and had left South Africa the year before. He and Benjamin had settled temporarily in Zurich with almost no money. The Ellington connection changed everything. After this album's release, Ellington arranged for Brand to play the Newport Jazz Festival in 1965, and in 1966 Brand substituted for Ellington on five dates, leading the Ellington Orchestra. He later converted to Islam and changed his name to Abdullah Ibrahim, the name under which he has recorded and performed for the past five decades. Gertze and Ntshoko, both South Africans in exile, were Brand's working rhythm section in Europe during this period.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the Japanese reissue on Reprise P-6122R from the Jazz-Forever series, manufactured for Warner-Pioneer Corporation. The release date is not well documented; the original price, catalogue prefix and Warner-Pioneer credit means it's likely late 1970s\/early 1980s.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Reprise Records","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43687001489467,"sku":null,"price":35.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/3203\/3339\/files\/IMG_7398.jpg?v=1781948239"}],"url":"https:\/\/lushliferecords.com.au\/collections\/abdullah-ibrahim-dollar-brand.oembed","provider":"Lush Life Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}